Page 62 of Nightingale

She wouldn’t leave him.

An arrow shot past her, sinking deep into the flesh of the tall Blackleg that aimed for her once more.

It fell back without a single sound.

Vrea whipped her head around, to see ten riders that wore the Niroulian colours as they reloaded their bows, and unleashed hell on the Blacklegs.

As Niroula came to their aid.

Thirty

Captain Amir Mikale pulled back on his reins as his mighty horse pranced around them. Red and gold striped cords embellished the massive saddle, fit to accommodate his hulking size. “Princess, we did not expect to see you here, withhimof all people.”

She could have hugged the seasoned warrior if she weren’t covered from head to toe in spider blood, and Rian’s. There was sweat in places she didn’t even want to think about, dirt in every crack and crevice. What she wouldn’t give for another river to bathe in.

“Amir, thank the gods you came when you did.” Vrea wiped at her face, trying to regain some semblance of royalty that her mother had strained into her from a young age. “You just about saved us.”

“Just about?” He lifted a black brow. His accent was as she remembered, heavy and thick with the Niroulian lilt that most of her people had. “Any longer and you would have become spider chow.”

She let out a weak chuckle and stood, wiping the mud from her knees. “I guess we’ll never find out.” Her eyes fell to the wounded Prince. “As for my company,he’sthereasonI’m here at all. If it weren’t for him, then I would either be locked away in Hawksmoor Keep for all eternity, or my neck would have been separated from my head after my attempted escape.”

Two soldiers removed themselves from their horses, warily glancing down the corridor in preparation for any more Blacklegs that dared to come their way. Four men held themselves up high, bows nocked with arrows that still pointed towards the tunnels, ready for another attack in a moment’s notice.

“Bring him to the healing tent immediately.” She locked eyes with three men, tilting her head in the unconscious Prince’s direction as he lay sprawled on the canyon floor. “He’s been hit with an unknown Blackleg toxin and needs care.”

“Princess,” Amir warned with a cautious tone to his low voice. “We should leave him here, or finish him off if you want to repay the favour of your release. It would be a kindness to make it quick. Farkinderthan allowing the spiders to take him, to digest him. Farkinderthan bringing him to Vasthold, too. You know what your mother has in store for anyone from Carylim, let alone an heir.”

Vrea stared down at the Prince.

He didn’t stir.

His once rich skin was ghastly white, with a sickening hue that made him appear as though he was carved from freezing ice or hard stone. His eyes fluttered behind the lids, moving rapidly as if he were stuck in a daydream of horror. His joints twitched rapidly, pulsing and jumping like a long-eared sand rabbit.

Her mind was made up.

No one could convince her otherwise.

“Take him to the Greenvass tents. I want healers to tend to him immediately and report back to me with any progress. Good or bad.” She ordered and the two men that dismounted came forward. “No one is to touch him, harm him or send word to the Queen ahead of myself. If I find out that my orders have been disobeyed, rest assured that I won’t hesitate to enact appropriate punishments.”

“My lady,” Amir hoisted himself off the horse, walking to her left. “Not only is he aPrince of Carylim,but if the rumours are true, then he is theGolden Heir.The one primed to take over for the King, his favourite son.”

“You’re telling me this information as if I don’t already know it.” She shot him a look of caution. “I know who he is and what hemightdo. You would do well to remember that he was the one I was sent to kill. I did all the important research beforehand. My time as their hostage hasn’t allowed me to forget a single bit.”

The guards lifted Rian off the earth, a small puddle of red staining the dirt below him. He moaned quietly and the sound reverberated directly through her heart. She stepped forward once, a small move in his direction.

One that Amir caught, much to her chagrin.

“Then you should kill him. Heed my advice.” The captain placed his hand on his broadsword, ready to sling it out if she gave the command. “I would not dare to accuse you of being a kind soul, but there is a seed of betterment within you that allows you to see good in all, no matter where they come from. Normally I would applaud you for this, but not withhiskind. Not with anheir. It does not matter what you feel for him, small or big. It is not a good idea to let him live. It is not good for you, as well as for him. I implore you to reconsider.”

A flare of anger rose up within her from the depths of her very self, the hardened core that her mother and brothers had drilled into her, time and time again. It wasn’t a cruel thing to care for someone, but that’s what the captain implied. Sides were nothing when it came to matters of the heart.

But she was in charge here, not Amir.

“He lives.” Vrea bit out before he could get another word in, positive or negative. “Chain him, bind him if that makes you feel better, but Rian ismycharge. Which means that I am the only one that gets to decide what we do with him. I won’t see himhurt, more so than he already is.”

With that tone of finality that left no room for arguments, Vrea turned on her heel, shoved her knives back into her sides and took the horse that a Niroulian offered her. He held the tall mount steady as she placed her foot in the metal stirrup and rose up, settling on the leather seat with comfort and ease.

“As you wish, Princess.” Amir slanted his broad arm over his chest in a diagonal way, lowered his clean-shaven head and half of his figure as he bowed in respect to her. “He will not be touched by those other than the ones that you’ve ordered. Forgive me for my brutal honesty. It is just another way that I serve you and your mother.”

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