Page 38 of Crown of Wrath

Rhion’s swords come down in an aggressive stance, his legs poised to leap at Cole, and he laughs again. “You know, I used to envy you, Cole. I think it was the way everyone looked at you. It was the way they all thought you were someone to be worshipped. I didn’t have anyone who looked at me like that. Deep down, I think I even worshipped you a little. You were so much better at everything.”

His smile seems to embody everything about him. Confident and willing to wager everything on a single fight, he’s so different from Cole. “I decided after that day that Darian tricked me, I would become the greatest warrior. I would be the one that the world looked at with awe rather than you. Prince Cole, I have spent my life waiting for this moment, and today, I’m going to prove that you are not what everyone thinks you are. You are not a god to be worshipped. You’re no different from the rest of us.”

Cole stares down Rhion, a glare in his eyes, and he speaks to me through the bond between us. It’s not in words, though. It’s a vision of what he wants me to do. I leap at Rhion with shadow daggers, just like Cole had used in the House of Steel dungeons. Rhion turns faster than I can move and slashes through me, but the person who appeared behind him was made of shadows, and as the sword cuts through the effigy, I appear to the side of him and stab a shadow dagger through the wing hole in the back of his armor.

I understand what he’s telling me. Rhion isn’t afraid to fight someone who’s using shadows. He’s faster and anticipates what I’d do. He won’t expect an effigy, though. No one thinks about me enjoying being in the void, so I slip out of the physical world and into the darkness that gives me so much peace.

I maintain my focus, something that doesn’t feel so difficult anymore, and I reach out behind him, creating an effigy that appears just as I would from the pool of shadows behind him.

Rhion cuts it down immediately, but it disappears into nothing, and Cole is already attacking him. I send another effigy to Rhion, and before it comes fully into being, he cuts it down while still defending against Cole’s onslaught.

I create more and more effigies, feeling the world through them like a blind man fighting with sticks. When I feel a shadow touch something solid, I know Rhion’s overwhelmed, and I appear from the shadows at his feet. A shadow dagger appears instantly, solidifying into a razor’s edge while I move as fast as I can.

Rhion recognizes that something’s different, that it’s not all just effigies to draw his attention. He spins, and this time, he’s too slow. My dagger finds its mark in Rhion’s back. A hiss slips out of him as my dagger cuts into his lung like it’s done to so many House of Steel soldiers today.

His eyes bulge as he realizes just what happened. He tries to suck in a breath, but it doesn’t work. He spins, his sword coming down in a slash meant to cut across my body, and I hastily block with my shadow daggers. Normally, the attack would have cut me down, but Rhion is panicking.

Even though I had to pull my dagger out of his back, Rhion can’t heal himself without focusing almost entirely on that, and Cole isn’t giving him the time to do so. His black longsword comes down so fast that even I can’t track it. But Rhion does. He blocks and returns attacks repeatedly. The seconds tick by, and Rhion’s face turns blue, but he doesn’t stop swinging, doesn’t stop defending himself.

This is when the Prince of Steel dies, and he knows it.

I drop the shadow daggers and create a spear from the darkness. As soon as I move to attack, Cole shouts at me from our bond, “NO!” I immediately stop, not understanding what’s happening.

Cole’s movements are vicious. Every cut looks strong enough to break through anyone’s guard, much less someone who can’t breathe, but then I realize that Rhion’s movements are slower, less precise. Yet, Cole isn’t breaking through.

Then Rhion’s grip begins to shake. He leaps backward, and wings sprout from his back in an instant. Cole doesn’t let him fly, though. Fire explodes around him, burning his wings to ash, and Rhion falls.

He’s still, and instead of driving his sword into Rhion’s chest, Cole reaches down and rips his helmet off, tossing it to the side. He puts his hand against Rhion’s cheek at the same time that Rhion gasps in a deep breath. It took him a second to heal, and now he could begin the fight with Cole anew.

“I won,” Cole says softly.

“Your Wyrdling won,” Rhion says with a grin at Cole and then a glance at me. “Never knew anyone from the House of Shadowswho could do all of that from the void. Clever girl.” He turns back to Cole and says, “You should kill me. You know that. Even more than my father, you should kill me.”

Cole stares at him with ice in those blue eyes of his, and he shakes his head. “No, Rhion. Swear that you will leave this place and go back to Draenyth, and I will let you live.”

I look at Cole with fear in my eyes. If he takes his hand away from Rhion’s face, Rhion could start fighting again, and now he knows another one of my tricks. I’d thought that Cole was the best warrior, that he was unmatched on the battlefield, but Rhion was fighting both of us at the same time and wasn’t losing. Why would Cole let him live?

Rhion laughs. “You won. Don’t muddy things. I’ve spent hundreds of years waiting for this singular moment. Either win and know that I’m the better of the two of us, or lose and die. Either way, I stop living the life I’ve wanted to escape for all these centuries.”

Cole grins at him. “Like you said, I didn’t win. MyQueendid. This isn’t the battle you’ve been hoping for, and I’m sure there will be more. Swear your oath and leave. Say that we swept in, killed your men, and ran away when you’re questioned by your father.”

Rhion glances at me, and I really can’t understand why Cole is letting the enemy survive. As if he’s reading my mind, he looks back at Cole and says, “I’m going to ruin everything you’re planning. You know that, don’t you?”

Cole shrugs. “I don’t want to kill you, Rhion. It’s not you that needs to die.”

“You’re an idiot, but you’re right about one thing. This wasn’t the battle I’ve been waiting for. This wouldn’t be the death I was looking for.” He sighs and shakes his head before standing up. Cole lets him go, but a shadow spear appears in my hands on instinct alone. Rhion grins at me and says, “You’ve gottenbetter, Wyrdling, and it’s not all the Crown. Those men were well trained, some of my best. Maybe there’s more to you than I first thought.”

“I could have killed you,” I say.

He shrugs, and his lip turns up just the slightest before he turns back to Cole. “I swear on the magic that runs through my veins that I will leave this battlefield and go back to Draenyth. I will not turn back to try to catch you or surprise you.”

As he says the words, the clearing is filled with a complex scent. Like freshly forged metal, it’s ashy yet clean, with a sharp tang of steel. It is strong and terrible and unmistakable.

A band of silver encircles Rhion’s wrists like nothing I’ve ever seen. Not a debt. An unbreakable vow. Cole glances down at the silver bands, and instinctively, I know that if Cole had said the same thing, his bands would be bright red instead of silver, and mine would be brown.

Rhion looks at me again, his smile only getting wider. “I hope you know what you’re doing, letting Cole Cyrus make all your decisions, Queen Maeve. He has a habit of getting the people around him hurt.”

“Maybe those people needed to learn to protect themselves.”

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