Page 34 of The King of Frost and Shadows

Adrenaline pumped through my body, burning through the cold. My parents, Eiric, and I had sparred, but never likethis. I inhaled, ignoring the way my lungs burned, and prepared to use the defensive moves I’d learned during the past twelve years.

Nightbane snarled and clawed a man with light-blue hair in the face then steamrolled into the man in the center, leaving me with one opponent.

I ignored the light-blue-haired man’s screams as my attacker swung his sword at me. I jumped back several feet, and the edge grazed me, slicing through the center of my dress and nicking my skin. The pain stung, but I used his momentum against him and punched him in the jaw. His head snapped back as his wings expanded, keeping him from falling down.

His ink-black eyes widened, and his nostrils flared just as a far-too-familiar voice commanded, “Stop!”

Ink-black eyes glared at me, and I knew his intention. As he thrust his sword at me again, I spun to the side, allowing him to catch air, and Nightbane clamped his teeth down on my attacker’s arm.

Black blood squirted over my face and chest as someone’s arms circled my waist and lifted me. My buzzing skin informed me of my captor’s identity, and I hated the reliefhis touch brought again. Yet, his warning from the first night we met rang in my ear.I’m the very one you should fear.

He hadn’t been lying.

He flew me upward toward the castle, my backside against his chest, so I elbowed him in the gut as hard as I could.

It was like smashing into rock. Groaning, I used my other elbow to hit him in the face.

“Blighted abyss,” he snarled as I jerked from his loosened grasp.

Then, I fell to the road but managed to land upright. My feet stung on impact. I pushed the discomfort away and spun around, readying for Tavish to come at me again. He’d needed me enough to hunt me down on Earth, so I had to hurt him to get free from here.

“Lira,” he warned as dark blood trickled from his nose. “You need to stop. Don’t make your situation worse.” His eyes darkened to the ones from my nightmares, but this time, there was no hatred or malice in them. In a way, it looked like he was pleading with me.

I wanted to listen, but that was foolish. I gritted my teeth and struck with my knife, faster than ever before, aiming for his neck. Just before my blade would’ve sliced his throat, he kicked me in the stomach. I stumbled back, somehow not falling on my ass, but my tailbone nevertheless flared as if it were on fire.

Then Finola and Torcall were flanking me and restraining me, each grabbing an arm. I jerked to get free of their hold, but their grips were like vises. Torcall pried the dagger from my hands and dropped it. The blade clanked on the stone, the sound of my freedom being ripped from me once more.

This had been my one chance.

My one shot to not die by Tavish’s hands was gone.

A low, threatening snarl had me glancing at Nightbane. Drool dripped from his mouth, and the hair on the nape of his neck rose. For some reason, he’d tried to help me tonight, and I feared what the repercussions would be for him.

“Nightbane, go to the prison and make your rounds,” Tavish ordered, and the wolf turned his snarl on him.

“She’s going to ruin us all!” a man yelled from the gathering crowd. “She’s weakening the king, and the Seelie will overtake us, killing everyone!”

Eyes darkening, Tavish extended a hand, and Nightbane dropped to his stomach. He whimpered and whined as if something was killing him.

“Stop!” I shouted, trying to jerk free. “Don’t hurt him. Hurt me instead!”

Tavish turned his steely gaze back on me and rasped, “Oh, your fate will be far worse than his.”

“That’s right!” A man smirked, his eerie, pale-yellow eyes shining. “A prisoner tried to escape and attacked the king. We all get to watch her die.”

“No.” Tavish shook his head and expanded his massive wings. “The plan is to kill her in front of the Seelie people. They need to feel her to know she’s here before we take her there for all of them to see her death.”

My stomach roiled. I hated how easily the words flowed from his lips as if my life didn’t matter.

“What are you saying,KingTavish?” A guard beside Finola raised his chin. “You’ve killed your own people for her, and she sleeps in your bedchamber. The law is that if any prisoner tries to escape, then every prisoner must pay the price. Are you saying theSeelieprincess is above the law? The very law you created?”

I glanced around and saw more people at their windows, watching the show.

Something significant was going on here, though I didn’t know what. It appeared as if Tavish’s people could be turning against him.

“Yes, King Tavish,” the man directly behind me crooned. “If she dies in the gauntlet and we toss her body onto Seelie land, it will provide the same reaction. Why isn’t she being held to the same standards as the rest of your people?”

The gauntlet? What the hell was that?

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