Page 19 of Married By Treachery

That decided it.

Raquel did not have magik, but she was generally good with a blade, and anyhow, she couldn’t in good conscience stand back and watch. She might die, but that was true on any given day, and—in her opinion—it was far better for a person to die on their own terms than spend their life hiding in a corner, hoping death would pass them by.

Raquel spun away from the window, snagged Jake’s coat and put it on, and tucked her blond hair inside of it. Not because she thought the glamour would be effective for her, but to hide her long golden hair. She grabbed all of the blades she could find, including a very long and fancy curved sword with a hilt decorated in golden vines that looked exactly like the ones inked upon Jake’s biceps. Raquel smiled to herself as she secured it to her waist, then crawled through the window and dropped two stories to the ground.

The battle was much louder outside, and Raquel wondered ifsightwasn’t the only sensory detail that Jake had obscured from her.

However, no one paid her any attention. Everyone was too busy looking toward the gate, where at least four of those ghastly winged creatures were trying to force their way through, and the horror of them up close made Raquel’s blood suddenly run cold.

They had human heads, though their features were exaggerated and overgrown to the point of crudeness, and they had human-shaped torsos too, though their skin was leathery and covered in fine black hairs. But that was where the comparisons ended. Instead of arms, their shoulders morphed into thick black feathers and massive claw-tipped wings, which were currently clawing and raking at the Forest kith fighting them off.

Raquel took quick inventory of the scene and started running for the watchtower, but a new gap in the gate diverted her feet, and she soon found herself running toward Marix.

He whirled on one of the winged demons, cutting his blade across its wings, and it shrieked as it soared back into the mist. He looked over, caught sight of her, and froze. “What areyou—”

In his shock, he hadn’t noticed the winged demon descending upon him, but Raquel had, and she threw one of her many blades. Silver streaked sure and true, and it sank into the creature’s chest. Its cry was cut short as it died and dropped from the air, landing at Marix’s feet.

He blinked at her.

“Where’s Jake?” Raquel yelled.

A smaller winged demon came down at Marix, but he noticed this one and punched it out of the way with hardly a glance. “Out there! Wait, where are you going?”

Raquel pushed through the fighters, ignoring Marix, who yelled after her, and then she was outside.

It took her a second to make sense of the chaos in the mist. Light flashed, and Raquel found herself momentarily stunned by the sheer number of winged creatures swarming above. There had to be at least a hundred! And below, working desperately to fend them off, were nearly three dozen kith. It took Raquel a split second more to spot therealissue.

The Forest kith’s attentions were divided between the horde above and the small kith seated upon agitated horses below.

Children.

Kithchildren.

Raquel had never seen a kith child. She’d known they existed, of course, but what were they doing here?

Raquel counted three children in total, all attempting to calm horses that were trying so desperately to flee, which was also where she spotted Jake, spinning in a maelstrom of steel and light. He fought alongside an impressive female kith to protect the small and terrified riders from this unending onslaught of claws and wings.

Raquel stood momentarily mesmerized. Almighty in heaven! Watching him fight, she knew he had heldeverythingback with her. No amount of training could have prepared her for the force that was Jake. He existed in his very own fighting class. His grace, his precision and efficiency. Hisspeed. It wasn’t humanly possible to move that fast, but then again, he wasn’t human.

Still, Raquel could help, in her way.

She pushed on, blades in hand. Ducking and slashing as she dodged right into the melee, spinning and kicking, fighting her way toward Jake and those children and the frightened horses. Jake yelled, his swords arced down, and his gaze locked on Raquel.

He froze.

If Raquel had thought him furious before, he was positivelylividnow. Especially when he realized what she was wearing.

“WHAT IN HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?” he shouted at her.

“You forgot your sword, Highness.” She tossed the beautiful relic at him.

He plucked it from the air, though his eyes never left hers. He appeared too stunned to respond. The fearsome kith woman he’d been fighting alongside glanced over at them as she withdrew her long sword from a demon’s belly. The demon’s wings flapped erratically, and it collapsed to the ground in a heap of feathers and black blood.

“I’ll get the children inside! Cover me!” Raquel shouted and started for the nearest horse.

Jake’s hand whipped out and wrapped around her arm like a vice, then he jerked her right back so that they were face-to-face. There was nothing friendly in his eyes. “Go backnow.”

“I will not sit in my room like a coward!”

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