Page 86 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

She circled around to the edge of the building and paused, flexing her fingers. Her heart was pounding with fear, but it was more fear of what she’d find inside the building than of the guards outside.

She thought she saw an elf-shaped shadow across the road. No doubt he could see her perfectly clearly. He was waiting for her to move first.

She straightened, then casually rounded the corner.

The guard closest to her didn’t see her for a few seconds, and in those seconds, she’d crossed half the distance between them. When he finally noticed her, she smiled, which made him hesitate for another second. By the time he started to draw his sword, she was already beside him.

Her steps had been unhurried, but when her hand moved, it was lightning-quick. It darted up to grab him by the throat, and he stilled. She was happy to find that he did not have the same resistance to her abilities that Aruna had.

At the same time, there was a commotion behind him. Crow glanced over in time to see Aruna’s sword slitting the throat of the other guard. Blood poured down the man’s front, and he fell to ground.

Crow blinked at Aruna, stunned. He motioned for her to hurry up.

She turned her attention back to the man in front of her. His body was stiff, his eyes empty. She searched his memories.

They’d brought Vaara to the building, his body limp in their hands. Unconscious, but not dead. They’d taken him upstairs. The man hadn’t seen what had happened after that. He’d been outside the whole time.

To Crow’s mixed relief and frustration, Alexei had left some time afterward, leaving four guards inside.

She was snapped out of the man’s thoughts when Aruna appeared beside her. “Come,” he whispered harshly.

She held up four fingers and pointed to the door. Aruna nodded.

She backed the guard toward the door, then commanded him to open it. He drew his sword, turned the handle, and marched inside.

Four men turned toward them, looking first to Crow’s guard, then to Crow, and then to Aruna as he slipped in behind her. Crow recognized some of them from the prison. She had little remorse for what was about to happen to them.

She shoved her guard forward, and he flew into motion, still trapped under her spell. Aruna took a more subtle approach, waiting for one of the guards to come to him before unceremoniously cutting him down. His movements were quick and precise and deadly in a way that was uniquely Varai.

Crow drew her knife, watching the remaining three battling her guard. All of them were reluctant to hurt him, and that hesitance gave her guard the opportunity to strike one of them down. Finally the other two struck at him without mercy, leaving him bleeding on the floor.

But Crow was already in position behind the victors. She grabbed one of them, and instantly she had him turning to attack his companion.

Two more guards had come down the stairs and were approaching Aruna, but Crow’s attention was torn away from him when something slammed into her. She crashed into the wall, nearly dropping her knife. A dark shape barreled toward her and she dove aside as a blade flashed.

Pain sliced across her collarbone. She gasped, blindly raising her knife and stabbing. She hit something, and someone shouted. A bare hand flailed toward her as her target stumbled. She grabbed it, clenching her fist around sweaty fingers. The man’s mind buckled beneath her as she bludgeoned into it.

Across the room, Aruna was cornered between the wall and a beast of a man. A sword arced through the air, clashing against metal, and Aruna grunted. Crow saw a flash of blood.

Under Crow’s command, her guard whirled and ran toward them. Before the other guard could turn around, Crow’s guard had dispatched him. He slid to the floor, revealing Aruna pinned to the wall behind him.

He wasn’t dying after all. The blood had come from the knife he’d stuck in the guard’s side.Without ceremony, the night elf stabbed his sword into Crow’s guard’s throat. There was a thump as the body hit the floor.

Crow looked around the room. Blood ran across floorboards. Bodies lay beside and atop one another. It was the worst carnage she’d left behind in a long, long time, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty for it.

She went to the stairs. Aruna hissed something from behind her, probably telling her to stop, which she ignored. She peered into the rooms on the second floor one by one. As she came to the last door, Aruna’s hand landed on her arm, holding her back. He gave her a sharp look.

Did he think she meant to harm Vaara? After all this? She jerked away from him, glaring, and opened the door. Then she stopped short in the doorway.

A dark, bloody shape sat against the opposite wall. And it wasn’t moving.

Crow was frozen. It took a long time to make her mouth work. “Vaara?” she asked.

A beat passed, and then he lifted his head.

“Crow?” he said slowly. He squinted at her, his brow pinching. “What are you doing here?”

The confusion in his expression pained her. He hadn’t expected her to come back for him.

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