Page 73 of Love Beyond Words
“Aye, lad, I swear to ye. If ye run yerself through with that sword, I will leave the lass unharmed.”
Just as he pressed the tip of the blade into his chest, the world went dark around him. He fought against the spell. He could hear the chants of the other men in his mind, but their combined magic was too strong for him to fight against it.
The sword flew out of his hands as he collapsed into unconsciousness.
If Laurel was dead when he woke, he would kill every last one of his men.
* * *
Machara screamed as Raudrich fell. For a moment, I worried she would snap my neck without another thought.
Instead, she whirled on me, quickly pulling me up by my wrists as she threw me against the wall.
“What did ye do?”
I’d not known how The Eight would stop Raudrich, but the moment I saw him fall, I knew what I needed to do. It would require that I put on a play for Machara once again.
I was more terrified than I’d ever been in my life, but I couldn’t allow Machara to see that. She wouldn’t believe the callous performance I meant to give her if she saw my fear.
Freya was right. The hubris of faeries was their downfall. They didn’t believe they could lose, so they never planned for things to go awry. If I could use her frustration to my advantage, I could survive this.
She’d not expected The Eight to stop Raudrich. She had no back-up plan. She was nervous now, off her game, and I was just stepping up to play my own.
“What could I have possibly done? I’m a mortal, remember? I have no powers.”
She screamed again and the walls seemed to shake from the power of her voice. I hoped she couldn’t see my hands trembling.
“Calder must’ve warned them of what I would do. Damn him. I knew he couldna be trusted. He was too soft of heart. Too weak.”
She stepped forward and placed her sharp, pointy nail against the main artery in my neck.
“Ye are no longer any use to me, lass. Convince me why I should make yer death painless, and perhaps I shall.”
“Why would you kill me when I’m the only one left who can help free you?”
She did her best to give nothing away, but I didn’t miss the slight twitch of surprise in her brow at my question.
“Free me? As ye just reminded me—ye are a mortal. There is nothing ye can do for me.”
I smiled.
“Yes, there is. I don’t want to die.”
She was understandably skeptical.
“Ye wouldna do it, lass. Ye doona have it in ye to kill him.”
“You’re right. On my own, I don’t have it in me. But I’m a coward, Machara, and no matter how much I care for Raudrich, I really don’t want to die.”
I hesitated and slowly reached up to push her hand away from my throat.
“But it doesn’t matter if I don’t have it in me to kill him, does it? Not when you can make sure that I follow through with my word.”
When she just stared at me, mistrust in her eyes, I continued.
“Why was it that Calder brought me to you? He didn’t want to. He did it because he had no choice. He did it because his oath to you prevented him from doing differently.”
A light sparked in her eyes, and I could see the moment she understood.
