Page 36 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
The man laughed. “You’re going to let me paint the streets with her blood? What a—”
His breath hitched. He looked down at my blade protruding into his abdomen. A fatal shot. I grinned as he sunk to his knees. “Who said I was ever going to let you win?”
“Bitch,” he hissed. Blood trickled down his lips, and he faceplanted onto the ground with a dullthud.
I crouched and pressed my fingers to his neck. No pulse. Good. I rolled him over to get my knife, wiped the blood off using his shirt, and then looked up at Kieran with a scowl. “What the fuck? Why didn’t you help? And who the hell is this?”
Kieran smirked and sauntered over to me. “Andovan assassins, most likely.” He nudged the body with his boot. “Good job.”
“Why didn’t you help?” I gripped my knife, my knuckles whitening.
Kieran’s gaze flicked down to the knife and then my face. “Because I wanted to see what you could do.”
I had half a mind to stab him, and he knew it. But he didn’t care, wasn’t even a little wary despite seeing me stab a man. “Will there be more?”
“Of course.” He took another step. I was so busy looking at his smug little face that I missed his handsswiping my knife. In a blink, he had it pressed against my own throat. My blood ran cold.
“What the—”
“If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead,” he crooned, a wicked glint in his eyes. “If you’re to survive, you’re going to need to be more attentive. Andova’s pissed. Umara claiming you has shifted the balance.” He pressed the knife deeper against my skin. Just when I thought he might slit my throat, he lowered the blade and handed it to me.
I kept my gaze trained on him as I sheathed it in my boot.Asshole.While he might’ve stopped the thug if the fight actually turned lethal, he clearly had no problem putting me in danger. I needed to get stronger. How else would I be able to run away with Clara if I had to rely on Kieran and the others at every turn? “Kick rocks.”
His lips twitched. “What?”
“You heard me.” I raised my chin.
“Childish.” But he still looked amused as he lazily waved his hand, and shadows enveloped the body until nothing remained but a puddle of blood. “We might gain some information from his corpse.”
My arm throbbed.Asshole.But before I could say another word, Nimue stumbled out of the tavern. “You have the best friends,” she said dreamily and swayed where she stood. She frowned when she noticed Kieran and me. “Where’s Ben? Do you think he’s staying?”
Kieran scowled. “One moment.” He flicked his handand shadows crawled through the bar. I heard a shout, and within a minute, shadows dragged Ben by his wrist out of the bar. “We’re leaving. Now.”
“Anti-fun militia,” Ben muttered.
Nimue blinked. “What happened?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.” Nothing I was ready to talk about anyways.Nowhere is safe. I need to remember that.
Nimue poked my cheek. “I told Brynn I’ll send her a raven tomorrow, so we can exchange messages. Does she like roses or something more practical? I want to take her to a restaurant whereshecan be waited on. How does that sound? Do you think she’ll like it?”
I laughed. “We’ll talk about that when you’re not drunk.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When we headed down to the dragon caves the next day, Gareth pulled me back while the others went ahead. “What do you want?” I asked with a sigh. That look meant nothing good.
Gareth frowned. “Today’s exercises will be about acting as a unit, both with your dragon and with the dragonsguard. I know that you haven’t gotten along with everyone—”
“So I’m the problem?”
Gareth barreled over me. “But we need to set that aside now that you’ve been chosen. I know it’s not easy—”
“People repeatedly trying to kill me, yes.”
“Would you stop interrupting?” he snapped, finally losing his patience. I smiled and raised my hands in submission. “What I mean is, our lives depend on each other in the field. We need to trust each other—at least out in the field. I know you’re skeptical, but you haven’t seen what the dragonsguard does. The gryphon stories aren’t exaggerated—they’re a real threat.”
It was hard to deny his earnestness. “I’m not thehostile one. Talk to Aurelia and Kieran. But… I’ll try.” He was like a disapproving mother, and I’d always been weak to a nice attitude. Plus, his words rang truer than ever after last night.Awesome. Both Andova and the nobles want me killed.
