Page 70 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
But I deserved respect nonetheless. White-hot rage filled my tiny little frame until it seemed as if my skin would split from the pressure of it trying to escape. My vision narrowed, and everything slowed.
Silent as a cat, I prowled up behind the Fury as she readied her weapon, a very shortened pike with a sharp point and hooked blade on one side. One swift thrust and she would bury it in Belial’s back.
If I didn’t do anything.
The shaft came back. I grabbed it and pivoted, the unexpected movement tossing the Fury to the side. I shrieked at her and, with a mighty twist, wrenched it free of her grasp, toppling the woman to the floor.
She instantly recovered, coming at me in a rush as I tried to bring the weapon to bear. Gripping the shaft, we wrestled back and forth, glaring, snarling, and spitting at one another, each trying to get the upper hand.
I saw the head-butt coming a second before she whipped her head forward. I fell back and twisted, taking a glancing blow from her helmet instead of a knockout blow. Using the movement, I let myself hit the floor, bringing my knees to my chest. The Fury was pulled with me, unwilling to let go.
When my feet lashed out and hit her in the stomach, however, she was tossed into the ceiling, smashing against it. I whipped the pike around just as the stunned warrior fell, dropping long enough to screech in panic before the point punched through her armor and out her back.
However, she didn’t immediately die. Her arms lashed out at me as she sank farther onto the blade, blood pouring out both sides of the wound high in her stomach. Tilting the spear to the side, I let her hit the floor, just out of my reach.
Behind me, Belial bellowed as something crashed into the wall in a clatter of broken stone.
Other guards were coming, their booted feet hammering against stone as they raced toward the sound of battle. I got to my feet, hurriedly slamming the base of my cheap shoes against the Fury, battering her face until she stopped moving. Grimacing at what I had to do next, I gripped the weapon and pulled it from her stomach, trying not to vomit at the sucking sound as it came free or the slickness of the grip, coated as it was in her blood.
“Here,” Belial growled.
I turned to see him holding the other Fury’s weapon while her corpse toppled in two behind him, each half going in opposite directions. His other hand held the glowing battle axe he’d wielded in the courtroom.
“Where the hell do you hide that thing?” I asked, accepting the clean weapon while wiping my bloodstained hands on my shirt. I guess I wouldn’t be able to return it anymore.
“Magic,” he said, looking past me at the downed Fury. “Careful.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
In response, he waved his hand at the air until it shimmered, and I could see myself in the reflection. I gasped, seeing the yellow eyes looking back at me. Those weren’t mine at all.
“You draw on my power,” Belial said. “The more you draw …”
“The more of you I take into me,” I whispered, repeating what he’d told me earlier. I had forgotten about it in the heat of battle.
“I feel your rage, your bloodlust,” he said, putting a hand over my heart. “Control yourself, Lily. You must stay in control, or else you will lose yourself.”
Control. I could be controlled.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly through my lips. Some of the boiling anger coursing through my veins subsided. But not much.
Then there was no more time to talk. Furies rushed us from all sides. Seven of them in total, each holding a deadly blade.
“Not the best odds,” I said, feeling exposed and vulnerable, confronting many trained warriors.
I was going to die. My first fight had been won through a combination of surprise and blind luck.
“Lily,” Belial said, his back to me.
“Yes?” I asked, wanting to turn and look at him. Something was off about his voice.
“I’m not sure how to say this.”
“Put your weapons down!” one of the Furies shrieked at a painfully loud decibel. “Now!”
“Say what?” I asked once the ringing in my ears faded.
“I think I’m in love with you.”
