Page 91 of Marked By the Dark Lord
“She’s going to be mine,” Kraw’ok said, a hint of frustration in his voice as the fight continued and I didn’t speak. “I’ll get her with child. Born of my seed, deep in her body.”
If he expected that to make me mad, he was right. But I harnessed that anger and poured it into the speed of my blade. Snarling, I went on the offensive for the first time, driving him back.
Upthe hill we went, my sword darting left and right, striking like lightning. I sent magic surging into the blade, the edge peeling a sliver straight out of his blade as I struck downward from overhead, forcing my brother to backpedal and turn his sword over to present the unspoiled edge.
“There’s something you need to know,” I stated as I drove him back through the gates, muscles bunched with fury. “Something I want everyone to hear. So that there is no confusion, now or going forward.”
Kraw’ok tried to use magic, but I attacked faster, preventing him from focusing enough to release it.
“I say this now,” I called loudly, my voice carrying to the soldiers and the crowd beyond the gates. “So that all will know and understand the consequence. Let it be clear.”
“Justdiealready!” Kraw’ok jeered, interrupting me. “Then I will take my prize.”
I swatted the sword out to the side and planted a boot in his chest, sending him hurtling backward through a stone sculpture in the middle of a nearby garden.
“SHE IS MINE!” I howled at the top of my lungs, pointing at Mila.
My magic surged out, snatching her from where she was and yanking her over to me. I met her, my free arm holding her clear of the ground as I kissed her long and hard, bending her over to dip her. Her arms wrapped around my neck, and she held on tight.
With a roar, Kraw’ok came at me, sword held high.
I brought my blade up to block the mighty strike.
And our blades shattered on impact, pieces scattering everywhere. Behind me, Mila hissed in surprise.
My brother reacted first, chopping down on my wrist, sending the hilt and a few inches of blade flying off. I backed up, but his magic caught my heel and tripped me. It was such a simple move, so casual and basic. I never saw it coming. I went down, and he was on me in a flash, the six inches or so that remained of his blade slicing down toward my throat.
I grabbed his wrists and held on, trying to push him back. We stayed locked in combat, my strength against his leverage. I was bigger, but he had the better position.
Slowly but surely, the blade dropped toward my neck, ready to slice it open to my spine. Kraw’ok knew it, and he grinned.
“I have you now,” he spat.
“Almost,” I said. “But you forgot one thing.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“He’s mine,” Mila snarled just as she drove my sword through his chest from behind, the very tip of the shortened blade emerging from the other side, blood pouring down its jagged edge and onto me.
Chapter Forty-Three
Mila
Kraw’ok had a moment to gasp, his body going stiff. Then a blade of pure energy extended from Korr’ok’s forearm, and he took the head from his brother’s body in one sharp motion.
Grunting, he tossed the body aside and stood rapidly to tower over me, leaning down and examining my face.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, not entirely able to keep composed, worry slipping through.
I covered a smile under the guise of touching the wound on my forehead, well aware it was bleeding profusely. I tore a piece off half his shirt and pressed it to the wound, holding it firm.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him, somehow stirred by the sight of his firm stomach under the ragged hem of his shirt, despite the blood streaming down my right side. “Just a piece of the blade.”
“Are you sure? Did he hurt you? Touch you somehow? Anything?”
“I’m fine,” I repeated, my body on fire, and not all of it from the shard that had cut me wide. When I’d gone flying across the battlefield, only to be kissed like that in front of everyone, Korr’ok had awoken something in me that wasn’t about to go away anytime soon.
But it wasn’t just my body. In my mind, something hadclicked. A realization, perhaps, one I hadn’t realized I was waiting for.
