Page 91 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

But there wasn’t a chance that Lara was going to let Taryn die without a fight.

Ignoring Aren’s frantic hand motions to stay put, Lara moved forward in a crouch, picking up speed as she went.

The Maridrinian soldier lifted his sword, readying to swing when Lara burst from the tree line, her knife flying.

Taryn’s eyes widened as the knife sank into the soldier’s sword arm, but a lifetime of training had her catch the man’s weapon as he dropped it.

“Attack!” Aren shouted from behind her, but Lara barely heard, losing herself to this one piece of the battle.

Raising her sword, she stabbed the man who’d slapped Taryn, then rotated to attack the other soldiers surrounding the shipbreaker.

She was outnumbered ten to one, but Lara had never let bad odds stop her before.

Two of them charged, and she ducked beneath one blade, then parried another, keeping between the men and Taryn, who was using the sword to free her bound wrists.

Then Aren was there.

He sliced open the guts of a soldier before twisting to punch another in the face. It was all she had the chance to see before the Maridrinians attacked.

She relied on speed rather than strength, anticipating strikes and moving out of the way only to dance back in for the kill. But she was handicapped by the need to protect Taryn, to keep them away until she was free and could fight.

One of the men punched Lara, and she stumbled, barely evading a strike to her knees. Rolling, she came up to her feet, her eyes latching onto one of the injured soldiers as he lifted his knife.

Holding his guts in with one hand, he stumbled toward Taryn, rage in his eyes.

“No!” Lara threw herself into the man’s path.

Pain burned down the side of her leg, but she ignored it, raising her weapon to block any downward strike.

Only to see Taryn stab the soldier in the face.

The other woman pulled the weapon loose, watching dispassionately as the man fell. Then she met Lara’s gaze, arm wavering as she lifted her sword. Ready to strike.

Lara didn’t move.

But Taryn only said, “Killing you won’t change anything,” and without another word, she ran into the fray.

49

Aren

Gamire was liberated.

It was one island out of dozens, but the victory felt as sweet as any he’d ever had. The Ithicanian prisoners who had been kept on the island were, if not well, at least alive, and Aren had allowed them the satisfaction of executing their captors.

“We thought you were dead,” he said to Taryn, filling her cup with wine, noticing how the hand that held it trembled. “Lia saw the stone hit your boat. You went under. Didn’t come up. If we’d known you were alive—”

“I managed to swim to the cove.” Her words were toneless. “They decided I had more worth as a prisoner than as a corpse.”

And Maridrinians were notoriously hard on their prisoners. Aren knew that firsthand. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Why is she here, Aren? Why isn’t shedead?”

“A lot has happened that you don’t know about. Things have changed.” He exhaled in frustration. “Lara saved your life, Taryn. Despite everything she’s done, can you at least be grateful for that?”

It was the wrong thing to say. A stupid thing to say. Aren knew it the moment the words exited his mouth, though Taryn confirmed it by tossing her wine in his face.

“She ruined my life!” she screamed. “It would’ve been better if she’d stabbed me in the heart!”

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