Page 121 of Kiss of Fire

“I do not believe she has.”

“I’m not offering you a choice. Leave now while you still can.”

“I will go whenshetells me to go,” Shade said stubbornly. “Not before.”

Black waves started to roll off him, his mood mirrored by his shadow power. Aelfric rose to his feet.

“He’s preparing to attack. Guards!”

The soldiers closest to Shade thrust their swords at him. With a roar, he drove a wall of shadows into them, flinging them through the air. They landed on the guards behind, leaving a dozen winded or unconscious.

Two more ran at him. He grabbed them both by their metal breastplates and smashed them into each other, then threw them aside. He started towards the throne again.

“Ogurs,” Aelfric screamed. “He’s attacking the princess. Protect her.”

The hulking figures lumbered towards Shade. Other soldiers hung back, not wanting to get in their way.

The ogurs stopped in front of the jinn and he looked them up and down.

“I do not suppose you would let me pass if I ask nicely?”

The ogurs frowned. Conversation was not in their repertoire. One raised his club, more or less a tree trunk with nails sticking out of it. He smashed it down towards Shade who sidestepped nimbly.

They were slow. That could work to his advantage. But they were strong. Maybe he could take on one, but two was beyond even his strength.

He’d have to separate them.

He manifested his wings, the outer tips knocking over several lords and ladies watching from the side-lines. A thick tentacle of smoke snaked towards one of the ogurs. He dodged another blow from a club and threw himself into the air. His smoke lasso wrapped around the creature and he dragged him off his feet.

He flew up to the marble ceiling. It wasn’t as high as he’d have liked but it would have to do. The ogur was grunting and writhing in his grip. By the gods, he was heavy.

Down below, his comrade gazed upwards open-mouthed, his face a mask of bovine confusion. Shade dropped his passenger straight onto him.

The sheer weight of the ogur combined with the drop knocked them both out. They lay splayed on the marble floor, cracks now ruining its pristine surface.

Shade landed lightly and threw a taunting look at the throne.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

Aelfric rose to his feet, eyes flashing in fury.

“Kill him.”

From every corner of the palace, soldiers poured towards the jinn.

Shade manifested shadow swords in each hand and fought grimly, wielding his blades with deadly accuracy. His smoke shifted into solid shields to protect his flank from those behind him. With each soldier he dispatched, he gained a little ground towards the throne.

Raya watched his display of deadly grace and something fluttered in her heart. She leaned forward, her breath coming faster.

Aelfric hadn’t expected the jinn to get this far. He was a skilled fighter, of that there was no doubt. But he couldn’t win. Not against him.

He rose from his throne and waved his hand. A phalanx of jet shards hung in the air, light glistening from their razor edges. He let them go.

They flew through the soldiers, some hitting those unfortunate enough to be in their way. Shade saw them at the last second. His blades parried two of them, three, four. But the fifth got through.

It buried itself into his abdomen just above his hip. He sucked in his breath, appalled at how much it hurt. He grabbed the edge of it, meaning to pull it out. But it bucked in his hand like a living thing, driving itself deeper.

Blood spurted, making it too slippery to grip.

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