“Hand him over, knight.” A man then came into view, coming from the direction Quincy had been hit. He walked as if he were gliding. “Or die.”
The threat in his words contracted the somewhat impassive tone used to say them. He had a dainty build. About my height and small-framed.
“You!” I pointed at him. “You’re the one who bumped into me at the ball.”
I hadn’t seen his face, but I recognized his build.
“Of course it was me,” he said, still in that nonchalant tone. “No one else could’ve done it better.”
“How old are you, like, twelve?”
“Eighteen.” He stopped gliding, his expression veering on bored. Closer now, I saw more of his features. Violet eyes and hair the shade of honey. Pointed ears protruded from his hair, and his porcelain skin seemed to shimmer along his cheeks and down his neck. “Why do you ask.”
The question didn’t sound like a question, lacking the necessary inflection.
“Akito,” Stryder greeted him. “Mind helping me out of these chains?”
“How interesting,” Akito said in a voice suggesting anything but. “You’ve found yourself captured once again. If only one of us had been sent in your place from the very beginning. Then we wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
With a wave of his hand, there was a clink. The chain then broke apart, the pieces falling to the ground. Stryder vanished in the blink of an eye and reappeared beside Akito.
“How—” Draven whirled around to them, pulling two daggers from his wrist cuffs.
Akito sent the daggers flying in the opposite direction with a mere flick of his fingers. “The rest of you. Seize the target. I despise wasting time.”
All hell then broke loose for the second time that night.
Chapter Thirteen
Follow the Flowers
The dark figures all rushed forward.
“Protect our prince!” Duke roared. He, Baden, and Quincy took position around me and Maddox.
Lake pushed Briar closer to us before he and Rowan stood back-to-back, sweeping their gazes across the approaching mercenaries. Callum slashed at one, sending them stumbling back with a pained string of curses.
Reign withdrew the silver dagger from his hip and sliced the air.
No, not the air. The mercenary moved too fast for my eye to follow. But Reign missed nothing. He darted to the side before the tree trunk behind his head exploded in a shower of splinters. His dagger then collided with the mercenary’s.
“You can slink around in the dark, but can you fight?” she asked with an exhilarated smile. The sides of her head were buzzed, and the top was braided down her back.
Reign slashed at her, nicking her on the bicep before she could dodge. “You tell me.”
She laughed and pulled another blade from the sheath. “Then, let’s dance.”
The two of them sliced, spun, and kicked, moving so fast they looked like blurs.
Draven crouched down low before I lost sight of him.
More flashes illuminated the dark as spells were cast. The knights blocked some of it with their shields and took some hits upon themselves when the shields weren’t enough. Protecting us.
“Put me down,” I told Maddox.
“No.”
“You can’t fight or defend yourself with me in your arms.”
