Rhydian’s fists clench by his side. He opens his mouth, but I jump in front of him. I’m standing between him and Iestyn now and the vizier is regarding me with bemused disdain. His eyes flicking over my crumpled nightshirt disdainfully.
It’s too early. I have had no time to research and prepare. I’m not at all ready. But there is no other choice.
“Iestyn, I challenge you to a duel!” I spit quickly before Rhydian can utter a single word.
The vizier’s eyebrows lift. Several of his friends gasp. Behind me, I feel Rhydian recoil as if slapped. Now everyone is staring at me in pure astonishment. As if I’ve suddenly grown two heads.
My stomach heaves. No one is laughing. Rhydian is not dismissing it or forbidding it. My words seem to ricochet around and around the room. Unhindered. Unchallenged. Utterly beyond my ability to recall them.
I force a swallow down my dry throat. I guess that is binding then. I’ve hurtled past the point of no return.
Iestyn’s eye twitches. As if he wants to look at his companions. Oh fuck. The witnesses he has schemed to have here, are now witnesses to my challenge. We are both screwed. He can’t back down even if he wanted to.
He slowly shapes his face into an approximation of a smile. “I accept, Little Pet. I look forward to obliterating you on the full moon.”
Oh fuck. What the fuck have I done?
Chapter thirty-seven
“What have you done?”
Rhydian’s voice is full of anger, but his eyes are brimming with anguish. The door to our rooms has barely shut behind us and he is already yelling at me.
“I stopped you from doing something stupid!” I yell back.
“So you thought you’d do the stupid thing instead of me?”
“Yes!” I exclaim at him, waving my arms about. “I mean, no! You were walking right into Iestyn’s trap, doing exactly what he wanted you to do, like his good little puppet.”
Rhydian’s amber eyes blaze as he strides towards me. One step. Two steps. My body tries to coil away from him. My hands lift up as if they can defend me.
Rhydian freezes suddenly. Falling as motionless as a statue. All the colour drains from his face. He looks stricken. Aghast. Mortified. He blinks slowly and draws in a shuddering breath.
“You are no match for him,” he says softly.
And just like that, all the anger filling the room dissipates. It drifts away like barbeque smoke on a summerbreeze. I shiver and wrap my arms around myself. It is like the rage was heating the room and now it has gone, so has all the warmth.
Rhydian shrugs off his top layer of soft leather and drapes it over my shoulder. It still carries his body heat. And it smells of him. I clutch on to it tightly and look up into his eyes.
He is looking at me with such sorrow. As if I am a condemned man and there is nothing he can do to save me. There is so much pain in his eyes, it is breaking my heart. It is like he is already grieving my loss.
“The full moon is in a couple of days,” he says, his voice straining and hoarse.
My stomach does a mini heave. I’m deducing from everything I’ve heard tonight, that once a challenge is accepted, the duel takes place on the next full moon.
For fuck’s sake. If I had been able to plan this, I would have gone for just after a full moon, so I’d have maximum time to prepare for the next one.
Iestyn the bastard probably planned it this way. But it was supposed to be Rhydian fighting him, not me.
Rhydian shudders. I think he has realised the same thing. And now it really looks as if his eyes are watering. I reach out and take his hand.
“I am human. There are things I can do, that you cannot.”
“Such as?” asks Rhydian, his eyes narrowing.
“Iron. Salt. Rowan wood,” I whisper.
His grip on my hand tightens. His jaw drops. His face goes even paler.
