Sonara saw, then, the snaking line of guards pouring up the single road. She heard the thunderous symphony of hoofbeats hitting stone, as guards came atop their steeds, weapons glinting in the dying sunlight.
One road out of the castle; straight towards the guards.
“Jax,” Sonara said softly. “There’s a hundred of them, and two of us.”
“Not great odds,” he admitted. “We should have let Markam come.”
“No,” Sonara hissed. “We’d be twice damned if he was with us.”
“Sonara, I can’t use my curse anymore,” Jaxon groaned. There was a darkness beneath his eyes; the heavy exhaustion of having used his power to free them from the guards in the throne room.
Sonara looked at him, the weary smile on his handsome scarred face. He’d fight as long as she did, and in the end they wouldbothend up in chains, sent to Deadwood to die.
She checked the horizon. Trickster or not… Markam was hiding beyond the city walls, waiting for them with their mounts. He would hear the bells and come—ofcoursehe would come, when he assumed they’d gotten their hands on the prize. But the sky was still empty. How long until Markam noticed the commotion and soared for them on his mount? How quickly could his wyvern fly?
Not fast enough,Sonara’s conscience whispered.
In her mind, she saw a pair of cool, sea-blue eyes paired with a prince’s smile.
Soahm.
She’d lost him, then.
She wouldn’t lose another brother now, even if Jaxon wasn’t her blood.
“Five days,” Sonara said as she lifted Gutrender and admired the perfect blade.
Jaxon raised a brow.Confusionflickered from his aura on a gust of wind.Sonara’s head pulsed with pain at the sudden use of her curse. “What?”
She swallowed and faced him head on. “When they take me, Jax… I’ll have only five days before the prison wagon reaches the north. Don’t trust Markam too much. And… don’t make me wait that long.”
Before he could protest, she rammed the pommel of Gutrender atop his head.
He dropped like a stone.
Sonara dragged him, grunting from his unconscious weight, to the thick thorny bushes surrounding the castle and shoved him behind them. She placed Gutrender on his chest; a prize she could not afford to lose. Then she dragged two dead guards atop him, so if found, Jaxon would only be mistaken as carrion for the birds.
Sonara stepped back and admired her quick work. Darkness would fall soon, and he’d be well hidden until he woke. By then, Markam would have come and plucked him from harm.
Sure enough, she could see the ghostly outline of a black speck in the distance, taking to the skies. For once, he was reliable.
Sonara faced the guards, taking up one of the fallen blades.
The sound of hoofbeats heightened as the guards in the front of the cavalry thundered into the courtyard, surprise on their faces as they beheld her, alone.
A blue-haired beauty practically dripping blood-red.
The first guard was easy to take out. He fell from his steed in a burst of blood, and in a blink, she swung upwards into the saddle and yanked the reins to the right, swiftly kicking the beast into a lope and riding right back towards the rest of the guards.
They’d take her alive, soon enough.
Until then… Sonara gripped her sword, and prayed to the goddesses that her plan, however futile, would work.
Chapter 3
THREE DAYS LATER
The Northern Road
