The man laughed. “Did I hit a nerve?”
Kai crossed her knife and sword. “I only kneel to bury the dead. You’re next, foreigner.”
Their blades clashed. He pressed forward with brutal force, driving her back.
She swept a leg at his knees?—
He jumped it, sword slicing down in reply.
She twisted sideways just in time. Arced her knife, catching his shoulder.
He leapt back?—
His hand came away from his shoulder coated in blood. “Your blades are sharp.” He met her eyes. “But you bleed like everyone else.”
“Then pray I never bleed foryou. It means your gods have run.”
His next blows came fast. Calculated. Each one meant to break her guard.
Kai gritted her teeth, matching him beat for beat until their hilts locked between them. Their faces hovered inches apart. Breath steaming.
He feinted left?—
His blade sliced up along her side, carving a shallow line.
Pain seared through Kai’s flank. She hissed, stumbled. The sounds of the distant battle gave way to the rapid heartbeat in her ears. Her breath caught in a sharp rasp. Blood seeped warm down her hip, sticky in the cold.
Every instinct screamed at her to drop, to stop.
But she wasn't raised to fall.
The commander advanced, swordraised?—
Kai parried his blow with her knife, and the clash reverberated up her arm. She spun through it and slammed the knife upward into his belly. There was a give as cloth and muscle tore.
She drove him to the ground, her knee against his chest.
His fingers clutched at her, scrabbling, trembling.
She pressed the blade to his throat?—
And froze.
His men may have answers to her questions, butthis manwould have more. Under the right circumstances, he may even name his ally inside the mountain.
“Kai.” Otekah’s tone came from just behind, filled with questions and concerns.
Kai rose, her ribs throbbing, her gash creating a red wash over her leather and soaking her furs. She looked down at him—bloodied, broken, and glaring up like she hadn’t won.
Her breath shook once in her throat. “Bind this man.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Nine days.
That’s how long Selene had been falling into the same damned pond.
