I stilled. I couldn’t give away that I already had one. I fake-rummaged through the pack and lifted the other knife. On closer inspection, I’d never seen a blade like this—it was sharp with a fine enough balance, but there was a strange bump on the hilt.
Poorly designed.
The Prince grinned, waving me away. I made a great show of moving into the forest, but I kept to the shadowy edges. I bided my time, waiting for the growing dark before I stalked him. I kept one arm over my mouth to hide my breathing and kept my steps to the soft, silent grass. The Prince had his back to me.
I lunged.
I grabbed him around the collar, pressing the knife to his throat right as he fell to his knees. I placed my heel at the instep of his foot, pinning him into place.
“Aren’t you going to ask if I have any last words?” he gasped.
“You just uttered them. Toss out the ruby.”
But he only smirked. “Anything for you, fair princess.”
He reached into his pocket and threw out… a piece of colored glass. A decoy.
“Where is the real ruby?”
He shrugged. “Must have dropped it.”
“It must be on your person. Give it.”
“Go ahead and search every inch of my body,” he said, winking. “In fact, keep me alive for that.”
I pressed the blade harder and a thin line of blood seeped from the metal. The Prince winced and then smiled.
“Try,” he said.
I was done with this. I pressed the blade harder and felt a slight give in the hilt. Like a sigh. One half-push later and the blade snapped off, falling into the grass. The Prince snatched the blade, rolled away from me and shook the dirt from his hair.
“Clever, isn’t it?” he said, tossing it behind him. “My own design. Took me about a year to perfect the mechanics. Any killing pressure breaks the blade.”
I stared at the useless hilt in my hand. “You gave me a fake blade?”
“And showed you a fake ruby,” he added. His eyes met mine and he grinned. “What were you going to do, Princess, kill me and sell the ruby? Raise an army on your own?”
My mouth fell open.
“Trust me, I have no desire to work with you, but the ruby led me to you and you fit the description. Think of what we could dotogether,” he said. “We could use magic. But you’d rather close your eyes to all that in exchange for a couple of mercenaries?”
I growled, stalking toward him. “A blade would have been a more merciful death for you.”
Hesitancy flashed in his eyes. He took one step backward into the Chakara Forest. I followed, ignoring how magic soaked the air, reaching for me, whisperingyes, yes, yes.
Vikram held up his hands. “Consider the possibilities—”
A flash of gold glinted in the trees. Air rushed past me. Vikram paused. I snapped my head in the direction of whatever sailed toward us. I squinted. A ball? A rock? I ducked out of the way just in time to catch the thing in my palm.
A golden apple sat in my hand. Its rind was as burnished as a miniature sun. Not just golden.
It was pure gold.
Vikram stared. “Is that—”
The branches overhead snapped. Sharp monkey laughter split the air, cawing and cackling. A hundred apricots, cherries and split guavas rained from the sky. Through the veil of fruit, I caught the shape of three creatures. I scanned the trees. Nothing else joined them. I thought monkeys traveled in huge packs, but these three were acting as a hunting group. Or a band of soldiers.
I tried dropping the golden apple and reaching for a stick on the ground to scare them off, but it clung to my palm as if it had grown tiny burs. Honey seeped from the rind.
