My breath caught. I didn’t meanliterallywhat was she playing at.
“Fallon!” I whisper-yelled, but she didn’t budge.
“I’m all ears, lass.”
She straightened, propped her sword on her shoulder, and approached him. The only sounds were the fire’s crackle and River’s low growl at the man she cornered against a tree.
“If you win, I’ll make your dreams come true.”
She cut his whistle off. Fallon pointed her finger in the air.
“But if I win, you tell me exactly why you’ve become a traitor to Arya.” The smirk on the man’s face dropped. “And what is it you need to drop at their—soiree? Is that what your guy called it?”
“No deal.”
“Aw. Afraid you’ll lose?”
For the next few moments, it was pure silence. Only the sound of dragon wings above us and the crackling fire signaled how long it took before the man said—
“Take them.”
Blades sang.
The clash was instantaneous. The men lunged like wolves unleashed, weapons glinting in the firelight. Fallon was a blur beside me, meeting steel with steel, her movements sharp, controlled, and devastating. She moved like someone born to fight, and maybe she was.
Rhodes pushed the men guarding him with a flash of flames while controlling it enough not to set the entire forest on fire. Nash did the same on his side, but with a wave of water that appeared from his hands. Rhodes pivoted, catching a dagger midair with the flat of his sword before driving his boot into the attacker’s chest.Nash had two short swords, twirling them like extensions of his arms, carving through the chaos with precision.
I stood there.
Frozen.
“You either kill or be killed. It’s your life or theirs. What will you choose?”
The sound of Fallon’s voice in my head, much like Lakota’s, startled me. My sword raised just in time to block the first blow aimed at my head. The impact rattled through my bones. I twisted, brought the hilt of my blade up into the man’s jaw, and when he staggered, I drove my shoulder into his gut, sending us both crashing to the ground.
I rolled off him, kicked my legs under me, and stood just in time to see another charging. His war-cry split the air—and cut off when River tore into him from the side. Blood sprayed onto the ground as she tossed him aside as if he were made of straw.
The ground shook beneath me, knocking me off my feet as Lakota and Noemi landed from the sky, toppling the trees over in their path. They prowled amongst the men, using their talons, spiked tails and teeth to tear through our attackers.
Fallon met the leader head-on. Their blades clanged with each blow, sparks flying. He was stronger, broader, but she was faster. Smarter. She ducked under his swing and slashed across his thigh.
He roared and struck again, barely missing her ribs.
Another man charged me, axe raised. I stood up and dodged left, swung low, and caught his knee. He screamed, collapsed—but he didn’t hesitate. He flicked a dagger in the air, grazing the outside of my thigh.
I shrieked but kept attacking him with the knowledge Fallon had taught me so far. There was no time to think about the warm, sticky blood running down my leg.
Time slowed, but everything moved too fast.
Metal clashed around me—too loud, too close. Sparks flew in the dark, and every time I turned my head, someone was inches from death. My breath caught in my throat like it didn’t know whether to stay or flee. I couldn’t tell if the screams were theirs or mine.
Rhodes—his blade swung wide, shielding Nash like a wall of muscle and fury. Fallon, too close to the enemy leader, her cocky grin cracking at the edges. I wanted to scream at her to get back, to stop playing with him like this was a game. But my voice was gone, swallowed by the sound of bodies hitting dirt.
I could barely keep my grip on the sword. It wasn’t fear making my hands shake—it was knowing. Knowing that this could be the last time I saw any of them breathing. Knowing that if I froze, even for a second, it could cost a life.
But it wasn’t my life I’m worried about losing. No, I haven’t felt the survival instinct to protect myself since Laney died in my arms. It’s the ones around me that fueled my next motions.
A man lunged toward me, and I moved without thinking—blocked, twisted, hit back. The sword did something brutal. He fell. He didn’t get up. My stomach turned, but I didn’t let myself feel it. Not yet. Not now.
