She ignored him in favor of sliding forward another inch.
Eric and Ellen shared a glance, smirking at her. “Of course. You come here and we’ll let the rest go.”
Shea kept any derision she felt off her face, pretending to believe their words. They needed to think her weak and beaten.
Trenton moved next to her, the motion sharp and aborted as she swung her head toward him, giving him a look of warning.
He subsided, unhappy. This must be pricking at every instinct he had, letting the person he was supposed to be protecting take the risks.
She moved forward another few steps, her eyes on the one in the middle. The man in charge. She wanted to see his face. Needed it.
“Lift your hood,” Shea said.
Ellen’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not the one giving orders, traitor.”
Eric looked her over with a derisive smile. “He’s a little shy. You’ll find out who he is soon enough.”
Shea stopped. By now, there were only a few feet separating her from them. She still stood on the stone circle, but grass and wild flowers brushed the tips of her boots. She knew without looking that both Trenton and Braden stood poised and ready to spring forward in a split second.
That should be close enough.
“Why do you want me?” she asked. She needed to make them believe she was defeated, believe it so utterly they would drop their guard.
“To make you pay for your crimes,” Ellen said, her voice filled with righteousness.
Shea tilted her head, her gaze assessing as she studied the other woman. She recognized her. Granted, it had been a few years and Ellen had been much younger the last time she’d seen her, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, her face filled with agony and rage as she cursed Shea over her sick bed.
“Your brother died in the Badlands,” Shea said, coming to a realization.
“And now you’ll pay for your pride,” Ellen spat.
“Hmm. I don’t know about that,” Shea said, struggling to remember who the woman’s brother had been. A big blank was all that greeted her. She remembered every person on that mission, but for the life of her she couldn’t put this woman with any of them. “Your brother was a lazy sot who made a mistake that ended his life.”
The words acted like a physical blow, the woman’s eyes widening as her mouth dropped open in a wordless scream. Ellen flew at Shea, crossing those last few precious feet Shea needed.
In her rage, she forgot the power of the weapon in her hands, using it like one might a club as she swung it at Shea’s head. Anger gave Ellen strength and speed.
Shea’s training made her just a bit faster. Fast enough that she ducked the first swing, palming a dagger as she grabbed Ellen’s arm and pulled the woman in front of her, using her as a shield.
Eric’s boomer fired. Ellen’s chest blossomed with red as she made a surprised grunt, blood welling in her mouth.
The Trateri behind her let out a bloodcurdling cry, a sound that struck fear into the hearts of their enemies on the battle ground.
Eric shifted his aim toward her friends. Shea let the woman’s weight fall, snatching her boomer out of her hands and aiming it at Eric in a smooth movement. She fired.
He jerked back, red appearing on his shoulder. He straightened, his face a mask of rage. She drew the sword from the sheath at her side, the boomer in her other hand as she raced for Eric, her body struggling for every scrap of speed she could summon as he moved past the pain, leveling his boomer at her.
She planted one foot, using it to spring sideways as he fired. The projectile brushed past her and then she was on him in the next instant, her arm moving in a technique Trenton had had her perform endlessly, her sword cutting through his side. There was a slight resistance as her sword bit through flesh and then it was free in a spray of blood.
She didn’t have to look to know he was dead, or would be shortly.
The moment of violence was short-lived, over in the time it took to take a few breaths.
Shea stood panting, unable to believe it had been so easy to take two lives. Trenton and Braden reached her in the next second, their attention already turning to the third man.
“Don’t even think it,” Reece said as the man lifted the beast call to his lips. “You’ll be dead before any beast reaches you.”
Trenton’s face was a dark mask that promised death regardless of the man’s next actions.
