“Yeah? Well, I want this one too,” says Rigor.
I exchange a glance with Kari. “You’re a popular choice. I’d be almost offended, if we weren’t being leered at by two thugs.”
Her cheeks burn, but fear paints shadows in her eyes. “I think it’s the blood down the front of your gown.”
I grin at that. It’s not the blood. “I think it’s because you’re beautiful. And you have curves in all the right places. Meanwhile, all I have is a knife.”
Rigor glances at me as if surprised to find I am, in fact, holding a knife. Thought flickers through his dark eyes. “We’re definitely flipping for the redhead.”
Apparently, he doesn’t have an appreciation for the type of woman who can run down a deer, skin it, and butcher it. Especially when she might just do the same to him. Coward.
“Or maybe,” growls a deeper voice from the shadows of a third exit, “I’ll take both.”
“Tsk, tsk,” says a second newcomer, casually juggling balls of light in his hands as he strolls out of another entrance. “Is that any way to greet a new bride? Slaith, you need to make an entrance. Do a little wooing. Attempt to string more than three words together without drooling.”
Tossing a glowing orb in the air, he flexes his fingers and it explodes in a shower of glittering white sparks.
Fourof them. There are four of them.
I crouch lower, because this might become… difficult. A swift glance shows me the hedges. My sister, Aylin, used to say that as a child I climbed everything that came across my path. I could be gone within ten seconds, but I can’t leave Kari behind me.
“Mine,” growls the creature called Slaith, lumbering forward with a spear in his hand. A single bushy eyebrow stretches across his head. I ease back as his shadow falls over us.
Is he… nine feet tall?
The mage grins and holds his hands out in as if to say,I tried.
“Oursss,” hisses the lizard man.
He and Rigor turn toward the newcomers.
“We staked our claim first,” Rigor growls, drawing his sword. “These brides are ours.”
My mind races. Two against two. I like those odds better. I just need them distracted, and then I can move in for the kill.
“Doweget a choice?” I demand.
“Darling,” says the mage, his smile softening. “I am more than happy to give you a choice. Out of the four of us, which one would you prefer?”
Rigor drives a punch straight through the man’s nose. The mage’s head snaps back, blood and teeth spraying everywhere. His remaining orbs implode upon each other, and suddenly we’re lost in darkness again.
Mayhem ensues.
“See how he punched, driving the force through his knuckles?” I yell at Kari, tapping my knuckles and showing her a proper fist. “Do that next time!”
Then I launch forward, swiftly hamstringing Rigor.
He goes down with a howl, and I throw myself over the top of him in a roll, coming up to face Slaith.
Towering over me, he swings the spear with casual disdain. If he grabs me, I’m as good as dead—but he’s big, slow, and underestimates me. His mistake.
I grab the shaft of the spear, swinging a stinging kick into his fingers as I yank it past me. He yelps and releases it as I dive under the shaft of the spear, spinning and taking it with me.
Mine.
“Now you’re in trouble.” My grin must look maniacal, for he backs away as I twirl the spear in a loose-wristed circle. It feels like an old friend in my hands. The knife, the spear, the bow… These are my weapons, my precious little flirtations. I’m no novice with a sword, but I prefer something that can keep my prey at bay. Close quarters when you’re only 5’7” can be dangerous.
Behind me, a cacophony of magic explodes in violent colors.
