I could see him soon. I could feel his arms wrapped around me. I could feel safe.
Those thoughts spurred me into a jog, wanting to see him,needingto see him.
The closer I got, I heard more Dakkari words filter through the forest. I was gaining on—
My breath left me when I was suddenly tackled from the side, the cool bulk of a Ghertun pinning me down.
I hit the groundhardand my burned, already injured shoulder knocked against a nearby boulder. I felt apopat the joint.
My scream echoed through the forest.
“Human bitch,” the Ghertun leader hissed in my face, making to reach for the dagger in my hand, though I struggled underneath him. “You will pay for their lives.”
In the distance, I heard a roar shake the forest.
Relief.Arokan. I knew it was him.
That knowledge filled me with determination and I swiped out the dagger quickly, managing to cut down the leader’s arm. He hissed in surprise but when I made to stab his belly, he rolled off me to avoid it and I used that opportunity to jump to my feet.
I began to run—
Only to land facedown when he grabbed my ankle, my teeth chattering together, my lip splitting. My shoulder twinged and I cried out, feeling him grab higher on my leg.
I rolled and saw that the leader was trying to pull himself up. I kicked, thrashing. I connected with his face. His grip loosened on my legs. I kicked him again with my other leg, finally managing to break free.
I felt the ground begin to vibrate. I recognized it. I knew that thepyrokiwere approaching fast, a lot of them by the sounds of it. I heard the echo of it grow louder and louder.
I jumped to my feet and looked at the Ghertun leader lying on the earth. He seemed to recognize that his time was limited. He heard the Dakkari coming, same as I.
“Surrender,” I gasped, trying to catch my breath, holding out the dagger, keeping my eyes on him, “and your life might be spared.”
He let out that awful laugh. “Even you know that’s not true, human.” I tensed when his arms flexed, when he prepared to push off the ground. “I will take my chances withyou.”
He lunged. Though I saw it coming, though I wasready, I was unprepared for his speed and he knocked the dagger out of my hand before I even blinked.
Behind me, I heard apyrokiburst into the clearing. The Ghertun’s eyes widened and he stumbled back, prepared to flee. I turned and saw Arokan swinging off Kailon, his blade already unsheathed.
The Ghertun didn’t make it far.
With a furious roar, my horde king swung his sword, plunging it into the leader’s belly, right where his heart was. He was dead the moment it penetrated.
The leader immediately fell facedown, but Arokan was already turning to me, the dead Ghertun already forgotten.
His expression was thunderous. His eyes were wild, his chest heaving with roughened breaths, Ghertun blood splattered across his chest and face.
My lips parted. I’d never seen my horde king so…undone.
Relief made tears prick my eyes as his arms came around me, swinging me up against his chest. I bit my lip when my shoulder pulled and he gentled his strength when he noticed me holding it peculiarly.
“Luna,” he rasped in my ear. He was shaking, the muscles in his arms and shoulders and chest vibrating with the adrenaline coursing through him. “Luna.”
Just then, the rest of the horde warriors broke through the clearing, surrounding us.
“There were f-five,” I told him. “I killed one earlier.”
Arokan’s expression pulled and he turned to hispujerak, whose eyes I caught. Arokan’s arms tightened around me as he said, “There is one more. Do not return until he is dead.”
Thepujerakinclined his head. He called out to the horde warriors and they rode out. They would comb through the forest, I knew. They wouldn’t stop until Arokan’s orders were carried out.
