Regardless of the assistance I don’t need, it will not beat me. I will get my mate back, along with my mortality and my power.
And the Thegn, and all who serve it, will be trampled into the fundament.
Because no one takes what belongs to me and lives.
HAZEL
“If you’re a god, why do you smell like a fish?” I hear myself respond to the Shellycoat.
It would appear my inner landlady can’t help but produce a saucy retort to a pompous arse who needs bringing down a peg or two.
And Beal the Shellycoat falls into the category of the most pompous and annoying of the group. Had he darkened my door as a customer, he would have been instantly barred.
And no doubt slunk away shouting insults.
The Shellycoat sneers at me before turning back to the Thegn.
“You told me I would get what I was promised if I assisted in removing the Brag’s mate from him. I want what I am owed and I want you out of my stronghold.”
“Patience,” the Thegn replies. “Admittedly not your strongest attribute, Beal, but perhaps on this occasion you could have some?”
Beal glowers. I spot his dark eyes have deep glowing embers embedded within them. He is not a monster you would wish to cross.
With a huff of breath, he turns away from the Thegn, and in a clanking of shells, he strides past me and into the rock face.
I gasp at his departure.
“Well, little female…” The Thegn is right next to me, a foul smell emanating from him as he looms over my head.
I have nowhere to go and I shouldn’t have let Beal distract me.
“How about you let me have my sword back,” the Thegn says. “Then perhaps I can return you to your Brag mate and all will be well.”
“How about I stab you, and I go back to Warden without giving you anything?” I suggest.
My heart is pounding, but if the Thegn wants something from me, then potentially I have the opportunity to make a bargain.
But not yet. Somehow I know this isn’t the right time. I’d do anything to get away from the Thegn, to be reunited with Warden…except this is the Yeavering, and nothing is ever as it seems.
Or as easy as it makes out. It’s testing me. I don’t know why. I hardly even know who I am, but the Yeavering wants something from me, and this is how it finds out.
“Feisty,” the Thegn says, patronisingly. “I can see why Warden chose you.”
“How about I chose him?”
“Unlikely, or you’d have never ended up in the Underhill. It’s a place only monsters like the Brag can go.”
I get the feeling the Thegn wants to tell me more, but he’s deliberately probing to find out what I know.
And I’m not inclined to tell him.
“I have a tavern to run and places to be, so unless you have anything else you hope to intimidate out of me, I will be leaving.”
I take a breath and duck past him, racing in the direction the Shellycoat took. There has to be an exit somewhere, providing I don’t run into Beal.
“There’s nowhere to go, little one,” the Thegn calls after me, clearly not interested in giving chase. “Only the Shellycoat and my pet Dunnie, but they’d love to meet you.”
I pull the sword from its sheath, and as I approach the wall Beal seemingly disappeared through like a ghost, I see it is an optical illusion. There is, in fact, a way out of this strange courtyard. I swiftly sidestep it, and it’s as if I can breathe again once I’m away from the Thegn.
