Oh, I would rip his throat out first.
“I do too,” I breathed, baring my teeth as I unleashed every ounce of my pent-up magic and rage at them.
Chapter thirty-three
Merrick
Onemoment,Esmeraystoodbeside him, taunting ten highly trained gargoyle warriors. Merrick had been calculating the launch behind–down the waterfall. Questioning why she didn’t just grab him and wane back to Sparrow’s. The next moment, she struck as fast as a snake, launching a wave of golden light at their opponents. Three went down immediately as it blasted them apart limb by limb. While his mind had been focused on fleeing, the Queen was certainly not having that same thought.
She waned to Adara’s warriors in the blink of an eye. Merrick caught another flash of gold as her staff appeared in her hand. With deadly accuracy, she whipped the staff towards two more soldiers, and they died where they stood. Her tattooed hand–ending in those deadly nails–slashed across the throat of the next male, his choking cut short as she blasted a hole through his face. Merrick stared, dumbfounded, by the lethal fluidity Esmeray fought with, and was almost caught off guard by two soldiers using the ensuing pandemonium to corner him with his back to the waterfall.
The closest one died first–with Merrick’s dagger through his eye. The dying soldier lashed out, kicking at Merrick’s shin, causing him to stumble back a step. The second gargoyle used the opportunity to slash his sword. Merrick dodged, parrying with his remaining dagger.
Fuck, why didn’t he bring his sword with him?
Merrick’s stance slipped, and he instantly realized how close to falling off the waterfall he was. But as he blocked the soldier’s sword again, his foot landed on the “X” Esmeray had made in the moss. With a snarl, he realized exactly what Esmeray had been doing while he’d been perfecting waterfall jumping.
Bolstered with rage and wild abandon, Merrick allowed his opponent to push him closer to the edge, and Merrick fell–down, down, the spray of water now a familiar friend as he twisted, swept his wings up and around and launched skyward–perfectly straight. The warrior didn’t even have time to process his impending death as Merrick drove the full length of his dagger into the gargoyle’s skull.
Chapter thirty-four
Esmeray
IlefttwoforMerrick to finish off, and watched proudly as he shot up from the waterfall to kill the last of Adara’s cronies. As the body slumped, wings crumpling, I slid my staff back into its pocket of space and crossed the trampled grass over to Merrick. The strain of magic I’d been carrying and building for the last couple days finally eased, and I already felt clearer headed, the incessant ache satiated.
Merrick didn’t seem as relaxed as I was–I could tell by the glare.
“Did youlurethose soldiers here as some sort of fucked upbonding experiencefor us?”
Oh yeah, he was fuming.
“No,” I said truthfully, “I had a feeling Adara would send some band of assholes our way after I knocked our uncle’s pride down several pegs, but I didn’t know when or where they would show up. I smelled them coming, and gave you ample warning.”
“You had afeelingthey were tracking you here,” Merrick’s fuming turned to flat out pissed.
I nodded, wiping the soldier’s blood off my nails onto my red leather top. “I’d much rather they try something here than at Sparrow’s.”
“What if Adara sends more?” Merrick rubbed his face, blood from his hands coating the sides of his cheeks. It took him a moment to register that he now had gore in his beard, and his expression scrunched in disgust.
I looked up at the moon, now fully risen above us, completely uncaring of the battle that was fought below it. I thought back to what Keerian said to me on the last night we had together–the moon will always guide us back to each other.
My sister knew she sent those males to their death, andIknew she wasn’t losing any sleep over it. “She won’t–for a while. If Adara really wanted to lock me up she would’ve sent way more than ten gargoyles. Did you notice how not a single fae was in that pack?”
Merrick blew out a long, rough breath, trudging over to the remaining wine bottle. The fight had pushed it against a tree, half hidden by the longer grasses around the edge of the forest. He ripped the cork out and drank deep before shaking his head in disbelief. “She’s toying with you?”
“I think my uncle was displeased with the general lack of respect I showed his court earlier, and Adara sent those gargoyles as a halfhearted slap on my wrist to appease him.” I reached for the wine bottle. Merrick scowled and took another drag before he handed it over. I tipped the bottle back, taking a swallow, the wine burning as it settled in my stomach.
“I will never understand court politics. Adara knew you could easily kill all ten of those males and sent them anyway. She saw them as disposable.” The deadpan look in Merrick’s eyes made my heart hurt for him.
“I don’t think a single gargoyle life is disposable,” I noted firmly, “and it’s one of the hundreds of reasons I never wanted to rule. I don’t want to hold beings’ lives in my hands–gargoyle, fae or human. I don’t want to explain to parents, friends, why their loved one died, why a mate droppeddead as their lover fought and died in someone else’s war. But I will not take the fall for a crime I didn’t commit, and I won’t pull my punches and risk Keerian’s rescue.”
Merrick squeezed his eyes shut. “I’ve fought in many battles and it never gets easier.”
“It’s not supposed to.” I handed the half empty bottle back to him. “But if I have to fight, I’d want you by my side since you nailed that waterfall jump.”
Merrick looked at me incredulously for a beat before tipping his head back, roaring with laughter. “I can’t believe I tried to kill you this morning.”
I chuckled, one of the first times in months, finally understanding why my mate pushed me to find his friends if everything went to shit.
