Bodies twitching, eyes vacant, knives still clutched in their grips but entirely useless, they stared upward unseeing.
Calmly, Kole sheathed his sword, the sound of it sliding into place with deafening precision ringing through the Wood.
The Imperial Council Warrior and I stared at one another, and then he said so calmly that it made me shiver, “What in the galaxy do you think you’re doing?”
CHAPTER SIX
Kole’s cool tone registered just as he crouched and pulled two sets of cuffs from the back of his waistband. Blue glowing magic flared around them, their energy crackling. Kole secured the cuffs around the males’ wrists, and a satisfying spark emitted from them when he locked them closed, but neither male gave any indication to the fact that their magic had just been suppressed or their limbs restricted. They still stared unseeing, my magic rendering them unconscious.
Frozen in place, I struggled to understand what was happening and what I’d just done.
As before, Kole moved quietly and purposefully until he was towering over me, his shoulders so broad they blocked the moonlight that filtered through the canopy. Dark hair ruffled in the breeze, one lock slipping down to brush his eyebrow.
All I could do was stare at him.
“Why did you intervene?” His gaze was penetrating.Unnerving. “You put yourself at risk by doing so, and things could have ended very differently because of it.”
“I . . . I didn’t risk myself.”
“No? And what if one of those males had turned on you?”
Some of the shock of the situation faded, and I stood up straighter. “Well, I handled it, didn’t I? Even if one had turned on me, that wouldn’t have changed the outcome.”
“But that still doesn’t answer my question.Whydid you do it?” He continued to stare at me intensely, and when a breeze kicked up, his scent wafted around me.
I tried not to inhale. Tried not to notice the alluring aroma clouding around me, of cedar, pine, and the sea. The scent was uniquely him, and it was impossible to ignore. Gods and Goddesses, but Kole smelledsogood. Amazingly so.
But even though I wanted to soak up his scent like parched soil in a desert, his unrelenting stare took precedence. Once again, just like this morning, he watched me in a way that was unnerving.
I fiddled with my fingers even though I was trying not to fidget. “Because you...” My mouth opened and closed as I struggled to fully answer his question. “Because one jumped behind you, and it looked like he was going to sink his blade into your back. I thought you were about to be—” I stopped mid-sentence and realized how ridiculous I sounded.
I could have sworn his lips twitched. “You were concerned for my well-being?”
I ducked my head, my cheeks flaming. “I don’t know. I just acted. I suppose I didn’t bother to think why.”
I glanced upward, expecting to see Kole’s annoyance. Most fae males took pride in their strength, especially those trained in combat. Having a fae female, half his size nonetheless, jump to his rescue was likely to wound whatever ego he possessed.
But the sour look I expected to find was absent. And his earlier humor had vanished too. Once again, his expression was like reading a blank page.
A moment passed, only the breeze whispering through my ears.
Finally, Kole canted his head. “Do you really think I’ve never fought two males at the same time before? That I don’t know how to handle myself?”
His question was asked blandly, as if he truly was curious to hear if I thought him so weak, and that even if I did, his self-confidence was robust enough not to care.
“Well, now that you mention it...” I offered a wavering smile, hoping to lighten the mood or at least get a smile from him. “I suppose you’re probably capable of such a feat. Otherwise, you likely wouldn’t have your job.”
He tilted his head more. “And what job is that?”
“I’m assuming you’re a warrior for the Imperial Council, since the kingsfae back in Whiteolf bowed to you, and you know, your last name is Swordwielder, and you’re carrying that”—I gestured to the sword at his back—“huge monstrosity, along with those blue cuffs you just slapped on those two.”
He shrugged, neither confirming nor denying my suspicions of his employment. But hehadto work for the Imperial Council. It was well known that their warriors had been assigned surnames that suited their task. If one heard a name such as Swordwielder, Bladeslicer, Flamethrower, and so forth, it was a pretty good indication that their employer ran the covert group of warriors that were sent throughout the continent as needed to subdue conflict.
Those conflicts were often political in nature and arose in such a manner that no king or queen wished to claim responsibility for them. When such an event occurred, and a ruling monarch called upon the Imperial Council for assistance in a matter that required a warrior’s skill, the Imperial Council Warriors were dispatched.
The warriors would be sent to whatever skirmishes had arisen. The matters were taken care of swiftly and quietly before they could escalate into an all-out battle. As a result, conflicts were smoothed, wars were avoided, and deaths were drastically reduced.
Of course, such a practice was only effective if it was done in the early days of a conflict or the beginning of an uprising. If an army was already marching, or if civilians had gathered in large numbers to form a militia, the monarch hoping for help was out of luck. But otherwise, the warriors were said to be quite effective.
