Callor had sent enough men to make certain of the outcome, and I could feel the truth of it as my arms began to burn. The newly cleared space around us was shrinking. My warriors were good—the best—but they were being overrun.
One by one, my warriors were cut down or pulled away by their opponents, until ‘twas just the two of us—my Mate and I—defending this section of the shore. My heart wept for our losses, our vanished future, even as I hardened it to do what must be done.
I pressed my back against Rowena’s and held my ground and thought, aye, if this is where it ends, at least we end it together.
Then the press of bodies opened, and there he was.
Dallin—Callor’s grandson—moved through his own men with the unhurried confidence of someone who had never once doubted the outcome of aught in his life.
He was young, aye, but I felt the danger of him immediately—not the wild danger of an angry male, but the precise, patient danger of one who’d been trained by the best his grandfather’s coin could buy. Had he even had time to return to Callor to report on his visit? Or had he planned this attack all along, returning to the mainland only long enough to gather this force? Had we offered hospitality to the male who intended our doom?
‘Twould be a mistake to underestimate him. His footwork was clean, his guard tight. He took his time looking at the two of us, and I saw the calculation in his eyes.
Then his gaze settled on Rowena.
And he smiled.
He came at her deliberately and I understood the strategy even as it enraged me.
Break my focus, break my footing, and the rest would be simple.
I surged forward to intercept, but two of his men stepped in to occupy me—not to fight me seriously, just toholdme—and I had to watch from mere feet away as Dallin engaged my Mate.
He was better than her.
I had to accept that truth even as it turned my blood cold.
Not by much, though. She was fast and clever, and she fought with a ferocity that made him work for every inch. Even as I fought off my attackers, I saw her read him, saw her try two feints that would have worked on any of my warriors, and saw him anticipate both.
He had longer reach, a heavier blade, and none of the desperation that was making her movements just slightly less precise than they ought to be.
When he drove her blade wide and hit her shoulder with his shield—not the edge, the flat, but hard enough—I heard the impact from where I stood.
She went down. And the sound that came out of my mouth was no word, but aroar.
I stopped fighting cleanly.
I stopped fightingcarefully.
I stopped worrying about my shoulder or my footing or the two men still trying to occupy me, and I put one of them down with a blow that I would feel in my arm for a week, stepped over him, and threw myself at Dallin with the full weight of my fury.
My Mate was down, but when she rolled out of the way, I felt myself suck in a breath and hadn’t realized how long it had been since I’d inhaled. I supposed I’d stopped breathing after seeing her fall, but she wasalive.
I reminded myKteerof that. Reminded myself to focus on Dallin, the leader of these warriors, who now crossed blades with me.
He was good. He met my charge without flinching and we hammered at each other—his precision against my power—and I knew he was working my right shoulder deliberately, hunting the weakness there. He found it twice, but I barely noticed.
Because behind him, I could see Rowena getting up.
She didn’t come back in swinging. That was what told me she was extraordinary. Any other warrior—any other moment—would have come back in with everything they had and bled because of it.
Instead, she wentstill.She stood just outside Dallin’s periphery and shewatchedhim, her eyes tracking his patterns, and I understood what she was doing even from inside the fight.
So, I gave her what she needed.
I pushed Dallin harder, more aggressively than was wise, forcing him to commit to that overhead strike he favored—the big powerful blow that opened everything up for a half-second at the peak of the raise. I’d noticed it too, by now. I let him land it. I took it on my cross guard and felt my knees buckle with the force of it, and in the same instant I heard the sharp crack of Rowena’s sword connecting with the inside of his wrist.
Dallin’s grip spasmed and the sword’s tip dropped.
