Her laughter echoed through the close. “The new little recruit. What do you think you’re going to do with that sign,love?”
Ugh, I hated it when people called me ‘love’ in such a patronisingtone.
“Lots of things. First, I think I’ll slam it against that pretty little head of yours,” Isnapped.
Her sword trembled in her hands, and it was my turn to laugh. She was getting blinding mad. Good. The madder I got ‘em, the more mistakes they’dmake.
“Your choice,” she hissed before turning to face her fellow traitors. “Kill the King. Don’t spare thegirl.”
With that, everyone sprang intomotion.
Another attacker rushed toward me, sword held high. Before he could reach me, I hurled the sign at his head. It smacked right into his face, knocking him to the ground. As he fell, I reached for his sword, but it seemed to vanish into thin air, along with the guy I’d justhit.
Bollocks. They had some sort of sorcerer spell to get them out of herefast.
I didn’t know what Lugh was doing, but I didn’t dare look. The next warrior was on hisway.
Skidding across the cobblestones, I flew toward the sign and grabbed it from the ground. But I didn’t make it in time. The warrior reached me first. He wrapped his hand around my shirt and yanked me away from thesign.
But that meant he couldn’t use his sword. I whirled on him and slammed my fist right into his nose. He let go, giving me just enough time to grab my sign again. I whammed it right into his already bleeding nose and watched him crumple to theground.
Three down...seven togo?
I turned to see Lugh had three more fallen fae around his feet, vanishing into the nothingness, but the female was bearing down on him. She’d slashed him with her sword, and blood oozed out of several wounds on his arms andchest.
With my sign held tight in my hands, I thundered across the close. But before I could reach Lugh, two pairs of hands latched onto me. They grabbed my arms and yanked me back, while another snatched away mysign.
Chest heaving, I ripped out of their grip. The three fae closed in around me. They were unarmed. So far. They’d been too busy grabbing me to unsheathe their swords. One held my new favourite weapon of choice—the sign, but he tossed it across the alley before I could try to get it back formyself.
It fell with a clatter. Up above us, I heard the unmistakable gasp as the humans peered out their windows at the fightbelow.
Great. Human onlookers, probably scared out of their ever-loving minds. That was definitely going to help thesituation.
I bounced on my toes. “You lot just going to stand there staring atme?”
“No.” They drew their swords inunison.
10
Okay,so this wasn’t ideal. I’d taken on multiple enemies more times than I could count, but never without a sword. They all had weapons, and they’d been ordered to take me down, dead oralive.
So, I did the only thing that anyone else would do when faced with impending death: I turned tail andran.
My feet pounded the cobblestones as I raced away from the attackers. They did exactly what I wanted them to do and chased after me. When they stormed my way, I took a sharp turn right and jogged back to where they’d discarded mysign.
Grinning, I snatched it from the ground and held it before me. Sometimes, brawn really isn’t the way towin.
When they saw I had the sign once again, two of the attackers forked away and headed toward Lugh to help their leader. Dammit. I’d been trying to draw them away. He had deep slashes all over his skin, and his blood painted the ground. As strong as he seemed, I could tell the wounds had slowed him down. His feet stumbled as he ducked beneath anotherblow.
But my attention got dragged away from Lugh when one of my opponents lobbed spit at my boots. “That sign isn’t going to help you forever,love.”
My eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah? Then, why don’t you come here and try to fight me,love?”
It was kind of an empty threat, one my opponents were more than happy to call me on. They both rushed toward me, their heavy boots clomping hard on the stone. Gritting my teeth, I held the sign before me as their blades clashedhard.
The force of their blows knocked me back. I slammed hard on the ground, my teeth knockingtogether.
Before they could rush me, I jumped to my feet with my enhanced fae speed. I whirled the sign toward them, catching it on one of their swords. The weapon ripped out of his hands and skittered across thecobblestones.
