“I mean it.” One leg crossed the other as he inched to the side, never taking his eyes off her face. “You northern Shieldmaidens have quite the reputation. Your skills are legendary. Some might say they’re even otherworldly.”
She frowned. “We train hard, same as anyone else.”
“Ah, but onlyyour kindcan dodge arrows.” He slowed to a stop. “A highly useful skill, particularly for a king’s own guard. Imagine what you would be capable of doing if an archer decided to take it upon himself to assassinate me.”
Reyna’s stomach roiled. She pushed up from the ground, swallowing down her sudden nausea. Soot coated her hands. “If you’re suggesting I join your personal guard, then you knownothingabout Shieldmaidens.”
“Ah yes. You value honor and the truth of your bonded word.” He chuckled, his eyes sparking with a dangerous glee. “And yet, if I’m not mistaken, you turned your back on the Shieldmaidens. You left them behind so that you might play at being princess and future queen. Betrothed yourself to that pitiful Selkirk family.”
Pain flickered in her heart. His blow cut deep, and for a long, agonizing moment, she wondered if the Ruin was right about everything it had ever whispered into her head. Shehadturned her back on her fellow Shieldmaidens. Shehadleft them for courtly politics. And then instead of heading home to fight beside them now, she’d fled south.
A sworn Shieldmaiden would never choose power over sisterhood. She had never spoken her vows. Her father hadn’t let her. But that did not lesson the sting of her betrayal. She could have stayed with them.
But then she never would have met Lorcan.
See?The Ruin hissed.Your love for him will be the Cleaving of the World.
“Join me,” the wood king whispered. “You will have a place by my side and power strong enough to wake the very dead.”
Reyna hissed through gritted teeth, blinking back the hot tears that burned her eyes. “Never.”
She would never give in. She would never let the Ruin free, even if it buried her in the end.
A sigh escaped the king’s parted lips. “Very well then.”
Molt sprang toward her, but this time, she was ready for him. Instead of ducking down, she dodged far out of his reach and then rushed at him with all the speed she could muster. She darted in close. Calling upon Seelie’s aid, she shoved her blade toward the exposed skin below his helmet. She just needed to hit his neck.
The king whirled toward her and slammed her arm so hard she heard the crunch of her own bones breaking. She cried out as pain ripped through her wrist. Her ice blade thunked into the char. Molt roared in delight, lifting his glittering sword over his head.
Reyna ducked, grabbed her ice blade with her left hand, and tumbled to the side, missing the blade’s teeth by less than an inch. She leapt back up, shuddering. The pain radiated through her arm, an incessant, electrifying sharpness that felt as though she was being stabbed over and over and over again.
A sudden whistling in the air snatched her attention away from Molt. An iron-tipped arrow hurtled straight toward her. One of the bloody guards had shot at her. Frowning, she leaned out of its path.
“I thought you wanted to fight me one-on-one,” Reyna growled, turning her attention back onto Molt.
He’d rushed closer while she’d been distracted. The sword loomed over her head. Growling, she duckedtowardthe king, instead of away, and shoved her dagger into his side. It glanced off his armor with an explosive twang, the steel impenetrable and as solid as stone.
Ears ringing, she whirled behind him. She slammed her foot into his knee, smiling when he tumbled toward the ground. Another arrow shot past her head, but this one didn’t even come close to hitting its mark. The king caught himself on the ground, his back bent, his sword sliding through the soot.
Reyna’s lips curled with a smile as she sliced her dagger toward the exposed skin on the back of his neck. The king jumped to his feet with an otherworldly speed, so fast that it knocked Reyna back several feet. Her lungs shuddering, she stared at him. His movements had been nothing more than a blur.No onemoved like that.
“Whatareyou?” she whispered.
“I am Unseelie’s chosen.” He stalked closer, his body trembling with rage. “And I am going to kill you.”
Another arrow flew toward her. She’d been so focused on the king that she almost missed its approach. She leaned forward just in time, and the tip sliced through the back of her boiled armor. If she’d been wearing silk, it likely would have hit her skin, and the iron would have spread poison through her veins.
“Tell your guards to back off!” she shouted up at him.
Molt rushed forward with that impossible speed. In a flash, he was in front of her. He wrapped his hand around the front of her armor and hauled her off the ground. Her feet dangled beneath her. Gritting her teeth, she swung her blade, but he caught her wrist in his other hand. He squeezed tight. More bones broke. Crying out, Reyna struggled to hold her dagger.
It slipped from her fingers.
She growled and kicked out, but the king merely laughed in her face. Spittle hit her cheeks. “You should have agreed to join me, Princess Reyna Darragh. It’s a pity, really. There’s dark power inside of you, even if you’re too scared to look it in the face.”
The king tossed her onto the ground. Her back punched the dirt, stealing her breath from her lungs. Reeling, she scrabbled back and searched the soot for her blade, but it was nowhere to be seen. Grinning, the king raised his sword above his head and brought it down upon her.
She tried to roll out of the way, but her body was sluggish. She managed to flop onto her side as the blade hit. It sliced through her leather armor like it was nothing more than parchment. The steel scraped through her gut. Pain exploded within her. A guttural scream ripped from her throat as she watched the king raise the sword once more, readying himself to take the next blow.
