“No, you made it clear enough.” She shrugged. “You’re not him.”
He slowed to a stop, whipping the sharp point of the ice dagger her way. “If you want to fight me, do it properly. With blades instead of magic.”
Her brows winged upward. “You’re going to demand a fair fight after you tricked me into thinking you were Lorcan? You tried to kill me. You left me for dead.”
With a dark smile, he tossed the blade. She caught it with her good hand. The left. Reyna had only ever trained to fight right-handed.
“You really want to do this?” Reyna pushed up onto her toes, ready to spring forward if he made any sudden movements.
“You and me. Here and now. Let’s ends this, once and for all.”
Her head filled with the thunder of her heart. She watched him reach for a drawer beside the bed and pull out a long, curving dagger. Gemstones flickered along the hilt, bursts that flamed like fire. The sigil of flared phoenix wings decorated the pommel, as orange as the setting sun.
Reyna could not stop the gasp that popped from her mouth as a new unease filled her soul. “Where did you get that?”
It was a blade of the Fire Court.
She thought of her dreams. Unseelie kept dragging her to the fire lands where Motcha’s Axe sat waiting for her.
No, not for me. For the Namhaid.
Nollaig’s words pounded her ears. He fit the prophecies. He was trying to rip the world apart. Ulaid Molt had passed his magic onto Lorcan, and it seemed like there was no way to stop him. No matter what they tried, it failed.
Tears stung her eyes as she took a step back.
His teeth glittered as he smiled, holding the blade up so she could see it. “Surprised to see this? I thought you might be. It isn’t every day one finds a dagger from beyond the grave.”
She shuddered at the sound of his voice, as cool as metal and as jagged as scars. Nothing about him looked like Lorcan now. Whatever she’d seen in him before was gone. Sleep had washed the viciousness away, but it had all been a lie. A terrible, twisted lie that carved her soul into broken pieces.
“Where did you get that?” she asked, taking another step away from him.
“Molt found it.” He stalked toward her, flashing the blade. “He left it behind in this little drawer for his successor. Do you know what fire blades do,lover?”
She winced at the sound of that word on this imposter’s tongue. With her heart rattling in her chest, she edged yet another step back. “Let me guess. It has something to do with flames.”
“The cut burns.” His eyes flashed. “The steel leaves trails of ash in its wake, mottling the skin, scarring it. I hear the pain lasts months, even for fae who never fell.”
Reyna shook her head. “You’re lying. I know all about Tamaris steel. Hell, you have a Tamaris steel sword. The steel is strong, but it doesn’t burn.”
“This isn’t Tamaris steel.” He grinned as he lifted the blade above his head, angling the sharp edge her way. “It’s an Iron Dragon, crafted in the volcanos far across the seas by the dragons themselves. And you have no hope of surviving against it.”
She took another step, and her foot scuffed against the ledge. With a deep breath, she jumped, leaping out over the abyss. Lorcan roared and rushed after her with fury in his glittering eyes. Her wings flared wide, catching her fall.
“No!” he shouted, his voice shaking with rage. “Get back here and fight me!”
“If you want to fight me, you’ll have to do it my way. When I’m fully healed and fully armed.” She held up her broken wrist. “Meet me in the throne room at dusk. And if you harm even a single head of hair on my sister, I’ll stab you in the back before you even know I’m there.Loveror not.”
44
Reyna
“Did you do it, Shieldmaiden?” Nollaig asked when Reyna dropped down into the clearing where her companions and her familiar waited for her around a fire. Wingallock flew to her side and settled onto her shoulder.
“No.”
“Fuck.” Thane stood from where he roasted a rabbit over the open flames. “You weren’t able to spill his blood or…”
“It didn’t work,” she said tersely, trying not to show just how heavily the pain had settled over her. “So, we’ll have to do something else.”
