Ian dodged out of the way—but instead of dodging backward, he moved to the side and pushed forward so the soldier did not have a chance to advance.
It worked. The guard took another step backward. His heel made contact with a glass bead, which rolled under his foot. The guard recovered his balance easily, but the damage had been done.
Lightning shot out of the bead he had just stepped on, encasing his foot and running up his leg.
Robin dove forward across the wooden floor, nearly sliding on her stomach. Using her dagger, she reached out and grabbed several of the beads near Gareth’s feet, then flung them toward the soldier.
As the soldier reacted in pain to the lightning encasing his foot, he tried to step away from Gareth only to step down on more chaos beads. Lightning exploded around him, and he shrieked in pain.
Robin rolled back out of the way as the field of lightning expanded to include both Gareth and the beast-man.
The beast-man fell to his knees from the pain but instinctively tried to crawl away from the source of it.
That moment of distraction was all Ian needed to drive his sword into the back of the beast’s neck.
The man collapsed against the floor.
Gareth, still in some state of awareness of what was going on around him, screamed in anger. For a moment, the lightning seemed to stop hitting his body, as if his scream had literally created a protective shield around him. But then the lightning slowly stopped altogether, zapping out of the beads on the floor in weak gasps.
The chaos magic had been used up.
Gareth looked down at his hands, flexing them as though testing his strength.
Then he looked up at Robin and Ian.
Chapter 62
Robin pushed herself off the floor. They had just taken down the most powerful enemy she had ever faced, and she did not even have a chance to breathe.
She wanted to look at Ian, but Gareth was already rushing toward her, moving with inhuman speed.
She did not have time to get up from the floor before he was on her.
She slashed at his ankles with her dagger, rolling out of the way of his incoming fists. This was the fighting that she was good at—quick, without rules, and using minimal weapons. But even she was not prepared to fight someone who was stronger, faster, and apparently resisted injury.
Gareth’s fist landed on her shoulder.
Robin felt pain spread throughout her body, but her mind somehow remained distant from it. She was used to pain. She had not been lying to Ian in Lyra’s cottage. Although that moment felt like a lifetime ago, not a mere handful of days prior.
Nonetheless, the pain immobilized her once again, leaving her vulnerable to another attack.
If this was how she died, she could not be mad about it. She was proud of the way that she had spent her life fighting for the people who were unseen.
Gareth’s fist made contact with her ribcage again. She instinctively tried to shrink away, but her body seemed unable to listen to what her mind was telling her.
Her mind raced as time seemed to slow. She did wish, however, that she had spent less time fighting against Frederich, who had never been her true enemy. If she survived this moment, perhaps she would even work with him—or with Ian—to expand her resources.
Gareth’s next blow did not land, and she had a moment to regain her senses.
If Ian ever asked her to be his queen, she would accept, not because she wanted the title. She would hate that life. But she would accept because she loved the man who was currently standing above her, raining down blows with his sword on the deranged creature that had once been Gareth, King of Chendas. She would hate being queen, but she would use every bit of her power to strengthen the networks of support she had built over the last ten years. The sacrifice would be worth it.
She sat up.
Gareth was slowly pushing Ian back toward the far wall of the small room. Despite having no sword, Gareth clearly had the upper hand. He blocked Ian’s sword attacks with his bare arms and fought back with his fists.
“Do you see it, now?” Gareth asked, raining down more blows. “Your sword cannot cut me. I no longer need your army, or the loyalty of your people.” He caught Ian’s blade with his bare hand, holding it still. “I no longer need the loyalty of any people. Everything in the five kingdoms will be mine because no one can take anything from me.”
Ian tried to hold his ground, but Gareth pressed the blade forward, pushing Ian’s back against the wall.
