“No,” I said. “We can’t!”
“Listen to your friend.” Darcke laughed hollowly. “Leave.”
“Are you just going to stand there?” I asked the men behind Darcke when Kilia started pulling me backward, on top of the trunk again. “There is enough space for all of us. We can share the burden of looking out.”
It wasn’t like King Gustief’s enemies would spare his most feared men if they could get to them.
“Darcke. We’re not supposed—” Torden started softly, but the warrior only needed to turn for his friend’s voice to fade.
“Go.Now,” Darcke snapped without looking our way.
My cheeks burned, but I still shook my head. “No.”
He spun faster than I’d ever seen anyone move, and for the second time that day the sharp edges of his axes lay against my skin at the nape of my neck. “You listen to me, or you’re going to regret it.”
“I’m not scared of you,” I said, lifting my chin and pretending the shiver going through me wasn’t from the viciousness of Darcke’s nearly black eyes.
“Sure you are.” He sliced one of the axes across my skin until warm blood spilled down my chest. Nodding to the blood, he snarled, “I can smell it.”
“Sweengard, let’s?—”
“Shut up!”
“Be quiet!”
Darcke and I hissed at Kilia at the same time.
“Fucking heirs,” Darcke snarled when I didn’t move. “You think you’re better than everyone. That you have the right to do and say and be anything you want. That you don’t need to listen. Do I need to be like Guner and beat it into you?”
My blood heated so much I growled at him.
As if I wanted to be this?
As if I had a fucking choice.
As if I hadn’t been forced into this life just like he was.
Darcke lifted his gaze. “You should have killed her when I gave you the chance. I’m sure she’ll stab you in the back when you least expect it. Seems the way of these heirs and those around them.”
Kilia’s face paled, and he mumbled something I didn’t pick up when Darcke moved the axe covered in my blood to our rope.
“It’s so easy to end you. It’s not even funny,” he said with a smile that had my heart halt, then drum against my ribs until it hurt. He teasingly hovered the axe over rope, and I fucking hated him for the laugh that rumbled through the air.
Kilia shook so hard he made the entire tree tremble. “Sweengard,” he begged. “Please.”
I pursed my lips, wiggling my fingers to relieve some of the fierce energy burning through my body.
“Fine,” I got out. “Fine! We’re fucking leaving.”
“Good girl,” Darcke drawled. “I knew you had it in you.”
I kicked him in the face before he could react, savoring the crack of his nose and the blood that splattered over me. Like acrazy person, I dragged a finger through the wetness and brought it to my nose. “Oh. Smells like a fuckingbastard.”
Laughter exploded between the trees, and I huffed with rage when Kilia dragged me backward, scraping my skin with his haste and sending me face-first into the forest bed as he threw us off the trunk.
“What the fuck happened?” Ottoh demanded as he whirled to the shadows weaving all around us, flashing through every gap in the wild forest.
“Fuck,” I cursed as I checked my limbs to ensure nothing was broken.
