Page 108 of Given to the Black King

“Who?”

I pull the whistle to my lips and blow once. The note cuts through the garden.

Vess drops from the wall behind him.

The first man goes down before he can shout.

The second turns and meets Ghenn coming through the side gate.

The sergeant knocks the whistle from my hand and lunges for me.

I slash his forearm. Too shallow.

He knocks the knife aside and catches my hair.

Pain tears across my scalp.

I drive my knee into him.

The mail blunts his fist when he strikes my ribs, but the impact still steals my breath.

He pulls me against him and puts a knife beneath my jaw.

Everything stops.

Vess has one man under her boot. Ghenn has the other against the wall. Neither moves.

The sergeant’s breath is hot at my ear.

“Call them off.”

“Do you know what he can smell?” I ask.

His grip tightens.

“What?”

“My blood.”

The garden changes.

Pressure arrives before sound. Every animal instinct in my body goes still.

Torgan stands at the mouth of the rose walk.

Barefoot. Bare chest. Black trousers. The green ribbon from last night wrapped around one fist.

His lips are drawn back from his fangs.

Every claw is out.

He looks at the knife under my jaw.

The voice that comes from him is not meant for conversation.

“Release her.”

The sergeant drags me backward.