Page 38 of Royal Hunt
For whatever reason she clung to him, trying to hold on. He spit with anger, and Gregory didn’t hesitate to bring his sword down on the male’s neck. The female dove back into the prison, tucking and rolling past the line and springing up lightly on her feet. Her face was a blank mask.
The fae’s body bled out on the ground, his head a few feet away.
“Regroup the line. Half of you face in toward the prisoner, the other half out. MOVE!” Gregory bellowed.
I grinned, enjoying seeing him take command when it had nothing to do with me. Trenton grudgingly obeyed, but the others moved quickly.
The fae retaliated immediately, sending twenty over the line. With a shout from Viana, the heirs fell back to the midpoint, fanning out to protect the semi-circle of humans. Only a few fae were left on the other side to guard Lily and Lyra.
The two sisters took full advantage, but Lyra had Lily on her back. She sprinted past the fae left and headed straight for the boundary. The only problem was the six fae waiting specifically for them at the line. This time, jumping wasn’t going to save them.
Lyra stopped, unable to safely cross the boundary. A quick glance behind them showed the other fae approaching from behind. They were caught.
The rest of the fae mercilessly beat into the heirs, and I saw one of the triplets fall. Mixen? Matthias? Ellis was there a moment later, parrying the fae sword that was meant to be a killing blow.
My heart sank. There were too many fae, and we didn’t have enough warriors. Gregory would need to break his line and help, or the heirs would die.
Luckily, at that moment, four fae broke away from the heirs and ran straight for the prison. Predictably, most of the humans broke rank, running and screaming in the opposite direction from the massive fae warriors coming at them.
Cowards.
Gregory and his small contingent of men tried to fight, but the fae batted them away like irritating flies, knocking them out and moving on, not bothering to pause to kill them. Their goal was to get to the prisoner and win the game.
The small fae in question stepped out of the prison confidently, flanked by her five bodyguards. Nausea rolled through my stomach because I knew what was coming next. They would rejoin the fight against the heirs, and we would all die. Then they’d flounce back across the boundary line, taking a few of us as prisoners in order to win the game.
Hell, there wouldn’t even be a need to continue the games.
The fae prisoner and her guards were halfway back to the heirs when the oddest thing happened. The pink fae stopped, and glanced up at the mass of eyes watching the games going on below. It was jarring, since I’d completely forgotten about them in my battle to survive.
“POINT OF ORDER!” the fae screamed, holding her hands high over her head.
Cassu’s annoyed voice boomed out over all of us.
“Point of order has been called. A time-out is in progress. All contestants are required to pause.”
Everything stopped Viana and the heirs watched in shock as the fae they’d just been battling backed away, sneering. Ellis put out a hand to the triplet who’d fallen, and shakily pulled him back to his feet. Lyra and Lily’s pursuers were forced to back away, despite being another step or so from closing in on them.
Seeing we had all obeyed, Cassus’s voice rumbled out again. “What is your point of order?” he asked politely, as if discussing the weather and not interrupting a death game.
The fae with the pixie cut grinned. “I change sides.”
There was a moment’s pause when her words echoed, but they didn’t make any sense to me.
“Request acknowledged. Continue gameplay.”
The rest of us were still frozen in confusion, but the small fae became a blur of motion. She struck out at the six fae next to her, stabbing each in the neck precisely and quickly. They dropped like logs, and then she threw herself at the fae nearest the heirs.
In the chaos, Lily gripped tightly to Lyra and the older sister ran, dodging past their attackers who were too busy gawping at the traitor in their midst. The fae sputtered and regrouped, but momentum had shifted in our favor.
I jumped in front of Lyra, realizing she needed help. I slashed my knife down at the fae who’d tried to cut her off and he backed away, snarling. Lyra gently lowered Lily to the ground, then whirled with two daggers in her hand. She tossed a short sword to her sister, who stood back to back with her, using Lyra’s body as leverage on what had to be a broken or at least sprained ankle.
Together, the three of us faced outward.
“Get some of the wounded fae into the prison,” the short, pink fae yelled, and I realized something important. Something stupid, but nonetheless significant. I shouted back to Gregory.
“Get as many bodies in the prison as you can!”
Gregory didn’t like taking directions from me, but I knew he understood why after a moment’s pause. He smirked, then started barking out orders to some of the women and Trenton. One by one, they started grabbing fallen fae and dragging them into our prison. Seeing that his directions were being carried out, Gregory took the guards and what was left of our fighters and joined the fray, fightingwiththe heirs.
