Page 39 of Royal Hunt
Just in time, as luck would have it.
Viana and the others stumbled, tired and exhausted.
A blue-skinned, muscled fae jumped at me, his teeth bared in a grin. Lyra and Lily were fighting another fae in tandem, so I was on my own. He slashed his giant broadsword toward me, and I fell over backward in my rush to avoid it. The fae had an ugly laugh.
Get up.GET UP.
I scrambled to get my feet under me, but stayed down in a crouched position. The fae was still laughing at me, his arm relaxed and his sword down at his side. I wasn’t a threat to him. Or so he thought.
I’d show him.
I lunged forward, stabbing Ellis’s knife as hard as I could into his thigh.
“AGH! YOU BITCH!” The fae fell to one knee, both hands on the ground. His sword skittered out of his hand, landing in front of my feet. I picked it up, but hesitated to bring it down over him.
Strike him down. Do it now!
Stabbing someone in self-defense was one thing, but purposefully ending his life? My hands froze, unable to finish the motion. He used my hesitation to his advantage, plucking the dagger from his thigh and adding it to his belt. My anger rose. Ellis had given that to me!
I reached out to him, but he kicked my hand so hard I cried out in shock. His sword dropped from my hands.
“Stupid as well,” he sneered.
I backed away, embarrassed and in pain. He took a menacing step toward me, but then Lily and Lyra were there, fighting him together while he hissed and scrambled to adjust.
“Half-bloods!” He stumbled a bit with his wounded leg. Dark blue blood dripped down his calf, but even injured he held off the girls easily.
Too easily.
Lyra went limp as the fae landed a blow to her head. Lily screamed and parried the killing blow, a sudden swell of adrenaline surprising them both as she pushed the much larger fae back and away from her sister.
Help them. Do something.
If either of them died, it would be my fault. I had the chance to kill this fae and didn’t. I needed to finish what I started.
I circled around them both, waiting for the right moment. If this game had taught me anything so far, it was that the fae were cocky and overconfident. Surprise could get you far. So I waited, and when the fae leaned in to swipe at Lyra, I kicked the back of his knees. The fae went down hard, and Lily stabbed her short sword cleanly through his chest. She teetered on her bad ankle and fell to the ground.
It took only a minute or so for him to die, his face permanently set with a look of shock and surprise. That pissed me off the most.
“Five minutes remain in the game.”
A green-skinned fae with black hair in intricate braids roared to the others, and they retreated back to their side. I gave one last glance to the dead warrior next to me, and grabbed Ellis’s dagger from his belt. I shot a worried glance at Lily, but she motioned that she was fine and crawled to her sister’s side. I ran to join the heirs on the front line.
Ellis gave me a respectful nod, and clapped Lyra on the back. Nessian looked pained, but proud his sisters had done well. One of the triplets was leaning on the other, and the third looked ready to collapse. Viana looked her usual unflappable self.
“Why did they retreat? What’s going on?” I asked.
A light voice spoke up, unfamiliar but confident. “They’re planning their last move. This is a classic case of Fangor’s Bluff. It’s the most likely scenario.”
We all turned to stare at the small, pink-haired fae. She extended her hand toward Viana, her upper canines protruding over her lips. “Pari.”
Viana shook her head, frowning. “You changed sides.”
Pari sighed. “Yes, it’s all quite dramatic, but we’ll have time for all of that later. If they’ve retreated, they’ve already decided to let the game end in a tie. That means—”
“Why would they do that?” Ellis questioned. “Why not grab one of us and haul us over to the prison and win the game? We wouldn’t have enough time to steal them back.”
Pari snorted. “The winners get some nicer accommodations and food, and that’s it. The fae don’t care about any of that. They don’t need it.”
