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Volund peered at me with a grin, getting a kick out of my reaction. I was not as good at keeping calm as my uncle.

“You’re overstepping your bounds, Volund,” Balor answered. “I suggest you leave before you make this ugly. Enough blood has been shed in this place. There doesn’t need to be any more.”

Volund laughed – a nasty, malicious sound that gave me a chill. “On the contrary. I came here for the princess, and I am not leaving until I have her corpse.Yourdeath will be an added bonus.”

“And what benefit do you have to gain from Aurelia’s death?” Balor asked. He grabbed for his sword, but did not yet unsheathe it. I followed his lead and bent down to pick up my fallen bow, nockingan arrow.

The king’s malicious smile turned to a scowl. “Because, as you know, dear prince, your brother is a pathetic excuse for a king. All that power. Those unstoppable armies. And yet he does nothing with it.”

Balor’s grip on his sword tightened. “The Four Kingdoms are at peace, Volund. Callum does not need to use his power or his armies.”

“If I had control of those armies, there wouldn’tbefour kingdoms. There need only beone. And one ruler.” Volund’s eyes were full of madness.

Power. That’s all this boiled down to. He wanted power. To take over Rimor’s armies so he can invade the other kingdoms and become the one true king. He was sick. Sick and delusional.

“Why kill me, then?” I asked. “What do I have to do with this?”

Volund scoffed. “It’s nothing personal, my dear. You’re just a pawn. I can’t kill Callum, but I can make himcrumble. His heart, as pathetic as it is, is easy to break. And with it, his mind. He barely survived his wife’s death, and if it weren’t for your pesky uncle, I could have manipulated him into giving me control of his armies. But the minute I learned of Prince Balor’s exile, I began putting together a plan. If he was so easy to manipulate after Adelaide’s death, imagine what he’d be like afteryours.”

A breath hitched in my throat. Killing my father wouldn’t give Volund any more control over our armies than he had now. But breaking him down until he could manipulate him into giving him control…perhaps that was possible. And downright evil.

Balor’s knuckles whitened around the hilt of his sword. “Callum will have your head on a spike if you lay a hand on her. And so will I.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Volund laughed mockingly. “After I kill you, I’m going to use your own sword to kill her.” He sneered, and the look of depravity on his face was that of pure malevolence. My heartdropped to my stomach as I realized what he meant. “I’m going to make it look likeyoudid it.”

Volund raised a hand in the air. “Kill the prince. Leave the princess alive. I want the lycan here when I slaughter her.” Then with a snap of his fingers, all three warriors stepped forward, pulling knives from their sashes.

“Run, Aurelia!” Balor shouted behind him. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I watched these vile humans almost take the life of my mate. I would not watch them try to take someone else I loved.

One of the warriors threw his knife directly at my uncle’s head, then another. Balor pulled his sword from its sheath and knocked them both out of the air with his blade. I had almost forgotten how incredibly skilled he was. And quick. He lunged to the side, grabbing a hidden knife of his own from his boot and launching it towards a Sprathian warrior. It hit the warrior in the neck, and he fell to the ground, choking on his final breaths.

One down.

The second warrior screamed as she sprinted towards Balor with knives in each hand. She reached him quickly, and they began their combat. The sound of metal against metal reverberated in my head as his sword clashed with her knives again and again.

I looked past them to see the third warrior pull out one of his knives and aim it at Balor. Without a second thought, I pulled back on the string of my bow and released the arrow. It flew straight into the chest of my uncle’s pursuer. He fell to his knees before toppling backwards.

Holy shit. Did I just…kill someone?

I had no time to reflect as Volund screamed in frustration. “Keep the princess at bay,” he barked at Sarai. My head shot in her direction, and for the first time since they arrived, she grinned.

Sarai began chanting under her breath as Volund unsheathed hisown sword and headed towards where my uncle battled the king’s last remaining warrior. I started to run towards them, ready to fight beside my uncle, when the canteen that hung on my belt suddenly pulled me down so hard, I plunged to the ground.

What the hell was that? I tried to push myself up onto my hands, but my canteen yanked me down again. The side of my face met with the ground so hard, I felt my cheek bruise. I looked up to see Sarai stepping closer, her left hand raised towards me. Then I looked down towards my belt. The water in my canteen…she was controlling it!

Before I could reach down and unbuckle it, I felt it pull again with such force that it threw me through the air and I collided with a nearby building. The old stone wall collapsed around me, and I covered myself with my arms.

“Aurelia!” I heard my uncle shout.

I opened my eyes to find myself on the ground, surrounded by the debris of the collapsed wall, my bow broken at my side. Blood dripped down my arm, and a sharp pain throbbed in my shoulder. “I’m fine!” I called back, not wanting to distract him from his own fight.

Quickly, I reached down to unbuckle the canteen, then poured its contents onto the ground before Sarai could use it against me again.

“Smart girl,” a siren-like voice said from a few feet away. The witch stepped into view, and I staggered backwards from my spot in the rubble. “Unfortunately for you, your foolish uncle camped near the lake.” She stepped towards me, then began chanting.

Fury like no other quickly built inside me. Not for what she said, but for everything she had done. For being the reason Elias could never escape. For the pain she caused him for so many years. For choosing to work for the vile humans responsible for his suffering. I hated her. And I was going to make her pay.

I let out shrill battle cry, and before she could do whatever spellshe intended to do on me, I grabbed a large chunk of stone from the debris and threw it at her with as much force as I had. The stone hit her in the jaw and she shrieked in pain. I shot up as fast as I could and ran at her like a wild animal.