Page 49

“Prince Alekur,” Jav called. “You’re looking well.”

The injuries Jav had dealt to the prince’s jaw had been worse than he’d thought; much of the side of his face was covered over with black scabs and bandages.

Alekur didn’t reply, just spat at the ground. “I tried to give you a fair shake. I tried to be merciful.”

“Murdering your sister isn’t merciful,” Iseris said coolly. “Even if you do it by ordering someone else to do the deed.”

“You’re not my sister.”

“Actually, she is,” Selis said quietly.

“Shut up.” Alekur’s lip curled. He turned his gaze back to Iseris. “And you were dead a long time ago. You should be grateful I gave you as long as I did. But with the situation in Akaria and Kavanar, I had no choice but to act. I couldn’t have you around, flaunting your magic. Bringing attention to us.”

“Wait.” Jav frowned. “Attention? What do you mean us?”

Alekur’s eyes narrowed, glinting, like he realized he’d said something he hadn’t meant to reveal. “Kill them.”

His men were quick to respond, starting forward.

Steel rang as Jav drew his sword. He guided Iseris behind him, since she had no weapon, nor the skill to use one.

The first man lunged forward a breath earlier than the others, giving Jav a brief moment of hope that they’d come one at a time. But no—the others merely needed a moment to drop their torches on the stone floor and draw weapons.

A quick riposte and thrust, however, had nearly dispatched the first attacker with a hard puncture into his left side, immediately drawing blood and taking him down.

Not the cleverest fighter Jav had ever faced.

He had to jump, though, when the second swept his blade along the stone, nearly cutting into Jav’s ankles. He landed, lurching to the side. This man was much more up to the challenge of a knight. The third was going to be a problem.

Except he wasn’t. He was yelling, “The horses!” and running for the mouth of the cave.

“Would that be your doing?” Jav grunted with a glance at Iseris as he blocked a downward slash.

Iseris didn’t answer, but she looked pleased as she skittered away from Jav and his opponent toward the cave’s wall.

“Let her go,” she called to Alekur.

Jav winced. She shouldn’t poke the beast. But he didn’t have the breath to tell her so. He needed to focus on not dying just a little while longer.

Alekur laughed. “That’s rich. Absolutely not. Tell your knight to surrender.”

“Don’t listen to him, Iseris,” Selis put in.

“I said, shut up,” Alekur snapped. Glaring at Iseris, he said, “You should have been dealt with a long time ago. I’m ending this, here and now.”

“What do you mean?” Iseris asked. “A long time ago? If you’re going to kill me, you might as well tell m?—”

Before she could finish, Alekur raised his arm, palm toward her, and a blast of wind sent her colliding into the cave’s wall.

Jav faltered at Iseris’s cry.

His opponent’s blade did not. It slashed down again, and if it hadn’t been for the chain mail, he’d have a deep gash in his upper arm. At the very least, it hurt like lightning. Jav managed to twist away at the last moment as the man turned the blade toward his neck.

Iseris was going to have to take care of herself for now, or he was going to lose an arm. Or his life. The third man was jogging back into the cave and the first was nursing his wound near the wall.

Another riposte from the second, and Jav shuffled back, then forward again. A rumbling and a choked sound from Alekur’s direction made him risk looking away from his opponent just one more time.

Roots shot from the ground, catching around Alekur’s wrist, pulling the knife away from Selis’s throat. His other hand tried to get ahold on her, but that wrist had been caught as well. Where were those vines coming from?