Page 50

He was suddenly gone. He hadn’t looked at her. Hadn’t even spoken to her directly.

Her eyes were suddenly hot and a tear ran down her cheek.

“Don’t worry, Avasu. He’s the Commander. He’ll be fine.” Deni patted her back, and then Taira joined them in the clearing, and they helped her out of the thicket, onto the open plain.

She was almost completely healed, but she let them support her as if she was still injured, and somehow, that didn’t feel like a lie.

Chapter 15

Ava.

It had been Ava’s eyes on him.

As he ran toward Revek and the others, Luc tried to balance the horror he’d felt earlier with the knowledge that this time, the eyes on him had only meant him well.

It was hard.

He admitted to himself that he was relieved to have an excuse to leave Ava with Deni, to think things through without looking at the pain and vulnerability he’d seen on her face.

He could hear a fight up ahead, and it sounded as if there were more combatants involved than there should be.

He burst through the thicket and saw Revek, Rafe and the young soldier in a fight for their lives with five Kassian soldiers.

The two spies had been joined by three others.

An arrow whistled past him, and he looked up to see the archer staring at him in disbelief, bow still raised, arm still back.

That no harm shall come to you.

That’s what Ava had told him she’d worked into his shirt.

Someone screamed a war cry, and he was suddenly engaged, fighting up close with his sword.

The tight space and enclosing bushes made everything harder, but he managed to get in a killing swing.

He looked up as his opponent went down, saw the archer aiming for Rafe, and made the decision to trust in his lover.

Trust her with his life.

He leaped in front of his unit commander, swinging his sword at the nearest Kassian spy, and the arrow fletch scraped the side of his neck as it shot past and disappeared into the bushes.

The archer turned his horse and gave a shout. One other Kassian managed to swing up onto their mount and the two urged their horses out of the clearing.

Two men lay dead, and the one Luc had just swung at lay injured at his feet. But he wouldn’t last long.

Luc saw he’d hit an artery, and the spy was losing blood too quickly.

Breath heaving in and out of his chest, Rafe bent over, and spat out some blood. “Just took a fist to the mouth,” he said, waving Luc away. “It’s Revek who got shot.”

Sure enough, his friend had an arrow sticking out of his left shoulder. He looked gray, and was down on one knee.

“Frederik?” Rafe turned to look for his underling, and Luc saw the young man slowly get to his feet, a slash across his cheek.

“That arrow.” Frederik’s eyes were wide. “I thought you were shot for sure, and then you moved just at the right moment.”

“You think the Kassian created those camps for the Cervantes just because, boy?” Rafe asked. “They wanted us because we are the natural fighters they wish they were themselves.”

Luc pulled a cloth from his pocket and wiped his sword down, slid it into its sheath, and noticed Frederik’s eyes were on the weapon the whole time.