Page 25 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

I turned to the sound of boots echoing behind me.

Chapter

Five

The stone was slick with recent rain, the shadows drawn long by the moon behind me. I could feel Kaelith’s distant rumble of awareness at the edge of my mind, but she was asleep with the rest of the horde.

He stepped out from the shadows with the casual grace of a man who’d killed before, and didn’t need to rush to do it again.

His rapier gleamed, polished to a mirror shine, and his stance was light on his feet. Not sloppy. Not uncertain. Experienced.He had made those boot sounds on purpose.

His face bore the years of war—creased skin, a thick scar carved from his jaw to temple, and eyes like flint. He moved like someone who had danced with death more times than he could count… and won.

He circled me with quiet patience, his blade making lazy arcs in the air.

I drew my own rapier, the metal singing as it cleared the scabbard. My stance settled instinctively, years of drills and combat clicking into place like muscle memory.

He smiled. A grin full of teeth, feral and amused.

“That’s a nice blade,” he said, voice gravel rough. “Might take it from you.”

“You’ll have to kill me first,” I replied coldly.

He chuckled, dark and low. “That’s the problem, ain’t it?”

He lunged.

A feint—light, testing. The edge of his blade flicked just shy of my shoulder. I parried, pivoted, our weapons hissing as they met.

He stepped back.

Another lunge, this one toward my thigh, but I sidestepped before steel could bite flesh.

He was fast. But not trying to land a fatal strike.

“At least for me,” he murmured, straightening. “The Blood King wants you alive.”

I stilled for a breath, heart hammering in my chest.

We began to circle again, boots scuffing on the slick cobblestones, blades catching the fading light.

I narrowed my gaze. “Do you work for the Order?”

He snorted. “The Order?” His tone was mocking. “They’re not the only power in the kingdoms, girl.”

That chilled me more than the steel in his hand.

Because if the Order wasn’t behind this?—

Who the hell was?

He circled me again, each step slow and deliberate, his rapier held with a relaxed confidence that made my stomach tighten.

“You have two choices, white-hair,” he said, voice low and sharp. “You can join us…” His blade twitched forward, aimed at my heart. “Or you can die.”

The chill that swept down my spine had nothing to do with fear.

And everything to do with fury.