Page 13

Twelve

Lorcan

O oooh! That’s my cue!

Blinking forward—then a second time because I only made it half the distance I had planned thanks to the stupid iron—I peck a kiss to my pet’s cheek.

A finger falls to the floor before the blue asshole can even register the cut, and I frown.

Note to self: use a blunter knife. He probably didn’t even feel that.

The trickle of glamour dissolving runs down my spine, and I grin as the warriors around us reach for their weapons.

My mate gives me the best presents. I’m going to give her this prick’s ugly blue head—after I stuff his cock in his mouth to stop his intolerable gloating.

“Lorcan, stick to the plan!” the dullahan roars, but the blue king is already drawing his hand back, and I’m rapidly losing my chance to take the rest of the fingers that dared to touch my pretty Rose.

If I’m being a hundred percent honest, which I rarely am, I wasn’t actually listening to the plan in the first place. Let’s face it, when you let a redcap loose on the enemy, there’s only one way it’s going to end:

Blood and death.

Dimly I realise that Rose is now surrounded by a flickering golden bubble as Elatha opens and closes his mouth but only manages fragments of speech. Ah, the púca is keeping him from spewing any more shit. Good.

That’ll do until I can feed him his pathetic dick.

“Stop playing and kill the fucker!” Caed growls, and I roll my eyes.

You’d think being a quarter under fae would make him less of a killjoy.

Rose dodges left, trying to slip past Elatha, but a sword almost takes out her feet, passing through the flickery shield and forcing her back.

Oooh, look. Another Fomorian dead. How did that happen?

She makes another dive for the throne, but the blue king finally regains his wits and grabs for the iron sabre at his side.

“Ah, ah, ah,” I croon, parrying the attack that would’ve taken my mate’s head. The clang of metal on metal is deafening, and the impact of the blow shudders all the way up my arm.

The púca is there in the next second, putting himself between Rose and another threat.

“The redcap can handle himself,” he promises her. “Jaro and I have you. Go.”

I have no plans to handle myself. I want to handle this silly little male. The one who thought he could scare my mate.

His form is passable, I suppose. He fights well enough for a Fomorian who’s never left his little mountain. Iron grazes my leg, and I gnash my teeth together in frustration.

My blinking is so limited by this stupid iron. I would love to drop him from the sky and watch him go splat. Jaro’s wolf is somehow killing more Fomorians than me. It’s those pointy teeth. He’s ripping through anyone trying to get close to Rose faster because of them.

Goddess’s tits, I will not be outdone by a seelie.

“Duck!” Rose grabs my arm and yanks me down as the Fomorian king swipes out with his sabre again.

I blink us both, taking us out of his reach and leaving him for Caed to play with. Rose takes another step in the throne’s general direction, but there are a hundred Fomorians between us and that tiny patch of clear floor, and with all the iron around, it’ll take me three blinks to get us there.

I told Drystan we should’ve brought her puppy. The stupid dullahan was convinced Wraith would give us away.

Tapping my heel against the stone to activate the blade in the toe of my boot, I do my best to kick Elatha in the balls from behind, but the move is ruined because one of the fuckers scoops up a handful of iron powder and flings it into my face.

Nostrils burning, I blink away, but the stinging pain in my chest tells me I didn’t manage to avoid it all.

“Dullahan, you’re up,” I yell, stabbing the asshole who thought he could give me an unwanted facial.

Fortunately, the rest of her Guard appear to actually be doing their jobs for once. He’s already there, snagging Rose around her waist and planting her behind him. His whip—which I really, really want to play with—lashes out and vaporises the Fomorian who was grabbing for her.

The púca lets out a snarl, and I whirl, looking for him in the mass of blue and iron, only to come face to face with a pretty murder kitty crunching through the skull of a female warrior.

My heart rate kicks up a notch as a huge serpentine body, easily as wide as I am tall, slides through the hall, slamming aside Fomorians as it hisses and spits venom everywhere.

I have no idea where Bree is, but his animals are so much better.

I try to blink behind my next opponent, but my magic doesn’t work. Huh. Too much iron? Oh well. If you can’t go around it, you have to stab through it.

… It would help if breathing didn’t hurt so much.

Drystan’s head, hanging from his belt in an open-weave bag, frowns at something behind me, and I reach back to parry the attack before he can say anything.

Caed hacks apart the warrior who tried to take my head in the next second. Blood arcs, glittering in the torchlight and splattering my hat with more pretty redness, and it morphs, widening to catch more of the spray.

Is Rose watching?

“Hands off my kills, blue!” I call, grinning.

If this is what a united Guard is like, bring it on. Can we do this every year? This is the fun kind of carnage I can get behind.

“Aww, we’re bonding!” I realise, somersaulting past the dullahan to repay the favour by taking out another of the blue assholes. “Look at us! We’re being a proper Guard and everything.”

I steal a shocked kiss from my pet as I cartwheel past, my cock hardening in a salute I hope she notices.

“How about you think less about bonding and more about keeping our mate alive?” Bree suggests, reaching to his chest and pulling out a lute from among his tattoos, which he then…

Smashes over the head of his opponent.

Oooh, death by lute. How come I never thought of that one? Probably because the noise it makes is horrific. The strings protest their treatment in a barrage of twangs and screeches before disappearing into ink once more.

Wolfie pounces over my head, and I barely resist the urge to reach up and tickle his wickle fluffy belly. Nope. Bad Lore. No time for petting furry beasts.

The snake has cleared a path, and Rose is going for it, the rest of us keeping up with her…

Except for Caed. He’s still facing off against his father. Or trying to. The rest of the warriors are only too eager to defend their king.

“Hey, blue! The party’s this way.”

He needs to move before the king realises we’re out of range and Bree probably can’t mute the bastard.

One minute I’m fighting through mud, cursing the iron poisoning for making blinking impossible, and then it all just gets… easier.

Power swirls through me, sluggish at first, but growing steadily stronger until I can blink again. The iron I undoubtedly inhaled fades to insignificance as Danu herself kisses my lungs better.

Blink, stab. Blink, stab. Ooh! An artery.

The blood is flowing so beautifully, hitting my cap, soaking my face. My cock hardens painfully at the thought of how pretty Rose will look coated in all of this carnage. Wearing nothing but the blood of all the enemies I’ll slaughter for her as she shakes and moans on my prick?—

A sword very nearly cuts off said perfect specimen of manhood before I can gather my wayward thoughts.

Oops. Getting ahead of myself. Fight first. Fuck later.