Page 93 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

With a few swift steps to the left, I forced him to turn to keep me in sight. My spear struck again, each thrust precise and unpredictable. Head, hip, right arm, left leg—I did not give him a chance to go on the offensive.

“Oh, the lass is making him work for it,” Ulyss exclaimed, delight in his voice. Dolores clapped her hands together with an excited squeal.

“You won’t be able to keep this up,” Noctis commented, ducking under another attack. He sounded a little breathless. Good.

“I only have to last longer than you.” I flashed him a wide smile, thrusting my spear toward his chest. He leaped back a few paces.

I could pinpoint the exact moment he stopped holding back.

His gaze fixed on me with menacing intensity, his grip on the sword shifting imperceptibly, every powerful line of his body tensing up.

As he met my next attack, he gave me no opportunity to evade.

His sword slid against the tip of my spear with a shrill screech, and then he unleashed a barrage of blows so forceful that I was soon forced to retreat across the entire length of the training grounds.

When I felt the stable wall behind me, and saw the arrogant smile lifting the corner of his mouth, I growled in annoyance.

There was no way I was going to let him win.

My hands tightened around the handle of my weapon, and then I charged forward, ignoring the surprised cries of our spectators.

Instead of attacking directly, I stabbed the pointy end of my spear into the ground, using it to propel myself into the air and over Noctis’s blade.

My booted foot met his face with satisfying force, halting his assault abruptly.

I rolled over the ground, taking my spear with me, and sprang to my feet once more, swiftly straightening my skirt.

“You’re still quick,” Noctis remarked, brushing off a few drops of blood where my boot had broken the skin of his lip. Despite the injury, his eyes held no anger, only an unrelenting fire that burned brighter and brighter every time our weapons met.

“You’re still talking too much,” I retorted with a laugh.

For a few glorious minutes, it was only us, everything else fading away.

A deadly, heart-pounding dance of clashing steel and quick, shallow breaths, our eyes locked, noting every weakness.

No one would ever match me this well, I thought as I ducked beneath a blow that came so close I felt it stir my hair, the crowd crying out in alarm.

No one would ever make me feel this alive.

And no one would be more satisfying to defeat.

I stumbled back with a gasp at Noctis’s next attack, my skirts tangling around my legs.

My spear dipped as the grip of my right hand faltered, leaving that side exposed.

Noctis lunged. His mouth twisted into a triumphant grin.

I dropped to one knee, his sword whizzing over me, and swung the butt of my spear around in a well-aimed arc.

Taking advantage of the way he was out of balance, too sure of his certain victory, the blow pulled his feet out from under him. I was on my feet again as he crashed down, not wasting a moment, my spear’s sharp edge pressing against his neck before he could rise.

“I have to admit,” I said softly, “seeing you on your knees in the dirt does bring back some wonderful memories.”

Noctis breathed in deeply. Then his open hand hit the ground in the acceptance of defeat. A turn of his head, his eyes glinting. “Been waiting to say that to me, haven’t you?”

I offered him my hand and pulled him up. “Absolutely.”

The wild cheers breaking out at my stunt barely registered in my mind. My entire focus was on him, on the way he looked at me as he stepped closer, as if he wanted to devour me whole. It was as if I had awakened every dark impulse within him, his control fraying before my eyes.

His hand found my nape, tilting my face up to him. Would he dare to kiss me in front of everyone? Did I even want to stop him?

“I see you’ve learned how to surprise me in a fight, my queen,” he murmured, his voice low and meant only for me. Those strong fingers tightened in my hair, and I gasped involuntarily.

“I had a good teacher.”

Stars, I wanted his lips on mine. I wanted him to claim me in some irrevocable, eternal way that would bind us forever.

That would make me his and him mine against all reason, against all rules of gods and mortals alike, because I could not breathe without him.

I had been buried alive for so long in a tomb of my own making, and now I was finally breaking free.

“Indeed.” Noctis’s smile was so full of smug male satisfaction that he had surely caught on to the nearly overwhelming desire pounding through me.

When he let go and stepped away, I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of disappointment, despite the onlookers.

I bit my lip, trying to regain my composure, a sudden gust of wind from the river a welcome relief on my heated skin.

Alona soared across the training ground and leaped into my arms, her golden eyes sparkling with pride.

She gestured excitedly with her claw-tipped hands, declaring that I was the best fighter she had ever seen.

I affectionately tugged at her coppery hair as the others gathered around to congratulate me, my grin widening at the disgruntled expression on Portia’s face.

“Stars,” Tristan exclaimed good-naturedly as he clasped my shoulder. “I always knew you could fight, but I guess I can count myself lucky it was Bele I had to face earlier and not you.”

When I met Noctis’s gaze this time, there was no jealousy in his eyes, only a steady, unrelenting heat that conveyed exactly what he wanted to do to me the moment we were alone.

I wasn’t too proud to admit I would let him.

He took the inevitable ribbing at his loss with good humor, laughing at the soldiers’ comments.

The fact that I had bested him had clearly endeared him to the others, who had been intimidated earlier.

It was nice, I realized, to see him like this—talking and joking.

We were just about to resume the training when a sudden commotion between the buildings caught my attention. A lone figure stumbled into the courtyard, dressed in the uniform of the militia, his tunic stained with mud, a bruise covering the right side of his face.

“Calder!” I exclaimed, worry rising within me. He and two other soldiers had been on patrol this morning.

“I’m not hurt.” Calder shrugged off Kyree and Adesh’s hands as they rushed to help him. “I need to find Rada.”

Unease pulsed through me as I hurried to his side and took his hand in mine. “I’m here,” I said, hoping to calm him. “Tell me what happened.” Ria quickly brought over a mug of water.

“It’s Briseis and Varien,” Calder choked out after downing the water in one gulp. “I was patrolling the path to Milford Ridge with Lorna and Kaen when we encountered them heading to the village. It all happened so fast.”

“Where are Lorna and Kaen?” Adesh asked beside me, his brow furrowing with concern.

“Dead.” Calder’s response drew shocked gasps from everyone around us.

“They didn’t stand a chance. Light, there were so many…

At least two dozen Rakash. They descended on us without warning or mercy.

I’m only alive because of this.” His hand trembled as he pulled a piece of parchment from his tunic.

“She told me to bring this to you.” He handed me the scroll.

“Who did?” I asked, tearing open the twine keeping the parchment closed.

“Their leader,” Calder spat. “There were three of them, all in black robes with their hoods up. But I could tell they were no Rakash.”

His words did not reach me. An anguished cry tore from my lips, stark fear washing through me as a small object landed in my hand—Varien’s lapis lazuli, a lock of golden hair wound around it. He would never have parted with it voluntarily.

“She has them,” I whispered, meeting Noctis’s gaze. The stricken expression on his face mirrored my own despair.

The letter was written in the distinctive, sharp lines of Aurean script, clearly meant for our eyes only. The message was brief and to the point:

You have something of ours. We have something of yours. If you want your friend and her son back, bring him to us. With the dagger. You have until sunset to come to the Elf’s hut on the Ridge .

There was no signature, but it wasn’t needed. My mind raced as Adesh questioned Calder further. Briseis and her son had at least been unharmed when he had seen them, although it was a small consolation.

Why had Deira kidnapped them? Why not attack Noctis and me directly?

To ensure we wouldn’t try to escape—to force us to come to her, giving her every advantage, I realized.

As Noctis had said, she likely overestimated our strength after we dealt with Vultaron and Tharion, unaware of how weak we truly were.

I had been terribly right when I told him her little trip into Dalath had given her all the information she needed.

She had seen how much Varien and Briseis meant to me, that she could exploit my feelings for them to corner us.

And now those I loved would pay the price for my mistakes.