Page 36 of Reign of Stars and Fire

“Welcome back, Saga.” Gods, his voice was rough like dried straw coated his tongue. “Our Lord wishes to see you.”

Chapter13

The Raven Queen

“Not a friend?”Calista asked from the side of her mouth.

“Once he might’ve been.” I snatched the knife from the rope on my thigh.

Bo was joined by a few familiar Borough guards, all drowned in the Wild Plague much like him. They had no light in their eyes. They were captivated by the lust of a kill, for war, for hatred. Any small grievance in their life, Davorin would swell into a vengeance fierce enough to spill blood.

No doubt, if Bo believed me to be a traitor to his homeland and battle lord, he was spewing out no less than a hundred ways to slaughter me piece by piece.

“I have no lord to see, Bo. You see, I am the heir of this land.” I spun the knife in my hand. All those turns as consort to Davorin, and I only learned the blade after he betrayed me.

“Don’t embarrass yourself.” Bo chuckled with an arrogance he never had before. A few of the corrupted Borough guards did the same, and unsheathed silver axes or bronze seax blades.

I’d trained with Bo. I knew the blade as well as him. I knew his weakness as well as his strengths. Bo favored his left and used heavy strikes. If I could get him out of his comfort side, my lighter, swifter strikes could do more damage than his brutal ones.

My weapon paled compared to the battle blades, but I spun it in my grip as though it was coated in blood from slitting a dozen throats.

“I think by the time this is over, you will be the one embarrassed, Bo.”

I lunged at him, calling to the soil, the trees, to the whole damn Mossgrove to aid us in the moment.

Bo met the slice of my knife with a stunned, tilted block. As if he hadn’t anticipated I’d truly attack. What Davorin must think of me? Still his simpering consort who didn’t know what end of a blade held the hilt. Bo was lost in his mind. The Saga he once knew was tainted by the call of Davorin’s glamour.

My time with the Borough guards was empty; I’d been deep in my curse of a cold heart, but it served me well in some ways. Without feeling, I focused on killing without thought. Even with love and a living heart, I managed to slip into a thoughtless warrior without a care.

Bo struck. I parried and kicked his knee. He stumbled backward, a look of shock on his face. My small knife slid past his sword and nicked one side of his chest.

Glamour woke in my veins. With every pulse of my heart, the call to the land, the forest, grew stronger. A rough laugh scraped out of my throat when an oak tree snapped at the trunk. It fell onto its side, sacrificing itself for me, and landed behind Bo.

He fell backward.

“At your back, Raven Queen!” Calista’s cry was tinged in a maniacal sort of laugh. She slashed at thighs and ribs like a feral dog nipping at the weak points on a body.

The storyteller whooped when branches bent, when the river trudged onto the land, swallowing the guards in mats of fallen branches, leaves, and thick mud. She tilted her head back, laughing, as thin boughs whipped the eyes of the guards.

Stefan had more skill than he let on. He had a dagger in hand and—gods—he still had an herb roll between his teeth as he rammed the blade into the underside of a guard’s chin.

Bo found his footing. He drew his blade down. I grunted when we collided in a lock overhead. Face to face, nose to nose, his lip curled. “Cease the fight, Saga. You stand no chance.”

I bared my teeth. “Then why am I winning?”

A simple note, a plea through my glamour, and the land answered. Grass lengthened into thick blades, like noxious weeds. They wrapped around Bo’s ankles and wrists, tethering him to the ground. Shrubs and briars clamped around his neck in thorny shackles.

I held the knife over his heart and leaned close. “The only reason you are still breathing is because I promised Rune I’d do what I could to save you. He loves you, you know. I watched the two of you, and I wonder if you once felt the same.” I slapped Bo’s cheek. He didn’t flinch. His jaw pulsed and he glared at me, but there was a flicker—the slightest shift in his eyes. “Pull your head out of Davorin’s ass, Bo. See what life you might have with someone who truly cares about you.”

Bo sneered. Before I could move back, his hand broke through one of the thorny vines and gripped my wrist.

I let out a cry when he pulled me into the tangle of briars. Needle tips sliced over my skin. I turned my face to avoid the jabs to my eyes.

“Saga!” Calista cried out. Heavy footsteps pounded over the soil.

Bo threaded his fingers in my hair, his nose to mine. “Why does he want you, Saga? You’re nothing but a guard who once spread her legs for powerful men. He told us all about his favorite whore.”

“You knownothing.” I shifted, trying to break free. Bo’s second hand snapped free of my trap. Words dried over my tongue. The call to the earth drew blank in my thoughts. A tingle of seidr, of my glamour burned beneath my skin, but panic clouded the use of it.