Page 6 of Shadow Throne King

“Prince Airón,” Boro interrupted my thoughts, and I blinked, realizing that I’d headed into the garden maze. I’d taken to walking the path when I needed to think. Although usually I walked it with Asahi at my back, a man I trusted with my life.

Not with a Dog who wanted me dead.

“It has been months since Toji died, his body has been returned to the earth, and I still have no answers.” Boro’s hand dropped to his blade, his thumb flicking to release it from its sheath. “What did you do to him? Did you use your foreign magic on him?”

Swallowing, I focused on keeping my face puzzled. “What did I do to him? Nothing. He escorted me around the market, and then we left.Youtold me he died the next day. I had no idea until you told me.”

“Liar.” I couldn’t see his expression behind his mask, his eyes hungry for something that I was not planning on giving him. “I won’t let you leave for the Lakeshore Palace without the truth. And make no mistake, you’ll talk.”

Then he was on me. The passage was too narrow for me to go backward perpendicular to him, so I was forced to take steps backward along the path as I drew two daggers.

One was long, the blade thin and perfect for getting between joints in armor. The other was a knuckle duster, a thick triangular blade attached to the grip. I could wield it as though I were punching him, and the sharp edge should be able to pierce through almost anything.

Boro swung at me, his sword giving him a longer reach. I needed to be fast. Faster than I wanted to be. My jacket was too tight for swift movement, pulling me up short and confining me.

His sword dragged a line of fire across my cheek. I dropped, rolling forward and slashing at my jacket to slice through the fabric. Fast. I needed to be faster.

The torn fabric gave me more movement, and I came up, using my thin blade to swing at him. When I punched into his stomach, I expected the knuckle duster to slice into leather armor and flesh, but instead, my hand rang against metal, the edge sliding and leaving me dangerously off-balance.

He had metal armor for war underneath his gray clothing. I had one moment of surprise before he brought his knee up into my chin, throwing my head backward. I fell, dizzy, stars in my eyes.Get up, I scolded myself.Get up.

He raised his blade, and I had a sudden image of Rute Sotonam, ready to torture Piivu.

But I was no child or servant trained to obedience, and I was not about to lie there and let him cut my fingers loose from my hand. As I rolled, his blade pierced my jacket, pinning it to the rocky garden path, and I pulled my arm out from the fabric, leaving the jacket behind. He drew his sword back, but I was faster, raising my blade and slamming it into his throat, only to have it slide off metal again.

Even with his mask on, I could feel Boro’s smile, a gloating smirk that tilted his eyes upward. “I am not about to be as careless as Toji. I see what you are, even if no one else does.”

“And what am I?” I asked.

“The fall of the Imperium,” Boro snarled. “You are poison, and you have poisoned the emperor. I don’t care what the rest of the Dogs think. I see that your only goal here is to destroy everything we hold dear.”

He slashed his blade, and I had no thick jacket to provide even the smallest protection.

But he had given me enough time to plan. Even metal armor would need somewhere to flex. I rolled forward, then grabbedhold of his leg, pulling my blade across the back of his knee, slicing the tendons and veins.

Boro yelped, pinwheeling forward. His blade dragged perilously close to my eye, but I ignored it, raising my arm to slam my knuckle duster straight into his skin just above his hip, where I knew whatever armor he had on his legs would need a gap before it met the armor on his torso.

Leaving the blade there, I spun away, drawing my third dagger from my boot. I kicked out hard, my boot slamming into his chest, the reverberation of my heel on his armor spiking pain in my knee. With two quick steps, I lunged forward and stabbed up under his chin, my blade not quite buried in his soft palate.

Boro staggered, falling to his knees. He gaped at me.

Then, I heard a crackling voice in my head, like the sound of thunder in the distance, as though I was listening to my own doom.Die.

Lightning crackled between Boro’s hands, and the voice became louder, a scream of anger.Die.

He was too close. With the narrow wall of the maze behind me, I had nowhere to escape to. Even if I ran along the path, it would give him a direct shot. Lightning could travel miles in a straight line.

I held up my hand, as though that could ward it off. Boro let it loose, and as soon as it left his palm, I could feel it on my skin, the heat of it.

Only it froze halfway between us, quivering in the three-foot gap between our bodies. I gaped, then watched as it raced away, down the path, perpendicular to both of us.

I followed the direction with my gaze, fully expecting to see Tallu, but instead, the Kennelmaster closed his hand around the lightning bolt, then threw his hand to the side, sending it harmlessly into the ground.

Blinking, I turned back to Boro, but he had slumped forward, dead.

“Well.” The Kennelmaster strode down the narrow path, the carefully manicured bushes on either side of him darkening with his shadow. “Prince Airón. You have my deepest apologies for the offense against you.”

I panted, pushing up to my knees and then standing, looking down at Boro’s corpse. Blood soaked into the pebbled ground, dyeing the white rocks red.