Page 141 of The Nymph Prince

I’d run out of daggers and had switched to the sword Malik had told the blacksmith to forge for me. Even though it was lightweight, it was still becoming much too heavy the longer I wielded it.

“Do you truly have it in you to kill me, nymph?” Haman asked, out of breath.

My heart thrashed in my chest. Alek’s voice. Tears stung my eyes as I swung my sword at his head.

He ducked and rolled to the side. When he righted himself, he smirked at me. Blood dripped from his cracked lip. “Impressive.”

His eyes flashed purple and one of my lost daggers came soaring toward my head.

I blocked it with my shield before charging him. We’d been at this for hours it felt like. He took some hits, and so did my men and I, but none of us had dealt the final blow to end it.

“Look around at your fallen army,” Malik said. “Many have fled out of fear. The ones who still stand will not be standing for long.”

“They mean nothing to me.” Haman spat blood and wiped at his mouth. “They’re disposable.”

“Was Ezra disposable, too?” I asked, knowing it’d get a rise out of him.

I’d never seen such hate before as Haman yelled and lunged at me. His eyes hadn’t turned purple or silver. They’d gone completely black. Since his magic was failing him, he’d snatched a sword from a dead warrior.

Our blades clanked in midair, and I used every ounce of strength I possessed to shove against him.

Haman stumbled backward, but not by much. His black eyes returned to their normal color and he briefly hung his head, his chest rising and falling with his quick, panting breaths. Blood, dirt, and sweat covered his clothes and skin.

“This isn’t the future that was promised to me,” he whispered, trailing his gaze upward. He lunged again, clanking his blade to my raised shield. “I am a king! More powerful than any of you! She said I’d be victorious this night. That you all would fall dead at my feet.”

He described my vision.

But it was no longer the path we were on. Something had thrown it off course.

“That infuriating mage wasn’t supposed to come on his own,” Haman continued, gritting his teeth. Blood filled the cracks between them. “I saw it! He was to be killed in front of you, and you were supposed to attack, blinded by your grief.”

Alek had changed our grisly fate.

But not his own fate.

An arrow shot past me, heading for Haman, but he knocked it aside with a flick of his hand. I heard a pained yelp, and my heart stopped.

“No!” Malik screamed.

“Only fitting that I pierce him with his own arrow,” Haman said before spitting blood.

Troy.

Tears blurred my vision. I roared and slashed at the dark king.

He blocked my blow with his shield. However, he was growing weaker. Each time he used his powers, his body slumped a little more and his eyes had trouble focusing. I attacked, and he pivoted away.

Reif charged from the left, and Haman sent a blast of energy to knock the guard backward.

Haman stumbled again and held the side of his head. He’d reached his limit. He had nothing else to give.

I had my opening; a clear path to bury my sword into his chest. But then his blue eyes lifted to mine.

“Lorcan,” he said with a whine. “W-Where am I?”

“Alek?” My breath hitched in my throat.

“That’s not Alek!” Malik shouted, running toward him with his blade drawn. Blood covered the front of him. Not his, though.