Page 29 of What Fury Brings (Wrath and Fury #1)

They rode for hours through what felt like every street in the city. The herald even had to be switched out so her voice wouldn’t go dry.

Olerra tried to engage Andrastus, but he wasn’t having any of it. The man was so stubborn he put his father to shame. He was a true Brute indeed.

“Do you know how to have fun?” she asked him, utterly exasperated a couple of hours later.

They were along the outskirts of the city now.

Soon they would cross the bridge over the Fren River before taking a road south back to the palace.

There were hardly any homes around anymore, but Olerra loved the scenery.

All the palm trees and flowering shrubs were a picturesque backdrop. Perfect for romancing her prince.

“Fun,” he repeated.

“Yes, a good time? Surely you’ve had one before?”

He said nothing.

“You won’t eat. You barely talk. You only tolerate the masses. What do you usually do as a prince in Brutus?”

“I didn’t realize having fun was a goal you had for me,” he said dryly.

“Of course it is. We’re to be married. You think I want our time together to be miserable? Surely there’s something fun we can decide on?”

There was a sound outside, a rumble that had the horses halting and whinnying. Up ahead, Olerra saw the bridge over the river collapsing, with her forward guard still upon it. They fell into the churning current below, which carried them and their horses away.

Before Olerra could so much as move, she heard the distinct shink that could only be that of an arrow.

“Get down!” Olerra shouted, throwing Andrastus to the floor and covering him with her body. A volley shot toward them. She heard the rear guard grunting in pain and falling off their horses. Arrows imbedding into the carriage door. The driver falling from her perch.

When all was still, Olerra rolled off the prince and dared a glance over the lip of the carriage. There were eight of them, all on horses and with crossbows. They reloaded now.

“Shit,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Another of my cousin’s assassination attempts.”

“What?”

“Stay out of sight.”

Olerra dug the key to his bindings out of her pocket and pressed it to his fingers.

Then she exited out the door opposite of the attackers.

She wouldn’t let them get anywhere near Andrastus.

Sanos fumbled with the key, nearly dropping it in his disbelief and excitement. She was just giving it to him? Why? So he could help her fight off the attackers?

He heard more arrows loose and did drop the key this time.

Stupid.

He made himself take a deep breath. Yes, he was manacled and half naked. Yes, Olerra was outside, armed with a sword against projectiles. And he’d dropped the damned key.

Panic would only lead to death. He rolled around on his back, crushing his hands as they blindly sought out the key. Someone outside screamed, and he didn’t know if it was Olerra, her guards, or someone else.

Not that I care.

His fingers throbbed as he finally brushed against the small metal key. He angled himself as best he could, leaning back on his ass and attempting to grip the stupid thing.

There!

His right hand had the key, and his left valiantly searched for the keyhole to his cuffs. This would be so much easier if he could just see.

There was a metallic sound outside. Possibly that of a bolt striking a sword. Was she deflecting arrows ?

He finally found the keyhole, but his fingers were twisted the wrong way. He wiggled it, willing the key to go where he needed it.

The manacles slid loose, and he didn’t waste a moment before taking the key to those restricting his ankles. Then the clamp at his neck. That damn collar.

Lastly, he removed the nipple clamps. He thought to throw them far away, but upon seeing the jewels spaced along the chain, he figured he could sell it for food during the journey home. He wrapped it around one of his wrists.

Then he got onto his knees to peer over the carriage as she had earlier.

What he saw was incredible.

Three attackers were already down, either dead or wounded by her sword.

He couldn’t see Olerra at first, but then he saw her hiding behind one of the horses of the fallen guards.

She had one foot in the stirrup, one hand on the horn as she held herself parallel with the ground, using the horse’s body to completely hide herself from view.

The attackers must have lost sight of her as they were reloading for the next volley.

And they didn’t suspect a lone horse for a second.

He looked behind the carriage. Olerra’s guard had all been slaughtered by the arrow volleys. The ambush had done what it was meant to, rendering the princess entirely alone.

Olerra somehow directed the horse with nudges of her knee to its side, the mare turning away from the contact, until it pulled up beside one of the other riders.

She reached up and tugged the other woman off the horse.

He watched as Olerra released herself from her own horse, landing atop the woman on the ground. Olerra found a loose rock and clipped her in the head with it.

Gods, she was ruthless. She was something else to behold as she fought.

An arrow loosed, striking the horse that she hid behind and sending it bolting. Olerra didn’t hesitate before leaning over to pick up the unconscious guard she’d just dispatched and use her like a meat shield. Two more bolts landed, hitting their accomplice instead of the queen potential of Amarra.

He was so caught up that he forgot escape should have been foremost on his mind. Shaking himself for his distraction, he exited the opposite door of the carriage as she had, closing it quietly behind him. Not that Olerra was likely to do anything if she heard it.

Sanos took in the scenery before him. A copse of trees waited a hundred yards off. If he could reach it, he would have cover as he made his escape.

But for some reason, he peered around the carriage. Just to get one more look at her.

Another assassin was down, and Olerra had discarded her meat shield. She’d gotten another rider off her horse, and the two battled with swords. As they spun, Olerra looked in his direction and spotted him.

“Run for the cover of the trees,” she told him, returning her eyes to her opponent immediately. “Keep yourself safe. I’ll find you when I’m done.”

What the fuck?

She wanted him to run. She’d given him the key so he could be safe from the fighting. She knew he would go to the trees. She intended to come after him.

He ducked back around the carriage to look ahead of and behind the direction they’d been traveling. Was there somewhere else he could go? Somewhere she wouldn’t expect him to travel to? Someplace he could finally be free of this woman?

Out of his periphery, he spotted a new assassin entering the fight.

Someone who hadn’t originally attacked them.

Someone who had hung back, obviously intent on catching Olerra unawares.

Sanos looked around the carriage again, just to ensure she saw the newcomer.

Then he’d see about freeing one of the horses from the carriage and galloping away.

She battled all three of the previously saddle-ridden assassins. They were on their feet, all holding melee weapons of one kind or another. The newcomer approached, a long spear in hand.

Olerra didn’t notice.

She’d be skewered.

Good , a voice muttered in his head.

The other part of him didn’t speak. It simply remembered her being beaten to a bloody pulp for him.

She’d shown him her city, the good and the bad. She’d told him her hopes for changing things for the better. Her hopes for how things could be between them.

He couldn’t leave her to die.

Sanos snarled in frustration.

He unwound the nipple chain from his wrist and gripped either end tightly in both fists.

Silently, he overtook the new woman and garroted her.

She dropped her spear, scratching at the chain that dug into her neck.

Sanos only pulled harder, despite the pain it caused in his own palms. The assassin reached her dominant hand over her shoulder, trying to get a grip on him, but it was no use.

When Olerra finally killed the last of the assassins circling her, she turned to find Sanos dropping the woman to the ground.

Her eyes did a quick count of the fallen guards. He could see her take in the spear and his makeshift weapon. Then her gaze turned to the guard in front of Sanos. He had to sidestep the body before he could see what she was looking at.

A drop of blood welling from the wound he’d made.

“I take it you’ll pardon that?” His voice came out harsh. He was angry with himself for not being on the road to Brutus.

“This was an attempt on my life. You’re permitted to defend me. You will get to regale everyone with the tale of how you strangled a woman with your nipple chain.”

She cracked a smile, but he found none of this funny. Gods, why wasn’t he turning away and running now?

She’d only catch me. She’s faster, and I’m barefoot.

“You helped me,” she said, as though it didn’t quite make sense.

He scoffed. “You mean saved you.”

“I took out eight, Prince. You felled one.”

“One that you never saw coming. She would have killed you.”

“Maybe. I suppose we’ll never know.”

Olerra searched each fallen assassin. At first Sanos thought she was looting the bodies, but then he realized she must be looking for orders.

Some hint of who hired them. Olerra had told him it was Glen, so she must be searching for proof.

When she came up empty-handed, she surveyed her fallen soldiers.

Sanos wondered how many of them she knew personally.

Placing a hand on her heart, Olerra looked as though she might be saying a silent prayer.

“Come,” she said, her voice hard, though not for his sake. “It isn’t safe. More could come. We will hurry to the palace and send riders for the fallen and the injured horses.”

Olerra sat in the driver’s perch and held a hand down to Sanos.

He took it, and together they rode for the palace side by side.

Olerra would have kept one of the assassins alive if she didn’t also have Andrastus to worry about. It hardly mattered, though. None of the ones she’d caught before had given Glen up.

Olerra was certain her cousin was behind the attack but once again had no means of proving it.

She must retaliate in some way. Glenaerys had cost her a dozen good soldiers.

A dozen friends. And she’d put her betrothed in danger twice now.

Olerra would not allow a third, but she didn’t see a path forward.

She couldn’t punish her cousin. She couldn’t outmaneuver her.

Olerra had played the only card she’d had: taking Andrastus. She’d bet everything she’d had on him.

And today, he’d saved her.

For some strange reason, the man hadn’t tried to escape again.

She’d thought for sure when she’d handed him the key that she would find the carriage empty and tracks leading into the trees nearby. Instead, she’d found him watching her, as though he cared whether she survived. She’d told him to run, and he’d ignored her. He’d killed for her.

And that deserved to be rewarded. She wanted to show him how grateful she was.

With the reins in one hand, Olerra reached over with the other to pat his knee where it was exposed to the air because of the outfit she’d made him wear. He didn’t flinch from the contact, so she left her hand there, squeezing gently.

“I won’t forget this,” she told him. “You showed me kindness today, and I will repay it. As soon as you’re ready.”

His gaze cut to her. “You’ll free me?”

A sad smile stole over her lips. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Andrastus.

I need you to help me secure my throne. Remember, you will be freed as soon as I have it.

You have my word on that.” She paused. “But I can give you pleasure. Let me show you what your kindness meant to me. Tonight or any night you choose.”

He tensed up.

“I won’t take you,” she hurried to add. “I promised I wouldn’t until you asked for it. But perhaps you’d settle for something else? Let me please you.” She brazenly slid her hand up his leg a little higher.

He looked away from her and scooted his leg to his side of the carriage, letting her hand fall.

The rejection stung, and she clenched her teeth against the irritation that rose from it. Really, now, did he find her so displeasing that just her touching him was unwanted? She tried to remind herself of their first night. He’d been eager. He’d loved watching her please herself, so why—

“No transactions,” he said finally. The words were almost too soft for her to hear.

“What?” she asked.

“I don’t want a transaction. I don’t want you to pleasure me because you think I’ve earned it. I want you to do it because you want it.”

“Why can’t it be both?”

“I’ve already told you I am not a dog that you give treats to.”

That was harsh but fair, she supposed. Still, she fired back with “And the whores you paid for at the brothel I stole you from? You only want to make transactions with them? You seemed pleased enough by me when you thought I worked at Blanchette’s.”

His breathing picked up, but he didn’t respond. Because he recognized his hypocrisy? Or was it more complicated than that?

“I don’t want any more transactions where sex is concerned,” he explained. “Never again.”

“Something changed you?”

“You, you baffling woman. You’ve ruined me entirely.”

She looked away so he wouldn’t see her grin.

“Andrastus, I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but I find you extremely attractive.

The more I learn about you, the more that attraction grows.

We’re to be wedded, and I am eager to bed you.

If anything, I’m the one trying to trick you into a sexual encounter by disguising it as a reward.

“Now, may I please pleasure you tonight?” She tried to keep the exasperation out of her voice, but it still crept in.

He was silent so long that Olerra was certain he meant to ignore her.

But then she caught it.

His nod.