Page 117 of Staff of Nightfall

“Hey, no.” Regulus pulled her against his chest and cradled the back of her head in his hand. “It doesn’t mean we stopped loving each other.”

Carrick’s laugh carried over the space between them from where he still stood chained to the tree. “How tragic. Guess that love wasn’t as deep as Kirven or either of you thought.”

Regulus’ face heated. “No one asked the opinion of a dead man!”

That shut Carrick up. Regulus moved back to see Adelaide’s face. “Don’t listen to him.” He ducked his head sheepishly. “I think...I may have—somehow—given it back?”

“Given it back?”

“I was praying I could give you my energy, my strength, the way you give me your power to heal me. Thinking I would give anything, even my life, so you could live and win.” He scratched the back of his neck. “And then...I suddenly felt exhausted, like all of my energy had been sapped away. Honestly, I feel like I haven’t slept in days.”

Adelaide’s lips parted. “And I got a sudden rush of energy. Oh, Etiros...” She pushed his hair off his temple. “I don’t understand. But thank you.”

The squeak of metal on wood and a grunt drew his attention back to Carrick. The villain strained as he tried to squirm out of the chains. Regulus walked around Adelaide, and she fell into step next to him. Carrick struggled more at their approach, his face red. Regulus pulled Carrick’s sword out of the dirt as they passed it, anger overpowering his exhaustion.

Carrick stilled. “All right; let’s talk about this. Is killing me necessary? We can just...go our separate ways.”

“No, we can’t,” Adelaide said quietly. “Not after everything you’ve done.”

Blue light flickered as Adelaide conjured a dagger of solid light in her hand and raised it toward Carrick’s throat. But her hand shook, and her expression was strained. Regulus understood her hesitation. Killing an unarmed man felt different. Killing someone you knew...any decent person struggled with that. Unfortunately for Carrick, being a mercenary hammered a lot of decent out of a person. Regulus had no intention of letting him live.

Carrick paled, but quickly regained his irritatingly relaxed expression. “If I could go back and spare your father’s life, I would. And I’m sorry you can’t see how much I care for you. I’m sorry you won’t accept that I just wanted to keep you out of the hands of this mercenary dog.”

“You’re the only dog here,” Regulus growled.

Carrick ignored him. “I’m sorry you can’t see that even when I was cruel, it was only because I didn’t know how else to process that I love you, and you don’t want me.”

“You don’t love me.” Adelaide’s hand bobbed, and the magic dagger softened on the edges. Regulus considered moving Adelaide out of the way and beheading the churl, but maybe she needed to confront him.

“Of course I do!” Carrick slammed his head back against the tree. “Love you, need you, crave you. You’ve made me mad with desire. You can’t blame me for going to extreme lengths to make you mine. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win you.”

“To own me.” Adelaide moved the tip of the dagger of light under Carrick’s chin. “You killed...” She shuddered. “Part of me wants to kill you now. Part of me wants to drag you back to the palace so you can be hanged in front of everyone.”

“An interesting idea,” Carrick said. “Public execution is probably more just.”

Regulus frowned. “He’s just trying to buy time, think of ways to escape. We should kill him now. We’re royal guards. We have the authority to deal with a threat to the crown with deadly force.”

“I’msothreatening right now.” Carrick rolled his eyes.

“You should hang.” Adelaide lowered her hand and the dagger vanished. “A quick death is too good for you, anyway.”

“I’ll gladly do it slowly,” Regulus growled.

“Slowly.” Carrick smiled, cocky and self-assured. Regulus gripped the sword hilt so tight his fingers ached. “Slowly is how I plan on doing you, love.”

Regulus raised the sword, but Adelaide had her dagger back at Carrick’s throat.

“I don’t know what the right thing is to do anymore. My father...” Her voice cracked. “He would say justice.”

“Well...” Carrick smirked. “The thing is, justice doesn’t rule. Power does.”

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ADELAIDE SHOOK HERhead. “What does—”

Something curled around her neck and pulled. She reached toward her throat as Regulus cursed. Her fingers brushed against a rope at her neck.No...She’d killed him.Never let your guard down until you are certain the fight is won. She should have put her sword through his heart.

“First rule of combat,” Nolan gloated. “Make sure your opponent is actually dead.”

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