Page 20 of Married By Treachery

“Better a coward than a fool! This is madness!”

“Madness is dressing up as a bear, abducting a young maiden, locking her up, and not expecting her to be upset about it.”

More kith were looking over now.

“Of all the—” Jake was starting to say when another winged demon shrieked and fell from the sky. Jake pulled her one step to the right, and the creature landed right where they’d been standing. “Get out of here!”

“You need help!”

“Not yours!” he snarled, then yelled over her shoulder, “Rian! Escort mybelovedback to her chambers!”

But before Rian could break away, one of those winged demons swooped low, and Jake yanked Raquel to the ground with him. Once clear, Jake started to rise, but Raquel spotted another shadow bearing down upon them, so she planted her feet on Jake’s torso and kicked him backward instead. Jake cried out in surprise as he stumbled back, and Raquel rolled to the side. The creature struck ground, which gave Jake enough time to gather himself, swing his beautiful sword—was it glowing?—and dislodge the creature’s head from its body. The head dropped, spraying black blood all over Raquel.

Raquel shoved herself to her feet and wiped the blood off her face with Jake’s cape. “You did that on purpose!”

“Absolutely.”

Another creature came at him, and he swung but only managed to knock the creature off course. The creature regained balance, then adjusted its trajectory in an attempt to fly at him again.

Suddenly, Jake’s sword flared as white as moonlight and vanished. One second it was there, glowing in his hand. The next—gone. And then it blinked into existence up above, soaring through the air like some errant bolt of lightning. The creature didn’t have time to change course, and it soared right into Jake’s glowing sword, impaling itself. The creature shrieked and dropped like a stone, and the sword vanished and reappeared in Jake’s fist, its light gone.

And then a child screamed.

Raquel glanced over to see the three horses holding children bolt into the trees, carrying their small riders off with them, while two—no, three winged demons altered course and flew after them.

Raquel took quick inventory of her immediate surroundings and spotted a horse, braying and bucking near its master. Without a second thought, Raquel sprinted straight for it, pushed past its master, climbed into the saddle, and kicked it into a gallop.

7

Though Raquel had executed her share of terrible ideas throughout the course of her life, this might, in fact, have been her worst. But she was desperate, and desperation led a person to do any manner of things they might otherwise know to be…well, stupid.

Like galloping into the mist full of winged demons in a land she did not know.

But saints as her witness, she could not, in good conscience, abandon those children.

She held fast to her horse as she galloped away from the battle, following the children’s cries, though without the light from the outpost and bursts of magik, the forest quickly became dark and impossible to see. Raquel slowed to a trot, eyes narrowed as she strained to make sense of the shadows.

Where the devil had those demons gone? She knew she’d seen at least three take off after the children. Twice, she thought she caught a glimpse of movement, but there was nothing but mist.

And then—finally—she spotted the children. They’d reached the dead end of a very tall, very wide embankment, their horses pacing and snorting, trying to find a way to escape. But Raquel was not watching the children. Her attention fixed on the three winged demons nearby, hovering just inches above the ground, snarling and gnashing their teeth, slowly closing in.

One lunged.

A child screamed.

Raquel threw her blade.

Right before the demonic creature snagged the child, the blade hit, but not in the place she’d intended. It sank in its lower back. Not a fatal strike, but a hindrance.

The creature wailed a horrible predatory sound, rent with bloodlust and nightmare. Its back arched as its body flexed and wings twitched, and all three demons turned toward her.

“That’s right,” she taunted, dismounting. “Come on…”

The one she’d struck snarled and rushed her, but Raquel was ready for it. She spun out of the way, whirled, and used her momentum to plunge a blade into its wing as it rushed past.

This time, it screamed.

“Try flying away now, you oversized rat,” she murmured, and the other two came at her. She dropped, one zipped right over her, then she rolled and stabbed up, right into the reaching claws of the second. That one jerked back but didn’t fly away, instead whipping its massive black wings down upon her. Raquel cried out and covered her face as feathers beat and assaulted, and then she kicked firmly back, knocking it into a tree.

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