Page 129 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

“Lessia, wait!”

A growl left her throat, her top lip curling back to display her canines as she spun around, finding Loche a few steps behind her.

“Leave me alone,” she snarled.

“Lessia, let me explain.” Loche slowed his long strides, his eyes searching her face.

She frantically scanned the area for a way to escape him, but there was no way she could enter the dark woods behind her or to her right, and to her left, there was only a steep drop into the dark sea.

Although the cold water might be preferable to spending one more second in his presence.

“Listen to me. It’s not what you think.”

She snapped her eyes to his, her hands shaking by her side as she tried to manage her breathing. “There is no need, Loche. I get it—it’s just business.”

A small part of her truly understood him—understood that he needed to do everything in his power to do right by Ellow.

But it did little to soothe the betrayal.

“It’s not. Please, come back with me, and I’ll explain everything.”

Shaking her head, she turned around again, starting toward the woods anyway.

Maybe the anger would keep her fear of the dark at bay.

A branch snapped somewhere behind her, but she didn’t turn around, only continued walking over the slippery cliffs, grinding her teeth against the snow the wind swirled into her face.

“Lessia!”

She stilled at the urgency in Loche’s voice.

As she turned her head over her shoulder, her muscles locked.

Loche was still a few feet behind her, but it wasn’t his shadowy figure that caused icy dread to fill her veins.

It was the twenty or so black shapes that filed out of the trees beside them, the glinting swords in their hands.

She froze as the figures closed the distance between them, and it wasn’t until Loche spoke again that she snapped out of it.

“Darling, come to me.” Loche’s voice was soft, beckoning, and it was all she could do to take a faltering step toward him when something glimmered in his eyes.

He was scared.

And that made her terrified.

When she didn’t move fast enough, Loche bridgedthe space between them with three assured steps, pulling her behind him.

The figures were only a few steps away now, and goose bumps rippled across her skin when she realized they were all cloaked, dark hoods shrouding their features.

And most importantly—their eyes.

There were too many for them to take on alone.

Especially if she couldn’t use her magic.

Her nostrils flared when they slowed to a stop before them, and she unsheathed the daggers she had tucked into her waistband. Loche cast her a quick glance as he gripped the sword hanging by his side, and while the flicker of fear in his eyes remained, resolve sharpened his features.

His free hand cupped her chin. “Don’t let them get you closer to the drop.”

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