Page 47 of Faerie Fate
She was fluid violence. No movement was wasted. Poppy met Lezar’s bulk and rudimentary swordsmanship clash for clash. With a smile on her face to boot. She laughed as he hacked at her. Skittering backward before puncturing him with a smooth parry. She swiveled on her back heel with her cloak flapping as the second of the three men rushed at her.
Poppy seemed to anticipate his movements. She ducked just as he threw a blast of magic her way, the blow absorbed by the back wall. Splinters slowly dislodged as the wood dissolved into a pile of sawdust.
“Aw, you’re really going for the heavy stuff right off the bat, aren’t you?”
Lazar didn’t take kindly to her joke. Their swords met and Poppy gripped hers with two hands, her muscles holding strong as Lezar bore down on her. He forced her back one step, then another, crowding her against the bar. Her smile strained around the edges and the lines around her lips intensified.
“I didn’t know it was going to be you,” she told him, her voice hardening. “You always show yourselves to me in time.”
“What the hell are you talking about, you bitch?”
Poppy glanced to the side, breaking her attention, as two more of Lezar’s men moved into place. They moved in tandem and Noren whined when one of them flipped a dagger out of his belt and sliced it toward Poppy’s midsection.
She broke contact with Lezar to avoid the hit, and the man on the other side wrapped his arms around her.
I automatically stepped forward to help, only to have Bronwen draw me back. She trembled against me but said in a strong voice, “This isn’t our fight.”
No, it wasn’t, but damn, I hated staying out of it. I hated not being able to help Poppy, although she held her own with relative ease. She was definitely practiced, for sure. A bounty hunter to the core although I had no clue what she really did or what kind of bounty she brought in.
She met Lezar’s next parry and kicked out, knocking the dagger from the other man’s swollen fingers. Noren crowded against me and although he didn’t take his gaze from the fight, he wasn’t budging, wasn’t letting me move.
I patted the top of his head. “Thanks, buddy.”
Mike angled himself in front of me when one of the men flew through the air, sent spiraling away by a blast of Poppy’s magic. Poppy laughed, pausing with her blade in front of her like a shield.
Noren barked, but the warning came too late, and another one of Lezar’s men, who’d been muttering under his breath from the doorway, completed his spell.
The energy swept across the room and tightened the air. Every breath went thin. Poppy paused, lifted a hand to counteract the spell, and Lezar attacked.
He ducked low, sliding on his knees across the floor to level his blade across her calves and sever the tendons.
I saw the move in slow motion and broke free from Mike and Noren. Instinct moved me like I was nothing but a puppet. Heart throbbing, I pushed Lezar off balance, and got a dagger in my shoulder for my effort.
The point bit deep enough to hit bone.
Momentum forced me down to the floor and I caught myself on my palms before my chin hit the wood. Lezar chuckled and grabbed me by the ankle, dragging me back.
“You stupid girl.”
Poppy muttered a curse and kicked Lezar in the forehead. He let go of me in the next beat.
I pushed up but the movement sent blood gushing out of the wound. I reached behind me with the opposite hand and dragged the dagger out, gritting my teeth against the pain.
“Stay out of my business. This is my mark.” Poppy turned, slicing her sword through the air and catching the next man in the gut. His eyes widened and he clutched at the wound.
It was harder to breathe now. The man at the door continued his muttering, his power growing with every word that fell from his lips. We had to get to him and end the spell. Movement flickered from the corner of my vision and there was Mike, hishands fisted, his jaw clenched. He forced himself through the thick air.
Sylvester sputtered, coughed, and fell behind the bar.
Poppy continued to fight, with her lips pursed, holding her breath. Her posture never slouched and her movements never slowed.
The man…the spell…
Bronwen made it to the man first. Magic flickered as her crow form lengthened back into human and she punched the fae right in the throat. His words cut off, his eyes glazing over.
Well. We hadn’twantedto get into it, but like always, we were dragged into the brawl. They’d left us no choice.
I flashed a smile at Bronwen then stopped, hauling in a sharp breath, glancing down at the slice going from my wrist to halfway down my forearm. The man Poppy had sent careening across the room held his dagger in both hands, its tip stained with my blood.
