Page 75 of Fractured
But he’d ordered me to kill Nilah and had sent his soldiers for her in the cave. That I wouldneverforgive if I lived a thousand years.
“You hurt my feelings,” he mocked with a hand to his chest.
A hand free of weapons—but he didn’t really need one. Just like me.
“Your ego will find a way to survive, I’m sure,” I said. “I’ll urge you to quickly get to the reason why you’re following me. I’m running very low on patience.”
A laugh—cold and cruel. Lyall spread his arms to the sides and looked at me like he thought I might have forgotten who he was. A fucking snake in disguise,controlled so fully by his ego. Achild—albeit one with a lot of power in his hands.
“Look at us—two sons of kings going about it in a forest in Mysthaven. Who would have thought the night would come,” he said. “Though, I’ll admit it’s different when you’re a bastard?—”
“Lyall.” I didn’t raise my voice at all, but he stopped. “I will not show you mercy a second time.”
At this point he would have laughed again—heartily this time—had he not seen me with his own eyes sink his entire feast hall into raw darkness before I ran away. He would have had the time of his life attacking me right here had he not known that I was no longer restricted by the curse my father put on me.
But he saw. And he knew.
There was no laughter before he said, “Oh, yeah, yeah—that did make me curious. You could have killed me before I woke up.” He pushed the edges of his cloak to the sides and put his hands in his pockets—a gesture meant to make me believe that he wasn’t worried in the least or threatened by me in any way. “Why didn’t you?”
“I am not a coward. To kill you while you were unconscious would have made me one,” I said.
“Right, right—I thought you might say that it was because we were friends once, and…you know, that little detail where Isaved your life.”
“And I saved yours—twice now, if we want to be picky.” I smiled and it wasn’t even forced.
His was. “But I’m not unconscious now.” Again, he raised his hands. “Are you going to attack me? We both know you can now that you broke the traitor’s mark. You did it.” Hehatedevery word that came out of his mouth andit was plain to see. “You broke the curse of a king—now you have magic. Maybe as much as I do.”
I went a little closer. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe Ishouldattack you. Reme knows you deserve it. Andyouknow you won’t win.” As careful as I’d always been not to hurt his ego, we both knew that I was better with weapons. And when our magic got too much for the both of us, we would be reaching for our swords.
He was a good swordsman, Lyall. I was just better.
For a long, tense moment, our locked eyes didn’t blink. Neither of us moved a single inch. Magic hung in the air here, too, sorcerer magic, but our presence had begun to radiate fae magic as well. The horses felt it—it made them uneasy, and they kept trying to move farther back.
Five feet between me and the Seelie Prince, yet I felt his aura as if we were standing face to face, and he felt mine.
“I know no such thing—but that is not why I’m here tonight, Rune.” A sigh. Lyall lowered his head and stepped back. It confused me, but only for a second. “I’m here because of Nilah, believe it or not.”
Every drop of my blood turned to stone. I found myself standing right in front of him in a heartbeat, and I wasn’t even sure when I’d moved. His wide golden eyes took me in, and he wasn’t afraid.
He should have been.
“If you have her—” I started because there was always a chance that he’d tricked me somehow. I’d be a fool to trust Lyall—for this or for anything at all.
But he didn’t let me say more.
“Idon’thave her and you know it,” he told me, and my mouth clamped shut. “If I did, I wouldn’t be here right now, following you like a dog.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, calmed my racing thoughts, the rage that seemed to infuse my magic. My hands pulled up in fists to stop the shadows that slipped from the tips of my fingers—thiswas something I’d never had to deal with before. My magic had always been in my control. I had never slipped, not for a second, but now I did.
“Get to your point,” I said through gritted teeth, but by now Lyall knew that he had me. That’s why he casually stepped back and smiled and spun around as if the oak trees surrounding us were suddenly of great interest to him.
“Look at me, out here in Mysthaven, chasing after you when I should be sitting on my throne by now,” he said, and by the stars, I was so angry that the shadows that slipped my fingers didn’t stop. Instead with every word he spoke, they spread up to my knuckles and wrapped around my whole fists, too.
“Lyall,” I warned because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold myself back.
“It’s your fault, isn’t it? You let her go,” he had the balls to tell me when he stopped in front of me again. “Youlet her go.” He even pointed at my chest.
I lost it—something I’d already expected. But I didn’t think I’d be grabbing him by the cloak the way I did the next second, or that my shadows would spread over his shoulders like they were eager to have a bite of him if I’d only let them.
