Page 31 of Jeweler to the Blessed
The guard’s face was working overtime to stop his lips from curving into a smile. I thought he liked my answer.
He nodded to the men and women before us, the gruff tone again taking over. “I was trying to help you.”
I looked around. We were very much outnumbered. Heseemed to be implying he had known they would be here. My mind flashed to our hallway encounter at Glanmore Castle. This guard must be my guard. He must have been appointed to protect me. It wouldn’t surprise me to know Prince Elias had sent him after me sooner than we’d agreed.
Clearly, I needed it.
“It’s too late to help her. This is the only way.” Soren drew the guard’s attention back to him.
He was the only real threat left.
The guard pressed his lips into an even firmer line. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Do you?” Soren challenged.
His words felt personal. I didn’t know the relationship, but like the conversation I’d overheard between the guard and Alaric, it was clear these two knew each other.
“Get out of here while you still can,” my guard said.
“He lied to us!” Soren hissed under his breath.
Another voice shouted, entering the side street behind the guard. “Protect the jeweler!”
My guard straightened at the new voice. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he cursed. “Fucking Chaos.”
This was all happening fast. My guard’s glare snapped between his incoming colleagues and the group of the Feared. I’d say he didn’t want to fight the Feared. His threats felt real. I believed he would fight them, but something in the clench of his jaw told me he had been trying to avoid whatever confrontation was unfolding.
My questions stuck in my throat. His relationship with the group, his relationship with Alaric, and confirming his position to protect me would all remain a mystery for now. A half-dozen royal guards moved to flank us.
“Surround her.” One of them pointed at me.
My guard’s shoulders tensed. He heard the words, but hedidn’t turn to look at his colleagues. Instead, he glared at Soren as if waiting to see what he’d do.
Soren made the exact wrong decision. “Grab her!”
Another low growl tore from my guard. “Stupid son of a bitch.”
His words were angry, but he looked worried.
My guard turned to me in the seconds before Soren and his group collided with the newly arrived guards. Our gazes held. He seemed to be doing a calculation as the guards neared and the rebels raged forward. He was attempting to communicate something—a message I did not understand.
Then he lunged at me, and my flinch was irrelevant as he pressed me against the stone wall. Heat flooded my body at his proximity. I didn’t have time to assess if he touched my skin. My guard shielded me, his body turned to face the clash of wills on the side street, and chaos surrounded us.
11
When his nightmares wake, you’ll know he’s found her.
— FROM CHAMPIONS OF KAVIOS
Screams erupted around me.
Fear spiked as the firm hand on me, forcing me from harm, dropped. My guard fell to his knees. I turned my head. No one had touched him.
Something pressed against my neck. It was the feeling of a mind magic unable to infiltrate. But no adamas glowed around me.
The rest of the combatants on the street, both Blessed and Feared, were crumpled heaps on the ground. I glanced back toward Cross Street and saw the same there. Some screamed, some twitched, all expressions I could see were drawnin … terror. I knew then that all were experiencing their worst nightmares in a way only they could perceive.
Nothing else could cause this display. It was magic I’d previously considered no more than legend, but the bodies on the street proved how incredibly wrong I was.
