Page 41 of The Desert Prince's Jewel
“I’m so sorry, man! This must be his backup. To think he’d use me to hurt you! Don’t forget me!” Cy shouts, before flinging himself at a shadow entering through the door, kicking, punching, and screaming things I wish I could wash away from my short-term memory.
“Cease and move out of the way!” the stranger shouts, two more tall shadows gripping Cy and me. They drag us towards the door, throwing us behind their backs so they can use their bodies as shields. I clutch Cy’s mouth and will him to shut the fuck up.
“Cy, stop fighting! This is my guy! It’s Ranbir! He’s here to save us,” I say, just as the clash of metal on metal grates on my ears.
“Flee with my mate and his friend,” Ranbir shouts!
Kunal, in turn, throws me over his shoulder, while Rohan sweeps up Cy. They race away on human legs as I slap against Kunal’s broad back like a sack of potatoes.
I can’t believe my knight in scaly armor is here, and he’s holding a massive, potentially illegal sword, aiming for Jaideep’s head!
CHAPTER NINETEEN
RANBIR
“Traitor!” I roar as Jaideep lunges for my neck, Mateo and Cy screaming, while Rohan and Kunal retreat with them on their backs.
Terror seized me when smoke filled the club, and Mateo disappeared. Righteous fury claimed me when I found the hidden art station. And when this bastard texted me a picture of my mate bound in the Torres’s closed Art Musuem, I became the reincarnation of the God of War as I rampaged through the city to find him.
The Torres’s closed Art Museum. Where it all began. Where it will all end but I am thankful that instead of fear, a familiar surge of righteous anger boils inside me until it bursts free.
I emit a hiss that would burst the eardrums of a normal man, then my second dao and swing it effortlessly, spinning to avoid my enemy’s blade. But a lightning-fast snap of his rattle sendsmy short sword flying mid-air. Jaideep takes advantage of my shock, wrist stunned from the pain.
Jaideep slices my stomach, but the wound is shallow, and in no time, my sword is back in my hand. I grip the hilt in a flash, snatching it mid-somersault and whirling around. My blade strikes flesh, cutting into scales as I drag it down his human backside to his naga lower half. Jaideep howls in anguish, his blood spurting out in a vicious wave.
I’m grateful Mateo got the memo and didn’t try to play hero as I cup my wound. But then, he hasn’t played hero at all, has he? He’s the only reason I’ve found the jewel and so much more.
Mateo is my hero. But for once, it’s time he had someone there to protect and save him.
And that someone is me.
Jaideep growls like some wolfish beast rather than the once proud naga that he is. I hiss back, enraged at his insolence so close to death. If he had any sense, he’d drop to his soft belly, grovel, and beg for his life. His title and rank within the kingdom will be severed, that’s for sure. The Singhs already live in disgrace. And now, he’ll banish his bloodline from their ancestral home.
Jaideep’s head being severed from his shoulders is his choice, I remind myself, when he doesn’t relent.
“So, I see you chose dishonor and death. Typical,” I grit out through clenched teeth as I slowly twirl my bloody blade between my four arms, creating an impenetrable mirage. “You never knew when to give up, cousin.”
Jaideep cackles, the sound like nails on a chalkboard, grating and raw.
“Dishonor? As if there’s dishonor in ensuring a lowborn freak like you doesn’t inherit the holy throne. I–” I spit and lunge, tearing at his soft belly with my claws.
He careens backward, smashing into an already broken display box, falling to the floor. I glance over my shoulder as I hear sirens, blue and red lights flooding the hall. I don’t have much time. If I want to kill this bastard, I have to do it before human enforcers lock me up.
“Save your rant for the underworld and spare me from your pathetic ramblings to justify the unjustifiable,” I grit out, tail propelling me forward as I pounce on him, rolling, and rolling, until the weight of my tail traps Jaideep. “My father may not descend from the Gods, but know that you all will be banished to the lowest hells for your crimes. Your father lost his title for tyring to sell Nagat’s treasures to humans. Never did we think you orchestrated anything like this. Back then, your father’s choices resulted in blood on our holy hands!”
I have no proof this is the case, but the fact Jaideep targeted Mateo, and not me, seems proof enough to me. He jerks as I slice the air, taking away his fringe. Jaideep scoffs, slit eyes narrowing even further, then scowls as a wave of pain surely pierces his back. The enchanted metal of my blade courses with poison, and it won’t be long before he can’t run that mouth.
“You think toying with me will bruise my pride, lowborn?” Jaideep howls.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growl, irritated now.
“You even sound like your palace whore. But I’m not surprised you’ve nested with a lowborn,” he cackles after that.
But he doesn’t laugh for long, because the tip of my sword is buried in his guts before he can speak again with his filthy mouth.
“I should’ve killed you the day your father rebelled. When I was crowned. But my father is merciful. Know I am not.”
We clash in a flurry of steel, claws, and fangs. But the battle isn’t long. The weakling isn’t strong. I have him on his back, belly sliced, sooner rather than later. And despite the
