Page 36 of Great Falls Protector
River takes another step toward me, and despite his soft voice and damp cheeks, every muscle in his body vibrates with tension. The warrior inside him knows that a prey’s instinct to fight for her life can wake at any instant—no matter how docile she seems.
Except I have no intention of fighting. Not because I can’t—a few choice words to River’s amulet will have him howling in pain so great, he’ll turn the knife on himself before slipping it across my throat—but because such victory would hurt more than defeat. Because no matter what my mate does, I can’t bear to turn the amulet’s magic against him. I can’t hurt my mate.
My eyes widen.I can’t hurt my mate.
And I don’t think River can actually hurt me either.
The veil magic’s vise-tight grip on my males’ memories has survived everything it’s encountered but one: the male’s belief that my life’s in peril.
Coal’s memory returned when he tried to defend me against the nightmare-born qoru he thought was real. Tye overpowered the amulet’s magic only when struggling to get to me in the midst of Zake’s attack. Even the short-lived clarity Shade had in the forest came on the heels of my being stabbed, his magic—and memory—surfacing to protect me.
Excitement wakens my body, the magic prickling my blood as my thoughts fit the facts together. If the one thing stronger than the amulet’s magic is my mate’s drive to protect me, then said mate has to believe my life is in danger first.
Swallowing, I raise my chin, exposing my neck. “You’re right, River. You need to take my life. Now.”
The male’s dark brows pull together, his gray gaze surveying my body as if expecting to find balls of blazing magic hovering above my hands. “You wantme to kill you?”
“I need you to try. Sounds like splitting hairs, I know but…”I swallow a curse as River’s frown deepens suspiciously and he shifts away from me.Life in danger,I remind myself,and trust the bond.
“You were right,” I say, trying to make my voice hard, to make his attack easier. “I’m dangerous. I set the fire to the arena. I’ve been lying to you since the day I stepped onto the Academy grounds.”
No response.
“I am working for the Night Guard,” I say suddenly. “You were right. I’m working for the Night Guard. You can’t afford to take any chances with me. “
River shakes his head, confusion flitting across his gaze. “I’m fairly certain that now youarelying.”
I grind my teeth together.Fine.“I’ve used magic to manipulate your mind. How else do you explain how little you care that I’m coupling with you and Coal and Shade and Tye all at once? Putting me down is the only responsible thing to do. You know it is.”
“Put you down?” He takes a step forward, his eyes wide. “Are you insane?”
“You’re the one who said you needed to stop me,” I remind him.
He throws up his arms. “I was going to arrest you and put you in the dungeon, not butcher you. Who do you think I am?”
“I’d love to tell you, believe me,” I mutter, my thoughts racing at my miscalculation. River isn’t trying to take my life; he’s trying to take my freedom—and that won’t do at all.
“You know what, never mind. We’ll do this a different way.” Reaching through the slit of my tattered red dress to the blade I’ve strapped to my thigh, I pull out steel. Not the balanced throwing knife Han took from me when he fought Coal, but a decent enough blade pilfered with Tye’s aid from the armory. Sharp. Deadly.
River’s gaze sharpens, the male dropping at once into a fighting crouch, his hands up defensively. It would almost be comical, this powerful immortal warrior thinking me a threat, if the situation weren’t quite so dire.
“No need for that,” I assure him, forcing air into my suddenly tight lungs. Twisting the knife toward my chest, I beg the stars to help me avoid severing anything too important when I do what I must. River needs tobelieveI’m about to die, but I’d prefer to stay as far away from actual demise as I can.
“Leralynn?” River says, a note of panic making my name sound breathless.
Coal’s lessons sound in my head in a voice ever too calm for the deathly facts being imparted about vital organs. My stomach squeezes, pushing bile up my throat.
“Leralynn.” Now River’s voice takes on a note of command, as if he hadn’t been the one to pull a weapon on me just moments earlier. “What are you doing?”
“Trusting you.” Without waiting for the end of my own sentence, I plunge the knife down toward my ribs.
9
River
River leapt with a speed he did not think himself capable of, slamming Leralynn’s hand against the wall. The knife clattered harmlessly to the floor. His side burned, the wound a distant pulse against the gravity of what had almost happened.
Kicking away the knife, River gripped Lera’s waist and hoisted her up against the stone, bringing their faces level. Her sweet scent washed over him, tinted with the harsh metallic shimmer of fight and fear.
