Page 63 of Great Falls Protector
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River
River’s world stopped. Leralynn stood weaponless, her beautiful face fallen, her shoulders hunched in apology.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice shaking. “They had Arisha. I couldn’t leave her. Not her.”
Cold fear wrapped itself around River’s soul, the noose tightening with each heartbeat. His sword arm fell to his side, his fingers still gripping the steel but no longer willing to move. Afraid to make any motion that might threaten the female standing so, so close to the self-satisfied Owalin. The latter’s hood was off now, his long white hair and blue eyes gleaming under the light of the remaining chandeliers.
“And did I do as Krum promised you?” Owalin asked Lera. “Did I let the little sunflower go when you came in?”
Leralynn nodded, looking up at River with large pleading eyes, beautiful chocolate eyes he was planning to drown in for the rest of his life. Though dressed in her soft fighting leathers, the girl looked anything but ready for battle, her arms hugging her chest, her thick auburn braid mussed as if she’d been in a struggle. “River, I had to,” she whispered. “Please understand. Please forgive me.”
“There is nothing to forgive,” said River, though his voice clearly named the words a lie. “We’ll work something out.”
“Of course we will,” said Owalin, a genuine smile spreading across his artfully sculpted face. “It is all about finding a solution that fulfills everyone’s true desires, isn’t it? You, for example—as much as you want to lead these humans into needless slaughter, you want to keep this little female out of said slaughter just a bit more. Isn’t that right? Because we can work with that. We can make it happen just as you wish.”
Bile rose up River’s throat. Around him, the sounds of battle continued in a distant, dull sort of way, the fighters closest to him and Owalin slowly catching on to the change in atmosphere. “What would you have me do?” River asked.
“Start by telling everyone to stand down.” Owalin gestured to the ongoing battle. “Provided you have some measure of control to make that happen.”
River’s jaw clenched.
“No, don’t do anything he says,” Leralynn said, taking a step toward him—only to have Owalin’s arm block her path easily. Weaponless. Leralynn was utterly weaponless, even her boot knife having been confiscated.Bloody stars.
River’s eyes locked on where the bastard was touching his mate, the magic inside him roaring hard enough to take down the entire keep. Tamping the power down with all his might, he sent a thin pulse of magic whispering through the stone, down into the earth beneath the keep itself. The ground shook, the fine tremor enough to get everyone’s attention without collapsing the structure.
Beside Owalin and Lera, a silver-haired fae toying with a pair of spheres raised an appreciative brow as the keep quieted in confusion, the occasional groans of wounded warriors and the clash of rogue swords the only sounds to be heard.
“There has been a change of plans.” River raised his voice to fill the Great Hall, though his eyes could not bear to leave Lera, who now had Owalin’s arm around her. The girl’s own arms had moved down to cross her midsection, her hands buried in the fabric of her coat as if she might use the cloth to hide herself from the dark reality. River forced himself to straighten. “Owalin and I have decided to come to a more peaceful resolution to the conflict. Put down your weapons.”
“Excellent,” said Owalin.
“Coward!” Katita’s voice rang out over the room as she limped forward. “I took you for many things, River, but a coward was not one of them. To think you would fold beneath—”
“He has my mate!” River roared, spinning to the princess. “My mate who is carrying pups. I will protect them over your kingdom. Over the world. Over anything.”
Blood drained from Katita’s face, Owalin’s laugh in the background salting the wound. “I’m glad you and I are of the same mind,” he told River. “Now then, let us have you set the right example for the mortals here. Clerk! Draw up a contract granting me the right to the throne of Slait.”
“No,” River breathed, twisting back toward Owalin.
“Don’t worry,” the male said, striding toward where a trembling clerk was already pulling a sheet of parchment from a pile. “You will still rule Slait in my absence. I am not about to take you—or anyone else—from the throne. You will simply answer to me on matters of coordination. Most importantly, you will have your mate back. Unless—” Owalin spun around so quickly to put a knife against Leralynn’s belly that River’s vision blurred. “Unless you don’t care for her as much as I thought?”
“Draft the documents, Owalin.” The words on River’s tongue were the hardest he’d ever uttered. “But I want my mate back before the ink touches the parchment.”
“No!” The yell came from Katita, echoed by voice after voice. By everyone except the males of River’s quint, whom he could feel around him, just as frantic as he was. River ignored them all.
“We’ll do it at the same time,” Owalin offered, smiling when River stepped back with a bow, allowing Owalin to turn his attention to the writing desk along the nearest wall.
And turn his back to Leralynn.
Hands flashing, the girl drew something from her pocket with speed to rival a striking adder. Too fast for a single Night Guard to even shout in warning. River’s throat closed, his heart racing. One minute, her hands were crossed protectively over her midsection, and the next—the next, they were clasping something around Owalin’s long neck.
The broken pieces of Leralynn’s old amulet, longing to be whole again, clanked together in a blinding flash of flickering light.
The air around Owalin shimmered, the male screaming as his hands went to his throat. A sizzling sound of burning skin mixed with the sudden scent of sulfur filling the air.
River blinked, his vision taking a moment to recover. By the time he could see again, Owalin was twisting around in a confused circle, like a dog who didn’t know which way to run.
