Page 175 of The King is Dead
I’d cracked his collarbone, which meant flying was fucking painful.
This was going to be easy.
With a short, prayer, I roared, then flew straight for him, darting and flitting, fanning wings and clawed hands—both of us gripping, tearing, taking any attempt to weaken each other in flight, or hook a thumb into vulnerable eyes.
As night descended on the valley, everything disappeared but my foe. Even the noise of the crowd below us, our brothers cheering and growling, faded away, until the only things that registered were my pounding heart, and the grunts and cries of my adversary.
I stopped thinking. My wings turned and flipped and flapped without instruction. My limbs tucked in for defense, or extended for attack without prior thought.
Again and again we met mid-air, bodies clashing, fists thrown, fingers clawed, teeth bared. I had him bleeding in six places andone of his eyes swollen almost closed from a blow when he got desperate and on the next clash, missed my eye, but managed to get his nails into my scalp.
With a hiss of pain, I closed my wings and let myself drop, but snapped them wide again two seconds later to glide into position on his right—just as he turned, seething to find me.
“You disappear from the battlefield in the company of our enemy, then return well-fed and rested—traitor!” the male spat, then licked the blood from his teeth. “If I fall because you thrive on enemy spoils, may God Himself strike you down!”
Those below us still supporting him, roared their approval, while the rest howled their protests.
“Are those excuses, Lern?” I called, keeping my tone as bored and dry as possible, but making sure my flaps brought me steadily closer to him, though still out of reach. “I conquered an entire fucking continent. What have you done to prove your worth asKing?”
His golden eyes narrowed and the murderous rage in his gaze might have chilled me, but I could see his body swaying in flight, and he was holding that injured arm tucked against his body from shoulder to elbow.
I just needed to get a good grip on him.
“I stayed when you left,” he spat back.
“Tried to claim my spoils for your own, you mean,” I corrected him.
Then the fucker smiled. “Oh, no. That’s what I’ll doafterI defeat you. I’ll take that juicy piece of Fetch and plant a baby in her belly whileall our brothers watch!”
The roar from the watching crowd finally penetrated my focus, and I ground my teeth as they cheered him for that.
Perverted fucks.
“Don’t be so sure, Lern,” I called as quietly as I could and still be heard by the men. “She’s a true Queen. That means her cunt has teeth. No point taking the crown if you lose your cock in the—”
The watching menroaredtheir laughter and Lern reflexively glanced at them.
That split-second of his distraction was all I needed.
Abandoning the insult, I shot straight for him, flipping and turning, darting, weaving, wings flared and tucked, then flared again, twisting in the air as I sought the mortal grip—either to getmy thumbs in his eyes, or to hold him under me and drive him into the earth. But the fucker was strong—and now desperate. Fighting for his life.
Again and again we turned, dropping towards the earth as we grappled, flapping and twisting in mid-air to correct, but dragged by each other’s weight.
Snarling and snapping like feral dogs, we turned over and over, until finally I had no choice but to offer him a clear shot at my eyes—I had to tempt him to open up for attack so I could reach him.
There was a split second where I hooked a foot behind his knee to keep him close and lowered my arms from defending my face as if I was tired and considering my next move.
He saw his chance, and crowed, both hands shooting straight for my face.
Hands flattened in front of me as if I was praying, I whipped both arms straight up, inside his reaching arms, between his clawed hands and pushed his forearms wide before he could get his nails into my skin—but it wasn’t just a defensive maneuver. As he swore and eased off, intending to fall back and away, I whipped my hands over and around his arms, gripping his weapon straps and locking us together before he could drop away.
But that left me no way to reach his eyes.
So, hooking both heels behind his thighs, I forced him back as I tucked my wings.
He screamed as our combined weight folded his frantic wings and we plummeted to earth.
Pushing him away so my arms were braced, no longer needing my feet to keep him pointed down, I snarled in his face as I drove him towards the dirt.
