Page 55 of The Silver Spider
Serephone jerked, testing Anissa’s hold. Her shoulders screamed. Anissa held her fast with physical strength and a thread of magic.
“You can justify it all you want. This is wrong.”
“I know,” her sister said. “But it is.”
Serephone stilled, unwilling to give away any more of her distress. She didn’t want Amnan hurt. His pain brought a strange anxious rage to the surface. He turned his head and looked at her, a slight smile on his face and warmth flowed down the link of their bond. Why wasn’t he fighting? Why was he allowing this? She knew he was outnumbered, but she would help him.
“Have you ever played chess, sweet?” he asked.
She glared at him. This wasn’t the time for small talk. And then her brain kicked into gear. “I remember the game.”
“Sometimes the knight sacrifices himself, so a player can’t check the Queen.”
Dawnthorne’s black magic attacked again, and Amnan cried out, dropping to his knees as it crashed into him. His shoulders swelled, the cords of his neck standing out in relief. She scowled, rapidly sorting through his words to come up with a logical conclusion. A knight sacrificing himself for the Queen? Fuck that.
And then he surged to his feet.
