Page 37 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
He used one of the punch tables from the garden as a shield, warding off the arrows. So many were stuck to it, it looked like a damn porcupine.
How in gods’ names did he have the time to get his hands on one? It seemed both of us had improvised to survive. The poison was slowly eating away at the wood, rotting the table.
Each time a new wave of arrows hit the wood, his blue eyes sparked fiercely and his massive arms trembled.
But he didn’t relent. On instinct, he pivoted, his body an immovable wall of muscle between the children and certain death.
The table began to groan under the weight of the arrows.
“This is as far as I can take you,” he said, voice much gentler than I would have expected from that sharp face and those tense lips. “Crawl up ahead and don’t stop until you reach the castle.”
He turned his head and gazed down at them, eyes softening. “I know it’s scary, but you have to be brave. Don’t get up until you cross those doors. And don’t go anywhere with nobody you don’t know. Promise?”
Three little heads nodded in unison.
“Good,” he said. “I knew I could trust you. Now go. Fast.”
We both watched as the younglings did as he told them, scurrying away and leaving the two of us alone in this narrow path.
He kept his back to me.
I kept my arrow aimed at the muscles on the back of his neck.
Only the arrows smacking against the wood and leaves broke the tension.
I stood there, as unsure as I’ve ever felt.
He was Blood Brotherhood.
He’d crashed the wedding.
He was dangerously powerful.
I should have killed him.
Icouldhave killed him.
To protect is to endure.
He might have been Blood Brotherhood, but he’d acted Protectorate right now.
“Are you going to kill me, Huntress?” his voice slithered up my spine, snapping me out of my hesitation.
He finally turned, rooting me to the spot with the spark in his blue eyes. They shined like ancient stones not from this world, inviting and threatening all at one.
We stared at each other, neither moving.
Two true warriors, caught in the fiercest battle of all.
The battle of will.
But the answer was so plain, I could almost taste it in the thick air.
No, I wouldn’t kill him.
After he’d saved those children, I couldn’t.
But he didn’t need to know that.
