Page 103 of Untempered
“Don’t even think about it,” murmured Ylva’s relative behind me. “Her life is worth a thousand of yours.”
I assumed he meant the mage. I studied the woman’s bare, dimpled knee, soft forearms, and long brown hair that seemed to ripple in wind I couldn’t feel. Whatever storm had been blowing in seemed to have calmed.
“If we came this far, and she dies…”
I cast an unimpressed look at Ylva’s bearded double. “You’ll kill me?” I held up my hand. The movement made the splinters of agony in my bones scream. “See those black nails? I’ve got the plague. So does more than half of that city you were planning on slipping into. Those two who you couldn’t kill despite your best efforts?” I folded my cloak tighter around myself and leaned back against a tree. “Pretty much doomed. You’d be wasting your time going after them.”
“You just sacrificed yourself for fun?” Ylva’s kin asked me, his mouth kicked up in amusement. “I appreciate your service, Sister.”
“I want to see if she pulls through,” I said, jerking my chin at Ylva, and it wasn’t entirely a lie. If Ylva had called them off, was it because she didn’t intend for it to be an ambush, but wheels had already been turning? Or did she just think better of them all dying on our arrows? “When I shoot a man, he stays shot. Lucky Ylva’s a woman, isn’t it?”
“Your bravado would be more convincing if I couldn’t hear your heart laboring like a fish trying to breathe air,” her kin drawled, then picked at one of his teeth.
If onlyhe’dbeen the one the Duke had captured, I’d happily have let him rot in the dungeons. He was top priority to turn into a pincushion. The mage could live if he needed both my remaining arrows, and so could Ylva.
“Why’d you come after her?” I asked him, realizing they were risking much, sending a mageandanother member of the royal family for a princess never destined to be heir.
“There’s too many women for me to keep satisfied,” he told me, his eyes on the mage. “I need someone to tag in, and I’ve heard she eats cunt almost as well as I fill it.”
“That’s not what I heard,” murmured the other man, and the quick, annoyed glance shot his way by Ylva’s brother made both the other man and I grin.
I was wrong. He wasn’t the crusty cocktugger. Ylva’s kin was. “What’s your name, hero?” I asked him, keeping it friendly.
Dark eyes above Ylva’s hawk-like nose flicked back up to me. “Wuden,” he told me after a moment.
I considered it. “No, I haven’t heard of your prowess.”
In the darkness, I saw the man opposite me hide another grin. “You wouldn’t,” Wuden said icily. “I don’t stick my dick in northern bitches.”
Without hesitation I responded with, “Speaking on behalf of northern bitches, we’re grateful.”
The mage before us stirred, then fell gracelessly back onto her bare backside with a heavy thump. A pretty, heart-shaped face was turned toward us, and the look she sent me was full of disgust. “She’ll live. What’s this one doing here?”
“She’s a guarantor,” Wuden said, shooting me a smile.
“She’s a hazard,” the mage shot back. “And she’s infectious. Get rid of her before Ylva gets sick, or I’ll heed the wind’s call.”
“Reckon she’ll make it through the night?” Wuden asked the man beside him.
“I’ve got two arrows,” I told him, making my eyes big and round. “It’d be a shame to die with them unspent.”
His attention narrowed on me again. “Go. You might just get lucky and need those to bring down game. It’s a long walk back, and your time is short.”
He wasn’t wrong, and we all knew it. “Tell her I’m sorry,” I told the mage. “I thought she’d led us into a trap.”
“She knew,” the woman said with a nod. “Gaelena ease your path, Sister.”
I touched the back of my knuckle to the circlet I hadn’t worn in more than a decade, suddenly feeling naked without it. “Walk tall,” I told her.
“Die standing,” the woman returned, as few knew to. “I’m sorry, but I’ve no magic to spare for you.”
I waved her kind words off rather than think on what they might mean, drew my hood closer, and headed into the darkness. It, at least, I could face.
CHAPTERFORTY
THOMAS
“We are stronger than we think, and also more fragile. Listen to your body, because nowhere else can you find an accurate assessment of your limits.”
