Page 131 of Courting the Dragon Prince
“I said shut the fuck up!” The soldier leaned forward and swung her fist at Luther, smacking him on the side of the face with a crack.
Luther cried out as his body slammed against the side of the wagon. He bounced off. His head and torso landed heavily in the lap of the lanky soldier. Luther groaned, struggling to get up. The hit must have been harder than it looked.
“Get off me, you disgusting reptile!” The lanky soldier shoved Luther off him.
Luther collapsed onto the floor of the wagon. Luther cried out. Both soldiers laughed as they stared at Luther.
Onyx reached out a hand to Luther. “You all right?”
But before his hand touched the cloth of Luther’s coat, Luther reared back. He knelt on the wagon floor, dagger glinting in his manacled hands.
Onyx’s mouth fell open. Where had Luther gotten that? Then he realised Luther must have swiped the dagger from the soldier when he’d landed in his lap. Had that been Luther’s plan all along?
The soldiers’ laughter died. With both hands, Luther shoved the dagger up through the underside of the man’s head. The soldier didn’t even have a chance to make a sound. Blood slid along the dagger, covering Luther’s hands.
The other soldier unsheathed her blade. Luther yanked his dagger free, turning towards her. But the man’s corpse collapsed forward, knocking into Luther.
With a grunt, Luther pushed him away. But already, the other soldier pulled her arm back, about to stab Luther.
Onyx did the only thing he could think of. He threw himself forward over Luther, protecting Luther with his body.
He felt the slash and sting of the blade swiping against his upper thigh. He sucked in a breath.
Onyx twisted his body, and with his shackled hands, he knocked the woman’s wrist. He heard the dagger clatter as she dropped it.
Suddenly, Onyx was being shoved by Luther, who was beneath him. Onyx fell back against the bench with a groan.
Onyx turned back in time to see Luther plunging the dagger into the woman’s chest. She gurgled as blood spilled from her mouth. She clutched at Luther’s hands. But Luther didn’t release the dagger until the life drained from her eyes.
“Mighty mountain spirits,” Onyx whispered as he stared at the two dead soldiers.
Luther turned on Onyx. “What the fuck were you doing jumping on top of me like that?”
Onyx blinked at him. Couldn’t Luther see what Onyx had been doing? “I was saving you.”
“Saving me?” Luther’s brows raised.
Onyx pressed his hands to his bleeding thigh. He hissed.
Luther’s gaze zeroed in on Onyx’s thigh. “Let me have a look at that.” Luther had to practically climb over him in the tight space to examine the wound.
“It’s only a graze. And I had to act. She was about to stab you.” Onyx closed his eyes as Luther tore open his pants and examined the wound.
“So you threw your arse in the way of her dagger? That was your brilliant fucking plan, was it?” Luther sat back. He grabbed the second dagger, the one not planted in the woman’s chest, off the floor. Luther began to cut up one of the soldier’s uniforms. “Fuck, this is hard when your hands are shackled together.”
“I stopped her, didn’t I?” Onyx said. “You didn’t get stabbed.”
Luther made a disgusted noise. “You could have punched her in the face, kicked her in the chest, or slapped her wrist. There were so many things you could have done instead of using your butt cheek as a pincushion!”
“It’s hard to fight in here,” Onyx pointed out. “There isn’t much space.”
“Lift your leg.”
Onyx did, and using the fabric from the soldier’s uniform, Luther began to bind the wound. Although, he frowned and struggled. It did look hard with his wrists bound together. Onyx tried to assist.
“At least it’s only a graze, you boulder-brained idiot,” Luther said. “But what if she’d hit an artery?”
“She didn’t though,” Onyx said. “And I’ve been drugged. It’s hard to think clearly.”
