Page 20 of The Eye of the Fifth
All six of the mercenaries were moving slowly toward them, closing the gap with each step closer. ‘Six against one…’ Kyra mused, her gaze flickering between each of them. ‘Very brave. Is this a job, Cristian? Or just a pathetic attempt to settle the score?’
Cristian smiled. ‘Well, when the Lady of Shadows offers a sparkling sum to bring back her fighting dog, who am I to refuse? Especially when that dog threatened to make me a eunuch not an hour before.’
Kyra gritted her teeth on a curse. They shouldn’t have lingered in the tavern. She and Rosary could have been well on their way to Taru by now if they hadn’t been so keen for a taste of damned wine.
‘Lady Lilion failed to mention in what state we should bring you back to her,’ Cristian drawled. ‘Shall we see just how quickly that fae blood of yours heals you?’
‘Rosary,go,’Kyra hissed.
Cristian laughed. ‘We won’t touch her. But only ifyoucome quietly.’
Purposefully showing her canines, Kyra grinned. ‘Oh, I never come quietly.’ Rosary choked on a laugh beside her.
‘Have it your way,’ Cristian sneered, his eyes flashing with malice. ‘Grab the girl.’
Five mercenaries rushed forward, gazes locked on Rosary, hands outstretched. Kyra’s heart lurched into her throat. Rosary was not a fighter, and Kyra herself had never fought more than two opponents at a time in the pits. She couldn’t even kill them here; the Union wouldn’t care who provoked who, nor would they care if the kill was made in self-defence. All they would see was the arch of her ears, the pointed facial features, the infamy of her name, and that would be enough to condemn her.
No matter if her crime had been just.
And they’d hound her far more vigorously than Lilion would.
She whirled toward a mercenary, her sodden, heavy hair whipping with her, and kicked him square in the chest. The breath in his lungs puffed out of him and he fell backwards, completely winded.
Someone grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her back. She scraped her nails deep along the skin of the man holding her, and he yelped, releasing her immediately. The air was now tinged with blood.
‘Bitch!’a furious voice hissed.
It had been Cristian she’d cut, then. Good.
She sent another one of them curling over, arms clutching himself from a well-aimed knee to the stomach. Rosary yelped, and Kyra’s head snapped up.
A mercenary had her arm pinned behind her back. Another kicked the back of her knees so she was forced to the floor.
The split second of stunned hesitation cost Kyra.
A fist collided with the side of her face, and she stumbled backwards, hitting the wall with a thud as stars danced in her eyes.
Strong hands pinned her to the wall. There might have been three pairs, all struggling to keep her there as she growled and thrashed against them. One of them tried to prize the dagger from her hand, his stubby fingers scrambling against hers, but it was futile.
She would die before she let a fucking mercenary disarm her.
He gave up trying to make her drop it, though his knee was now pinning her wrist to the wall in an attempt to keep her from using it. Ever so slowly, she swivelled the dagger around so that its point lined with the back of the mercenary’s knee. If she could just get him off her-
Cristian stepped in front of her, breathing heavily. She snarled at him, pulling forward, but the mercenaries slammed her back against the wall. Cristian lifted his blade, letting its point pause at her throat. Slowly, he sliced a shallow cut into her skin.
‘Kyra!’ Rosary screamed.
Cristian grabbed Kyra’s face, squishing her cheeks with his dirty fingers. ‘We could have done this without her,’ he sighed heavily. ‘But now I suppose she can watch the fun part.’
He lifted his blade to her face, but before its tip could maim her further, all six mercenaries, including Cristian, were thrown away from both Kyra and Rosary by a great force. They groaned in pain as they crumpled to the wet floor.
Rosary lurched forward onto all fours. Kyra ran to her, not lingering to wonder what mighty power had aided them, and pulled her to her feet. ‘Come on, quickly, before they recover.’
Rosary nodded, swaying slightly, her breathing laboured. They hurried down the alleyway, Kyra’s hand tight around Rosary’s arm. If they could just get out into the street, perhaps the mercenaries would lose them in the crowds-
Cristian shouted desperately after them, ‘Your parents ran too, you know! Well, at least, they tried to. We caught up to them in the end.’
Every thought emptied from Kyra’s mind.
