Page 43 of Brighter Than Gold

In a flash I had the blades of both Rats nudged into my throat as Lazio grabbed Reyah by the hair and dragged her forward, kicking the backs of her knees so she fell to the floor in front of Yates.

He held Reyah’s head high enough that she was forced to look Yates in the eye. The women stared at each other, Reyah gasping in tiny sobs and Yates struggling for air.

“Lazio!” I yelled. “Let her go! You’ve just been told she isn’t the one they’re looking for, what better proof could you get than that?”

“Tsk, tsk, my little turncoat. Liars need to be cornered before they’re willing to tell the truth. You should know that.” He sneered an ugly smile at me before leaning down between the two women.

“Who is this girl to you, Yates? Why is the whole royal guard out looking for her, hm?”

Yates didn’t move a muscle.

“She’s been having a terrible time, our sweet Reyah. Kidnapped,almostraped, and just yesterday took a little tumble from her horse and lost the tiny baby in her belly.”

I marked it from across the room, Yates’ one visible pupil widened suddenly, and she swallowed. I prayed Lazio hadn’t noticed.

“You’re a piece of shit,” Reyah whispered, looking Lazio dead in the eye. He didn’t let a moment go by before he backhanded the girl across the face.

The blades at my throat dragged into my skin as I flinched to help her.

“All right, Princess, last chance,” Lazio said coming behind Reyah. He pulled her to her feet and pointed the tip of his blade below her left breast right at her heart.

Reyah’s head tipped back, her eyes fluttered closed listlessly as she seemed to accept her fate.Fucking fight, Reyah!

“She’ll die at the end of this knife Yates, unless you tell me the truth. You can save her right now.”

Yates heaved a few irregular breaths, then spat blood onto the floor. “She’s not the one,” she rasped.

Reyah’s face clenched as Lazio drew back his hand and plunged it toward her chest.

“NO!” I yelled, pushing further into the blades at my neck. The Rats wrestled me back from launching across the room to her.

Reyah’s tiny, fervent gasps were suddenly the only noise that filled the room.

I glared, wide-eyed as my mind registered what I saw.

Only the tip of Lazio’s knife had pierced Reyah’s chest, a small red stain growing quickly from it. But the blade of the knife was largely still outside of her body, he’d stopped it from penetrating any further with his opposite hand.

To her credit, Yates had not moved a muscle.

“Are you satisfied now?” I demanded. “If you hurt my wife any further, I’ll spend my last breath making sure you die a painful fucking death, Lazio.”

The man sighed and tilted his head as though he were looking at an unimpressive hand of cards.

“I’m so disappointed,” he pouted down to Yates as he shoved Reyah back towards me. The Rats released me, and I pulled her in close.

“For Gods sake Lazio let the Princess go,” I pleaded. “If you think you have a lot of royal guards crawling up your ass now, it will be twenty-fold when they’re searching forher. Your measly little band of blood-thirsty miscreants stand no chance against an army.”

“Is that an ounce of loyalty to your former monarch, I detect?” Lazio replied, cocking his head. “What was your rank in the royal guard, Callan? Lieutenant? Major? Colonel, perhaps? The higher up you were the more disgraceful it would have been when you defected.”

I kept silent, refusing to answer.

“Are you stupid? I asked you a question, solider. Remember, you work for me now. We made a deal, and it’s the only reason you’re still alive and your pretty wife isn’t being passed around my men like a good bottle of whisky.” Lazio sauntered over to me and wiped the blade clean of Reyah’s blood on my shoulder. “How high up the ladder did you climb, my subordinate little dog?”

My nostrils flared as I answered. “Major.”

“Ah, so at least a colonel then.”

“Only a major.”

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