Page 11 of The Sunbound Princess
Nikolas caught my eye over the top of the woman’s head.“Donkey?”he mouthed.
It was the name of several coordinated maneuvers we’d perfected on the streets of Saldu. As the men inched closer, I gave Nikolas a subtle nod.
He understood the signal. We’d move inthree.
The woman lifted her chin as she stared down the men. “If you steal my gold, the sheriff will hang you.”
The pockmarked man chuckled. “Sheriff’s the one who sent us.”
Three.
The woman huffed. “I thought as much.”
Two.
“One!” Nikolas barked, and we surged forward. I went low while he went high, both of us striking the pockmarked man. Bending, I thrust my shoulder into his gut while Nikolas cracked his elbow against the man’s jaw. The man howled, and steel flashed as he stabbed the knife down.
“Look out!” the woman cried.
The knife whistled past my ear. I twisted away, and the blade met air. Nikolas kicked the man’s wrist, thecrackof his boot meeting bone loud in the forest. The knife flew from the man’s hand as he went down. He jumped up just as quickly and then took off running.
Crunching leaves and rapid footsteps made me whip around. One of the other attackers fled through the trees, his arms pumping.
“Hey!”
The woman’s outraged cry made me spin. The third villager ripped the leather coin purse from her belt. I leapt toward him, but he moved like an adder, dragging her pack from her shoulders and bolting.
“No!” she cried, starting after him. I moved fast, hooking her around the waist and lifting her off the ground.
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said, clamping her back against my chest. “None of that.”
She kicked and struggled, trying to break my grip. “He took my money! And my things!”
Her scent teased my nose, the fragrance a heady combination of woman and sun-warmed flowers. She was slender but curved in all the right places, her backside grazing my groin as she wriggled.
“And left you with your life,” I said, pleased when my voice stayed steady despite my racing pulse.
Nikolas retrieved the fallen knife from the ground. He flipped it once and caught it, testing its weight. “Dain’s right,” he said, looking up. “That’s a good bargain, my lady.”
“That money was everything I had,” she growled, struggling harder. Her hood slipped, revealing a cascade of glossy black hair. Pointed ears peeked from the strands.
Shock weakened my grip, and the woman slipped free. She whirled to face us, her honey-colored eyes framed by thick,curling lashes. Pink stained her cheeks. Her plump lips were just as pink, the bottom one slightly fuller than the top.
Nikolas stared, his brown eyes wide. “An elf,” he said weakly.
The woman yanked her hood back up.
Nikolas cleared his throat. “We already saw the ears.”
She glanced at the knife in his hand. “You won’t hurt me. I paid your bond, remember? That means you’re in my service.” She looked at me. “Both of you.”
“We won’t hurt you,” I confirmed. The tugging magic I’d felt on the platform returned, the force of it urging me to move closer to her. Testing it, I took a small step backward. Thewrongnessof it sparked at once, the weight in my chest yanking me back to my original position.
“What kind of service?” Nikolas asked. Anyone else would have missed the wariness in his tone.
But I’d known him long enough to hear it, and I took another step toward the elf. “Brothels are out of the question.”
She put up a hand. “Not another step. And I have nothing to do with brothels.”
