How I’d love to just spend a few weeks getting to know Tovian on an intimate level instead of our paths crossing haphazardly as we lurch from crisis to crisis.
Tash and I fall silent at the sound of buzzing motors cutting through the gentle forest sounds. A bright yellow bird takes wing.
“Ahead is the edge of the forest,” Tash says quickly, her eyes wide. “I must leave you here.”
“Go.” I have a plan. For once, those damned motorbikes are going to work for me, not against me. “I will be safe enough from here.”
She clasps my hand. “You’d better keep your promise, Princess, or Tovian will hold me responsible.”
“Tell Brenica thank you. To all of you.” I hold her hand in both of mine for minute before letting go, hoping that gesture conveyed the depth of my appreciation. I know Brenica doesn’t want any part of this.
I don’t either, but both of us have stepped up.
Tash whistles. Her dragon rustles branches overhead, and the two disappear into the forest.
Carefully, I lay my trap.
#
Dusk paints the sky overhead teal and coral as I zoom down the dirt road and pull to a hard stop, sliding in the soft surface. The site of our former encampment is engulfed in flames.
It wasn’t hard to clothesline the bike’s previous rider with a rope strung between two trees. The fall snapped his back. My blade at his throat was a mercy killing—or at least, that’s what I tell myself.
I’m trained to be a healer. I find myself crossing the line into outright murder more and more often.
How did Lorcan stand carrying the weight of all those deaths…
A sharp screech brings my head up in the nick of time to find a dragon sailing right toward me, jaws parted, claws out.
I throw myself sideways and land on the dirt, my helmet thudding into the turf. The animal overshoots, twisting as it lands, its tail smashing the protective glass over my face and knocking the helmet loose. I scramble up with my heart thudding wildly in my throat. I can’t see through the smashed glass, so I get the helmet off and throw it at the animal in an attempt to slow it down.
The dragon rushes at me again. I turn to run—straight into the upraised arms of a bare-chested man about to thrust a spear through my midsection.
The weapon lowers. Iron hands manacle my biceps. He tugs me hard against his bare chest before my panicked brain registers who it is: Tovian. There’s a scratch on his cheek and a deeper cut on his shoulder, but he seems otherwise unharmed. He gestures at the dragon behind me. The big lizard shrieks irritably and trots off.
Damn, they’re fast.
“What’s going on?”
“You were right about the attack. Ephram and Luza turned it into trap, but their plan almost backfired. There were more pirates than they expected, and they had new machines.”
An explosion lights up the sky behind us. I cover my ears. Tovian hugs me closer. Protective. I breath in smoke and sweat. The iron tinge of blood.
Despite the battle raging all around us, it might as well be the two of us in our own world.
When the explosion’s roar fades into a crackling fire, he gives me a little shake.
“What are you doing here?” Tovian demands.
“You left! Without me!”
Tovian’s teeth flash in a wide grin. I smacked his arm. “You could have woken me up!”
“And interrupt your beauty rest?” He winks, then strokes my cheek with his thumb. “You were wrecked.”
“But I wasn’t here!”
“Raina. Being a leader doesn’t mean you have to be in the center of the action all the time. In fact, it’s better that you aren’t.” He tips his head, peering at me. “Didn’t your knight friend teach you that?”
