Sara Larson - Defy

WHEN WE WALKED into Prince Damian’s room, he didn’t even turn around to acknowledge me.

“Your Highness, Alex and Rylan have returned from the mission you sent them on,” Nolen said from behind where we stood in the doorway of his room.

Very slowly, the prince turned to face us, one eyebrow lifted, a sneer on his handsome face. “I believe I asked you to return before nightfall. Yesterday .”

I pressed my fist to my chest and bowed. “I apologize, Your Highness. We were unavoidably detained.”

“Did you at least accomplish what I asked?”

“Yes, my lord.”

The drapes were pulled back in his room, letting the sun pour in through the large windows. Damian’s piercing blue eyes met mine from across the room and then he nodded curtly. “Fine. That is all. I will expect a full report later, but you must be hungry after your overly long journey.”

I bowed again and turned to walk out, with Rylan and Nolen on my heels. I didn’t know what I expected when I saw Prince Damian again, but a return to his haughty, condescending persona wasn’t it. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised. As he’d told me, he was playing a part. But he was extremely convincing — almost too convincing.

“Why didn’t you tell him about the jaguar attack?” Rylan asked quietly as we exited the outer chamber to head down to the kitchens.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I wasn’t sure if I should. Especially since I was healed by a sorcerer.”

Rylan nodded. We both knew how King Hector felt about sorcerers or sorcery. If he found out that I’d been miraculously healed by a sorceress, he might have me burned at the stake just for having come into contact with one.

I stopped suddenly, making Rylan halt and turn to me questioningly.

“I have to find Deron.” With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten about Eljin until that moment.

“Right now?”

“Yes. Immediately.” I spun around and rushed back toward the prince’s rooms. The first person I saw was Jerrod, standing guard at the door to Prince Damian’s outer chamber.

“Jerrod, where is Deron?”

He glanced at me, irritation written plainly on his face. “He spent the night standing guard outside the prince’s room since you disappeared. I think he went to his room for a couple of hours to get some rest before tonight. We assumed you’d died and that he’d have to fill your position until you were replaced.”

“I’m sure you were devastated by my supposed death, weren’t you, Jerrod?” I couldn’t resist goading him before turning and heading toward Deron’s room, back the way I’d come.

He said something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like he was telling me to go somewhere unsavory, but I ignored him. Rylan stood a little bit farther down the hallway, silently watching our exchange. I ignored him, too, and pounded on the door to Deron’s room.

Within moments, it flew open, revealing our captain wearing only pants and an untucked tunic. His hair was matted to one side of his head and his dark skin was even darker beneath his eyes. When he saw it was me, his eyes opened wide and he grabbed me to him in a gruff hug. “Alex! We’d thought you’d died,” he said as he released me and glanced past me to Rylan. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you’re both okay.”

“Me, too,” I said. “But I need to talk to you immediately.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“In private.”

Deron’s eyebrows lifted but he stepped back and gestured for me to enter his room. Once the door was shut, I told him what had happened at the tryouts with Eljin and my suspicions. His expression grew progressively grimmer as I spoke.

“You haven’t heard, have you?” he asked when I finished.

“Heard? Heard what?”

“The girl that was supposed to hang yesterday didn’t die.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What happened?”

“Just before the hangman sent her swinging, she was rescued. By a sorcerer.”

ISTOOD OUTSIDE Prince Damian’s door with my hand on the heel of my sword, trying to stay alert. Deron had apparently forced himself to stay awake the entire night in fear that the sorcerer would come back for Prince Damian, but nothing had happened. Now it fell to my shoulders. But the strain of the last few days was wearing on me. Even though I’d been healed — completely, miraculously — I was still exhausted and my scars ached. Perhaps my body wasn’t quite sure how to handle having been mortally wounded and healed all within the space of a few hours.

I couldn’t believe Tanoori was still alive, that a sorcerer had saved her. Had it been Eljin? I wondered if I should tell Prince Damian about Eljin as well. But when I tried to deliver the bloodroot to him, he was already in bed, asleep peacefully. I placed the bloodroot on the table next to him and left without waking him.

Part of me expected him to come out like he had before, to ask what had happened, to prove to me again that he was more than he seemed, even though he hadn’t acted so today. But his door remained firmly shut. Silent. He was sleeping soundly while I stood guard.

A streak of lightning suddenly illuminated the dark room from the skylight above me, moments before a crash of thunder boomed overhead. Within a minute, rain began to pound on the roof, growing louder and louder as the full fury of an incoming storm rolled toward the palace. Another flash of lightning momentarily blinded me. In the heartbeat of tension-filled silence before the thunder exploded through the air, the door to the prince’s outer chamber flew open, blown completely off its hinges. Through the lingering spots in my vision from the lightning, I saw Kai lying on the ground, unconscious or dead.

I pulled out my sword and crouched down, ready to fight, my heartbeat erratic beneath the cage of my ribs. Dread coiled in my stomach when the man I’d fought in the ring — the one who could have beat me but didn’t — stepped over Kai’s body and entered the room.

Eljin. The sorcerer.

He still wore his mask, hiding his face. I waited for him to move first, terror and adrenaline pumping through my body. In a normal fight, I was confident, unshakeable. But I had little chance of stopping Eljin. If he used the same fire against me that killed my parents, I had no hope of surviving. All I could do was try and hold him off long enough for the prince to escape. Maybe there were more secret passages I wasn’t aware of nearby — that was the only way Damian would get out of this alive.

I didn’t have time to think about anything other than fighting, though, as Eljin finally jumped toward me, his sword arcing down in a vicious jab. Our blades hit with a resounding crash, and we began to fight in earnest. This time, he didn’t hold back, and I had to use every bit of training and skill I had to hold him off. He hadn’t struck me — but I hadn’t managed to hit him, either. And he hadn’t even used magic yet.

I was doomed.

Then two more men rushed into the room, wielding wicked-looking scythes.

“Attack!” I yelled desperately, hoping someone nearby was still alive to help me. I hadn’t had time to blow on my whistle to alert the other guards.

Despite the horrible odds, I refused to give up. I kept waiting for Eljin to send me to a fiery grave, but he never did.

I lunged at Eljin, striking faster, harder than I ever had before. My sword was a blur of silver, flashing in the lightning that still streaked through the dark night overhead. Eljin couldn’t keep up with the attack, and I actually managed to nick his arm before that same invisible shield I’d hit in the practice ring blocked me from being able to push my sword farther, past his arm and into his body.