Sara Larson - Defy

I pulled my hand out from his and leaned back a bit, trying to calm my heart. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “The last thing I remember is being hit from behind. I was sure they were going to kill us both.”

“Like Kai,” I said, my heart constricting as I thought of him lying on the ground in the doorway.

Rylan looked down, his expression grim. “Maybe he survived somehow — like us.”

“You’re right. Let’s assume you’re right.” I also thought of Jude. I hadn’t seen him, but did that mean he’d been safe in bed, or something worse? From the bleak look in Rylan’s eyes, I wondered if he was thinking about his brother, too. “I’m glad you’re alive,” I said, trying to force the unbearable questions away. “I thought I heard you get hurt before I lost consciousness.”

“I did — one of those scythes got a piece of me. But it doesn’t even hurt.” He lifted his tunic and, sure enough, there was a taut, pink scar across his ribs, diving into his well-muscled abdomen.

“It looks the same as the scars I got from the healer after the jaguar attack.”

Rylan nodded and pulled his tunic back down. “But why?”

I shook my head. It didn’t make any sense. “Why attack and threaten to kill us, only to abduct us and have us healed instead?”

“An excellent question,” a voice responded from outside the tent, right before the woman who’d been in the tent with us earlier opened the flap and walked in. Next came Prince Damian, his hands bound behind his back, and Eljin after him, with a sword pressed into the prince’s spine. I jumped up, ready to fight, but one look from Eljin froze me in place.

“Don’t even think about doing anything, or I’ll knock you out again. Now sit.” He commanded, pushing Damian forward.

I forced myself to sit back down, even though my whole body thrummed with tension, with the need to do something. I’d been trained to fight, to defend and protect. Not sit idly by while the prince was manhandled. He met my alarmed gaze and shook his head infinitesimally as he sat down next to me. He wore only a white, open-throated tunic; pants; and boots that came to his knees. His hair was windswept, unlike its usual pomaded style. He looked different — but not injured, thankfully. If anything, he was more handsome than ever.

“You may release his bonds,” Eljin said to the woman, and she did as he said, bending over and untying Prince Damian’s hands.

“We make camp here tonight, but we’re leaving at first light. So you’d better rest while you can. My men are sick of carrying you. From now on, you’ll all walk.” Eljin glared at us, then swept out of the tent.

“Are you hurt? Have they given you any idea of where we are, or where we’re going?” I burst out the moment Eljin was gone.

“Don’t pester him with your questions,” the woman chided me.

I glared at her. “You’ll take part in abducting him, but you don’t want me to bother him with questions about his well-being?”

“You would be wise not to attempt to judge me, child.”

I lifted my eyebrows at her, irritation surging through me. “You honestly expect me to —”

“Alex, that’s enough. She healed you. You owe her your gratitude,” Prince Damian cut me off, his tone sharp.

I recoiled as if he’d struck me. “Excuse me, Your Highness. I didn’t realize you had such high esteem for your captors .” I couldn’t keep the disbelief and anger from my voice.

“Ah, so we’re back to that again, are we, Alex? And here I’d hoped that we were friends.” He sighed, and began to rub his temples.

I wanted to snap back at him, but instead I clamped my mouth shut. Rylan watched the entire exchange silently, his expression guarded.

“Could someone please tell me what is going on here?” I asked when I’d reined in my temper enough to control the tone of my voice.

“Eljin and Lisbet here have been keeping you and Rylan in a controlled state of unconsciousness while she healed you both,” Prince Damian responded before the woman had a chance.

“For how long?” Rylan finally spoke up.

“Four days.”

My jaw fell open. Before I could recover from the shock of realizing I’d lost four days with no recollection of their passing — not to mention how far we could have traveled in that amount of time — Prince Damian continued speaking.

“Eljin says he’s taking us to a very powerful man who wishes to use me as leverage to try and put a stop to this war.”

“And you’re just going to let him do it?” I glanced at Lisbet, then back at Prince Damian.

“I have no choice. None of us has the ability to stop a sorcerer, it would seem.”

I looked away from his penetrating gaze in shame. Guilt pounded through me, pulsing with my blood. It was a dig at me, and it hit true. I’d failed him. At least this sorcerer hadn’t wanted him dead, unlike the last one who had attacked a prince of Antion.

Lisbet took a seat on the ground next to Rylan. “What Damian says is true. And if you wish to make it there in one piece, I recommend that you don’t anger Eljin again. Although you did choose wisely,” she continued, turning to look at Damian. “She may not have stopped Eljin, but she did put up an excellent fight. With the right training —”

“That’s enough.” Prince Damian held up a hand, having gone pale.

I stared at Lisbet in horror, my blood suddenly cold in my veins.

“What’s wrong? I assumed you were aware that the best fighter on your guard is a girl.” She had a peculiar look on her face, and despite her attempt to act surprised, I was pretty sure she had purposely revealed my secret. “You did know, didn’t you?”

My heart pounded as I forced myself to look at Damian. He stared back, his blue eyes piercing through me. I felt strangely light-headed and my pulse raced, sending my blood surging through my body.

“Did you — did you —” My voice was unsteady; I couldn’t force the question out.

“Alex,” he said very quietly. I expected him to be shocked, to get angry. Instead, he just looked at me, regret on his handsome face. Somehow, he already knew. He knew .

My heart constricted; I was hardly able to draw breath. Finding out that Rylan knew was one thing — but now Prince Damian, too? Sudden panic threatened to strangle me, and I scrambled to my feet.

In one lithe movement, Damian stood up as well. I’d never felt so small before — so unmasked. I stared up at him with my stomach clenched into knots.

“How long?” I finally breathed, barely able to speak over the pounding of my heart. He stepped toward me but I stiffened and he halted.

“A while,” he said softly. We stared at each other for a long, breathless moment. Suddenly, the last few nights took on new meaning. He’d known I was a girl the whole time. I didn’t know whether I should get mad or cry or both.

Damian glanced down at Lisbet, then his eyes narrowed when he turned to Rylan. “You don’t seem very surprised by this announcement.”

I looked over at Rylan to see him grimace slightly. “No, sir.”

“You knew that Alex was — is — a girl?”

“Yes, Your Highness. But she didn’t know I knew. Well, until this week, after she was attacked by the jaguar.”

“A jaguar ?” Damian sounded truly incredulous now as he spun around to face me again. “How could you keep a jaguar attack from me?”

Heat rose in my cheeks. “ You didn’t tell me you knew I was a girl!” I forced myself to meet his accusing gaze.

Gone was any pretense of the petulant brat I’d come home to after our disastrous trip to the Heart of the Rivers. Here was the Damian I’d caught a glimpse of that night in his outer chamber, when he’d told me about his brother. Well, a much angrier version of that Damian, but at least the persona he adopted for everyone else to see was gone. He stared at me with disbelief on his handsome face.