Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 229266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1146(@200wpm)___ 917(@250wpm)___ 764(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 229266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1146(@200wpm)___ 917(@250wpm)___ 764(@300wpm)
Relieved to see that the child wasn’t remotely traumatized, my lips twitched. “Maybe—”
“A two for one special?” a voice sounded from behind us. “Perfect.”
“Run and hide,” I told the boy, shoving him away. Hoping he listened, I squared off with a knight. Blood and gore covered his mouth in thick clumps. I was beginning to think the vow of silence didn’t apply when they weren’t hiding what they were.
Either he hadn’t been given a description of what I looked like, which didn’t seem likely, or he was too lost to bloodlust. That sounded more probable. He bared his fangs, hissing as he bent. I saw now that their teeth were like those of the Craven. There weren’t only two fangs, but four. Two on the top, and two on the bottom. Short and easily hidden, but no less deadly.
The knight charged me with all the grace of a barrat. Knowing that the armor would be hard for me to pierce, even with a bloodstone dagger, I braced myself. The moment his fingers grazed my arm, I stepped to the side as I swung the dagger down on the center of his chest with all my strength. My blow met resistance, but the knight’s own body weight and momentum worked to my advantage. The blade pierced the armor and then the chest.
The knight’s shout of pain and shock ended abruptly. Jerking the dagger free, I danced back as the fissures in his skin appeared. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him when he broke apart. The thought of the ash, of the pieces of him, getting on me, in my hair or mouth—or oh, gods, in my eyes—made me want to vomit.
“Maiden?”
The hair along my neck rose at the sound of Lord Chaney’s voice. I turned around, my heart lodged in my throat. The fangs were hidden, his placid expression not set to one of awe. Blood seeped from a wound on his chest. It looked like someone had almost gotten him with a sword or dagger, but he’d been too fast. What had caused the lurch in my chest was what he held against him.
It was the boy.
The child either hadn’t listened to me or wasn’t fast enough. Lord Chaney had one hand curled under the child’s throat. Thin rivulets of blood ran from where the Ascended’s nails dug into the boy’s skin.
“They told me you were scarred,” the Lord said. His eyes were like the blackest fire as they flicked to the dagger. “I assumed they meant it was just a scratch or two, just a minor flaw. But it is you.”
“It is me.” I rapidly ran through the possible scenarios as the boy trembled. Almost all of them ended with the child’s death, and I couldn’t have that on my soul. Too many people had already died or were seriously wounded. Names would be carved in the chamber’s walls, all because the Ascended had come for me. I only saw one way for the boy to survive. “You’re here to save me.” The words tasted of ash on my tongue. “Thank the gods.”
Lord Chaney watched me closely. “Are you sure you’re in need of saving? You killed two knights.”
“One of them was trying to hurt the boy, and the other knight…he scared me,” I forced out. “I thought they were going to hurt me. I didn’t know there were Ascended among the Royal Knights.”
A humorless half-smile appeared. “There’s no need to be afraid now, Maiden,” he said. “You’re safe. Lay down the bloodstone.”
The hairs were still at attention. The dagger was my only weapon against an Ascended. Without it, the paltry meat knife would be little to no help. Just like it would’ve if I had managed to escape the night prior. Casteel had been painfully right about how badly that would’ve gone, though now wasn’t the time for self-recriminations. “You’re hurting the boy.”
The Lord’s brows rose as the sound of fighting continued in the yard. “Am I?”
I nodded. “He’s bleeding.”
He didn’t take his eyes off me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to throw the dagger as I had before. The element of surprise was gone. “He’s a Descenter, Maiden.”
“He’s just a child—”
“A child of those who sought to kidnap you. His safety should be the least of your worries. Why you stand before me unveiled, not only holding a bloodstone dagger but also with the knowledge of how to use it is far more concerning.”
I almost laughed. Leave it to an Ascended to believe that my unveiled face and my ability to fight was more concerning than the fate of a child. “But he’s just a little boy, and I believe he’s a second son,” I quickly lied. “He is destined to Ascend, and the gods will be very displeased if something were to happen to him, wouldn’t they?”