Black Moon Draw(81)

Ducking my head down, I grip the medallion with one hand and heft up my skirts with the other.

The gray midmorning is cool, the breeze fragrant with the scent of the ocean. As we walk through the sprawling encampment, I start to notice the amount of men in White Tree Sound cloaks increasing.

The Red Knight’s whole army is here. My gut grows heavy and I struggle to understand this man’s role in all this. At times seemingly allied with the Shadow Knight, at times neutral and now, working with the Desert Knight.

The man is more confused than I am.

“Son.”

Westley stumbles and I suck in a breath.

His father approaches, followed by two others. There’s a smile on his face. In full daylight, his features appear less severe – and yet just as hard.

“Are you prepared to lead our men to victory?” the Desert Knight booms, clapping his son on the shoulder.

“Aye, father,” comes the soft response.

“Then you and your princess shall be bonded once and for all.” The Desert Knight glances in my direction.

I barely breathe, heart hammering. Hopefully, this is one of those near misses, where he doesn’t realize who I really am and walks on by and we continue onward. Westley and I can laugh about how close our plan came to being ruined later, when we’re at a feast for the victory of the Shadow Knight, right before I tackle the sexy warrior and drag him into bed.

The idea makes my inner thighs tremble and my blood flare to life. Maybe the vision of Atreyu’s naked body on top of mine is what makes me miss the Desert Knight’s question because suddenly, everyone is silent and staring at me.

Ripping my thoughts out of the ultimate fantasy, I glance towards Westley in the hopes he can discreetly guide me. He’s pale, bordering on alarmed, and I realize something has gone wrong.

The Desert Knight glances between us before stepping forward and snatching my arm. He yanks the hood off and glares down at me.

“Boy, what have you done?” he all but bellows towards his son.

Westley is speechless, fear on his features for the first time since I’ve met him.

“Nothing,” I say quickly, mind racing. If I’m caught, Westley can still get word to the Red Knight and plan with him to help the Shadow Knight. “I . . . uh, I put a spell on him, one that forced him to aid me.”

That does it.

“Stand back!” The Desert Knight releases me like I’m a hot potato, face flushing with anger while his eyes drop to the medallion. The men with him scramble away while Westley remains in place. “You said you could not use it!”

“I only can every once in a while. It just so happened to work this morning.” I lie once more. “I used it on him to help me escape.”

Drawing a knife, the Desert Knight snatches my neck, dragging me onto my knees. “Release him, witch, and I will not gut you right now!” he growls.

Not sure what he expects a magical witch to do, I pick up the medallion, close my eyes, and toss one arm out to my side. After a few seconds, I open my eyes. “He is released,” I say as solemnly as I can, loudly enough for the teen to hear.

The Desert Knight twists to see over his shoulder.

I wave Westley away.

He obeys and backpedals until he’s standing between two of his father’s men.

“You will not go near my son!” The Desert Knight turns his attention back to me. “I know how to kill you. I planned on waiting for my victory to be complete, for your Shadow Knight to watch you die at my feet!”

He’s cutting off my ability to breathe and I clutch his wrist.

“Or you can use your magic for me and I spare you.”

“N. . .no!” I gasp.

“Then mayhap I should kill you now!”

“You . . . curse . . .” Choking, my vision is turning into tunnel vision, the edges of my mind going black. Pain is trumped only by panic.

I’m suffocating . . . spiraling into darkness . . . the world growing quiet, fuzzy, dull . . .

Silently, I scream for him to stop.

A flare of fire shoots through me from the medallion, zapping him hard enough to shove him back.

I collapse and suck in air, coughing hard. My throat burns and I touch the tender skin around my neck. The world is wobbly, my senses all over the place as they’re revived by the sudden flow of oxygen in my brain. Dazed, I realize I’m lying on the ground and push myself up.

It’s strangely quiet behind me. I turn, dreading to see what I’ve done.

Wow. I didn’t just fling him away; I threw the Desert Knight a good thirty feet. He’s climbing to his feet, surprise and rage on his face. Unfortunately, he’s recovering faster than I am, trotting towards us, unfazed by the shock.

My body is sluggish and I climb to my feet, wobble, and manage to recover my balance a second before he grabs my arm again.

I catch the flash of steel barely in time to fling myself away. He grabs me around the waist and the knife drops once more. Bracing for hot pain, I wait, only for him to release and shove me away.

I catch myself against a tree and pat my body down, startled I’m not dead or hurt or missing any limbs.

The medallion is gone. Frantically, I search the layers of clothing without finding it and whip around in time to see him throwing it to the ground. The Desert Knight plucks an axe free from his waist.

He’s going to crush the key to the Shadow Knight breaking the curse.