Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(10)
Anger filled Ricardo’s eyes, a muscle ticked in his clenched jaw, and more fire erupted on his fingertips, even stronger than what he’d just thrown at me. But I didn’t flinch, and I didn’t back down.
“You think your little trick is going to save you from me? From all of us?” He gestured at Lena and the other magiers. “You shouldn’t have come here alone, Winter queen. You’re going to suffer for your arrogance.”
I smiled, baring my teeth at him. “Who said I came here alone?”
Lena and the other magiers were so busy watching Ricardo threaten me that they weren’t paying any attention to what was happening around them—like the shadow that was creeping along one of the alley walls and heading in this direction.
Paloma let out a loud roar, charged into the plaza, and swung her mace at the closest magier. The other woman never even saw her coming. The magier’s head caved in like a soufflé taken out of the oven too early, and she dropped to the ground without making a sound.
Paloma roared again and charged at the next-closest magier, who whipped around to face her, along with several others.
Ricardo snarled with anger, reared back, and threw another fistful of fire at me. This time, I used my immunity, along with the blade of my tearstone sword, to swat away his magic like it was an annoying fly.
The fireball exploded against one of the building walls, igniting the rotten wood, spoiled food, and other filth piled there. Smoke, sparks, and red-hot embers boiled up into the air, hanging over the plaza like a thick, foul fog, but I sprinted through the stench toward Ricardo.
He snarled again, yanked two long knives out of his black cloak, and stepped up to meet me. He brought both knives down at once, attempting to cut through my defenses, but I whipped up my sword and blocked his attack.
Clang!
The loud crash of our blades banging together rang through the plaza, momentarily drowning out all the other grunts, yells, and screams. That one single note of sound turned a key deep inside me, and phantom music started playing in my mind. Xenia might be teaching me the Tanzen Falter, but Serilda was the one who’d trained me to treat each battle like it was a dance to the death. I let the quick, pulsing beat of that phantom music sweep me away, and my body moved to the rhythm, even as I pushed Ricardo back and twisted to the side.
He growled and slashed out with his knives over and over again, trying to drive the blades into my heart. He wasn’t trying to capture me anymore. Now he wanted to kill me as badly as I did him.
I danced away from his blows and launched my own brutal counterstrikes in return.
We kept hacking and slashing at each other, even as we waded through the broken glass, chipped bits of stone, and other debris that littered the ground. The crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch of our boots added another layer of sound to that phantom music playing in my mind, and I hummed along to the beat, even though no one could hear it but me.
On the other side of the plaza, Paloma swung her mace at every magier she could reach, punching the spikes into first one body, then another. My friend was easily holding her own, so I turned my attention back to my enemy.
Ricardo feinted and lashed out with one of his knives, trying to catch me off guard, but I whirled to the side and knocked that blade out of his hand. The knife tumbled end over end along the cobblestones, shooting off a few weak silver sparks before it landed in a pile of dirty rags.
Ricardo snarled again and swiped out with his other knife, but I knocked that one away as well, and it spun to a stop near Lena’s feet. The girl was hugging the closest wall, trying to stay out of the wild, deadly melee.
Lena backed away, but Ricardo darted forward, grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and hooked an arm around her neck. Fire exploded on his fingertips again, and he held the burning ball close to Lena’s face. She shrieked and tried to pull away, but she couldn’t break his tight hold.
“Stop!” he barked. “Everyone stop right now!”
His voice boomed through the plaza, and everyone actually listened to him.
Paloma had already killed four of the magiers, and she had her mace raised to take out a fifth one, but she slowly lowered the weapon to her side. The remaining magiers lowered their swords as well and backed away from her.
Ricardo glanced at Paloma and the other magiers, making sure they weren’t going to move, then looked at me again. He grinned and took a step back, dragging Lena along with him. Then another step, then another.
The bastard was using the girl as a human shield. The fight hadn’t gone his way, and now he was going to run, just like that fat rat I’d seen scurrying through the garbage earlier.
I snapped up my sword and moved forward. He wasn’t getting away.
Ricardo stopped and brandished his fire at Lena again. “What the fuck are you doing? Stop! Or the girl dies!”
I shrugged. “Go ahead. Kill her. I don’t care.”
Lena’s eyes bulged, and the scent of her sour, nervous sweat filled my nose.
“What do you mean, you don’t care?” Ricardo asked. “I saw your face after I hit her. You didn’t like my disciplining her.”
“That wasn’t discipline—that was cruelty, plain and simple. And no, I didn’t like seeing it.” I stared him down. “But just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean that I won’t do it in order to protect myself and my kingdom.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re really going to let me kill the girl?”