Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(78)

The tearstone blade banged into the table where Lyra was still sitting in her cage, then dropped to the ground. The strix didn’t make a sound at the sudden bit of violence, but her eyes narrowed, and the razor-sharp onyx tips on the ends of her feathers tilted up.

Jerome grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. Then he spun me around, pulled a knife off his belt, and held it up against my neck. “You yell, scream, or do anything that I don’t like, and I will slit your throat, orders be damned.”

I had to crinkle my nose to keep from sneezing at the rotten, oniony stench of his breath. Ugh. That was even worse than the blade at my neck.

“Take it easy,” the other man piped up. “She’s worth too much to kill.”

“Shut up, Darron,” Jerome growled. “You’re not in charge. I am.”

Darron glared at the other man, lifted his sword, and moved forward, but Kenna stepped in front of him and held up her hand.

“Forget about who’s in charge,” she hissed. “Let’s get her out of here before the guards come back and find us—”

“Leave her alone,” a voice growled.

Kenna and Darron whirled around, as did Jerome, who spun me around with him. Leonidas was standing in front of us, his hands clenched into fists.

“Let her go,” he said. “Now.”

Silence dropped over the tent. Jerome and Darron stared at the boy, but Kenna sidled toward him.

“Hello, Leonidas,” she crooned. “Your Uncle Maximus sent us to help with your mission.”

The smoky lie of her words filled the air. Maximus hadn’t sent her. At least, not to help the boy. I opened my mouth to tell Leonidas as much, but Jerome dug his knife into my neck. The blade nicked my skin, making me hiss with pain and blood trickle down my throat.

“Keep your mouth shut,” he snarled.

Leonidas glanced at me, but Kenna sidled forward another step, drawing his attention.

“Your Uncle Maximus sent us to help you,” she repeated. “And he wanted us to give you a message.”

“What message?” Leonidas asked.

She smiled, but her eyes glinted with a dark, dangerous light. “That he doesn’t tolerate weakness—or especially failure.”

She snapped up her arm and threw her knife at him. Kenna’s aim was true, and the blade was going to plunge into Leonidas’s heart—

The knife stopped a foot away from the boy.

Kenna frowned, wondering what was happening. So did Darron, and Jerome jerked back in surprise, dragging me along with him. My nose twitched. Instead of Jerome’s horrible onion breath, the scent of magic now filled the air.

Leonidas’s power.

The three geldjagers couldn’t smell the boy’s magic, but they finally noticed the power crackling in his eyes, making them burn a bright, eerie violet. They all froze.

“You shouldn’t have lied.” Leonidas gave Kenna a grim smile. “Uncle Maximus never sends anyone to help me—only kill me.”

He waved his hand, and the knife hovering in the air in front of him flew right back at her. The blade punched into Kenna’s chest, and she yelped with pain and toppled to the ground.

“Kenna!” Darron shouted.

He too drew a knife off his belt and threw it at Leonidas, who also stopped this weapon in midair with his magic. Darron rushed at the boy, raising his sword to attack. Leonidas’s eyes widened, and he lunged forward and plucked the knife out of the air, bringing it up just in time to block Darron’s sword.

Their fight distracted Jerome, who lowered the knife at my throat a few inches. With one hand, I grabbed his arm and wrenched it and the blade away from my neck. With my other, I rammed my elbow back into his stomach. Jerome let out a loud oof! of air and staggered away. He tripped over a chest full of clothes and tumbled to the ground.

I yanked my tearstone dagger off my belt and charged forward. Leonidas and Darron were locked together, their blades seesawing back and forth. Leonidas might have magic, but the geldjager was much stronger, and he was slowly inching his sword toward the boy’s throat.

I couldn’t let the boy die, not after he’d tried to save me, so I buried my dagger in Darron’s back. He screamed, and I yanked out the blade, drew his head back, and slit his throat. He crumpled to the ground, bleeding out.

I looked at Leonidas. “Are you okay—”

A hand dug into my hair, making me yelp, and Jerome yanked me back and threw me down. My head snapped against the ground again, and more white stars exploded in my eyes.

Jerome stepped over me, drew back his fist, and punched Leonidas in the face. The boy groaned and toppled to the ground, and Jerome kicked him in the ribs. Leonidas started coughing, trying to get his breath back after the hard, brutal blow.

“Weak Mortan brat,” Jerome growled. “No wonder the king wanted us to kill you.”

I blinked the stars out of my eyes again, tightened my grip on the dagger still in my hand, and staggered back up and onto my feet.

Jerome’s hands clenched into fists, and his lips twisted into an angry sneer. “You really think you’re going to stop me with that dagger?”

Behind him, the cage door creaked open, and two purple eyes gleamed like matches burning in the dark.

“I don’t have to stop you,” I said, my words slurring a bit. “Lyra’s going to do it for me.”