Rise of Fire (Reign of Shadows #2)(53)

Luna and I sprang apart. For a moment I felt like a boy again when my nurse caught me at mischief. Until I remembered that Luna and I were right. Not a mistake. I took her hand again and faced the two men waiting for us, pulling my sword free in one smooth move.

Chasan stood there in his leather doublet with his hands on his hips. Beside him stood that hulk of a soldier, Harmon, who had accompanied him the first day we arrived at Ainswind.

Luna, unsurprisingly, knew it was the prince. “Chasan! How did you know—”

“I’ve been watching the two of you for days. Amusing, really. You try to act as though you aren’t interested in each other. Try being the operative word.” He shrugged. “I thought it best to assign my man here to watch you both. Glad I did.”

I should have known. Chasan couldn’t take his eyes off Luna. If anyone would have noticed the long glances and the lingering touches, it would have been him.

Luna’s chin lifted. “We’re leaving,” she declared. “You can’t stop us.”

Chasan smiled, eyeing her up and down like she was a meal he wanted to devour. “I can. I will.”

“I’m sorry, Chasan.” Luna squeezed my hand and pressed close beside me. “I can’t marry you. And I can’t stay here.”

Harmon drew his monster of a broadsword. It could cleave a man in half. His face was impassive as stone as he lifted it, ready to engage. Chasan crossed his arms and adopted a self-satisfied grin. It was the smile of a man who knew he’d won. Only I didn’t know that. I hadn’t accepted that. I never would.

I tightened my grip around Luna’s hand and lifted my own sword, nodding at Harmon. “Is he going to kill us? Defeats the point, doesn’t it? Of bringing us back to Ainswind with you.”

Chasan cocked his head. “I don’t really care what becomes of you.” He locked in on Luna, and damn if something didn’t heat in his eyes. “It’s her I want.”

My lip curled. “Easy to make threats and declarations when you’ve got him.” I nodded at the massive hulk beside him.

Chasan’s smile slipped. “Oh, you want to finish this?”

I stared at him for a long moment, the soft sounds of the Outside a heady thing swirling around us. Each insect buzz, bat chirp, and sliding rock sat thick as syrup on the air.

In the far distance, a dweller cried, tinny and reedy on the wind.

“You and me.” I held his gaze. “It’s what I’ve longed for.” Ever since the moment I saw him interact with Luna, even out of my head with toxin fever, this had been simmering up to a boil.

Chasan settled a hand on his man’s arm, prompting him to lower his sword even while never taking his gaze off me. “Winner takes all?”

“Agreed.” I nodded at the giant. “And he doesn’t try to stop us from leaving.”

“That confident you’ll defeat me?” Chasan started to shrug out of his leather doublet, revealing a fine linen shirt beneath. He handed the garment to Harmon.

“That confident I won’t?” I rebutted.

“No weapons,” Chasan replied, rolling his cuffs to his elbows. “Only one of us walks away alive.”

Luna’s hand clenched around my bicep as I tossed my sword down. “No, Fowler! What are you doing?”

I covered her hand with mine, gave it a light squeeze, and then lifted it off my arm. Lifting my bow, I handed it to her for safekeeping. Her wide dark eyes fixed on me, her mouth parted in a small “o” of wonder as I lowered my head and pressed a hard, quick kiss to her lips. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t know that you do,” she whispered back, her head chasing after my lips as I stepped back out of her range.

Turning, I faced the prince.

It was the only choice.





TWENTY-FOUR


Luna


I STOOD IN the familiar Outside, my heart a wild drum in my aching chest, actually wishing that I was back inside the castle. If it meant Fowler would be safe and not locked in a fight for his life with Prince Chasan, then yes. I wished for that.

The air filled with grunts and the brutal sound of fists slamming into skin and bone. They hit the ground, rolling, tussling. I could not distinguish who was who. There were only pained gasps and ragged breaths.

I’d stood by listening as Fowler had fought before. I knew how ruthless he could be, how unrelenting. It was as though he turned off that part of him that felt pain and fear. But the prince was no weakling either. The two were well matched.

Harmon moved to stand beside me, his hot, rancid breath hitching in excitement as he watched the combat unfold.

Suddenly there was a crunch of bone, and Chasan screamed. I winced. Harmon hissed out a breath beside me and I felt him tense as though he was going to step in.

I slapped a hand on his arm and clung to him as he took a step forward, as though I could somehow stop the giant myself. “Stop!” I ordered. “Stay back.”

Harmon shook off my hand, but didn’t step forward again.

“The next thing I break won’t be a finger,” Fowler snarled as he launched himself at Chasan. They hit the ground with a loud crash, limbs flailing wildly as they rolled, grappling to get a grip on the other. Chasan struck Fowler. I smelled the spray of his blood, heard it strike the ground.