To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)(25)

The prince drew his sword and pulled a dagger from his boot as Sligo yanked the dagger from the other attacker’s back then slit his throat.

“Now you die.” Hatred twisted Ajeem’s face, and the Qumarefi’s scimitar glittered in the dim light of the hall.

Eli waited.

As Ajeem bore down on him, Eli pivoted away, allowing Ajeem’s momentum to carry the Qumarefi forward as the prince buried a dagger in the man’s side.

Eli heard a scuffle behind him, but he didn’t take his eyes from Ajeem as the man spun around. Blood soaked the Qumarefi’s side, and he howled as he launched himself at the prince.

Sucking in a breath, Eli waited until the man was almost on top of him before dodging to the side and sweeping Ajeem’s feet out from underneath him. As the man crashed to the floor, Eli drove his sword through Ajeem’s chest.

The Qumarefi stared at him for a moment, eyes wide, as he grabbed at the blade then stilled.

“Your Highness,” Sligo said as he approached.

Eli whirled around, but he didn’t reach for the dagger in his other boot.

Kneeling, Sligo slit Ajeem’s throat, then wiped his blade clean. He removed Eli’s dagger from the dead man’s side, cleaned it on Ajeem’s vest, and handed it back to Eli.

“Auburn. They were after Auburn.” Eli raced towards their rooms.

Sligo caught up to the prince and opened the door, sword and dagger ready.





Chapter 17





Auburn paused in her pacing.

“Is he all right?” She wrung her hands as she walked toward Sligo. “I thought I heard fighting.”

“I’m fine.” Eli pushed past his bodyguard. He noticed she’d pulled the drapes across the windows. Potentially because of the sun, or possibly because she knew about the assassins.

Sligo closed the door behind them and took up a position beside it.

Eli sheathed his weapons and took several long slow breaths to steady himself as he fought back his anger at being betrayed. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t. Not for certain.”

His voice chilled as he stalked toward her. “And your meeting with Ajeem? What were you going to tell him?”

“Meeting?” Auburn trembled but met his gaze. “What are you talking about?”

“Everything happened as you said it would. Including the arrows coming from the meeting room. Then I find Ajeem in the hallway outside my rooms. What should I think?”

“I would never betray you.” Auburn swallowed and clasped her hands to her chest. Tears reflected in her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they spilled over her cheeks.

“Then how did you know?” Eli turned away from her, unable to bear seeing her pain and equally unable to endure her duplicity.

“I didn’t know it would be arrows, or I’d have told you. I only saw snakes.”

“You only saw snakes?” Eli turned back towards her. “What in the seven hells do you mean by that?”

She closed her eyes as her tears dampened her silk top.

“By the Gods, Auburn, tell me why you betrayed me. I can’t bring a traitor or assassin with me to Tamryn.”

Her head shot up, and her eyes fixed on him as she fell to her knees, anger and fear flickering across her face. “Please master, I didn’t betray you. I warned you. You’d be dead in the gardens if I hadn’t told you to stay away from them.”

Eli grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet. “How do you know I didn’t go into the gardens? Who are you working for?”

“If you’d gone with the sultan, the snakes would’ve been there.” She went limp in his arms as she hung her head. “The dreams are never wrong.”

“Dreams? The one that woke you last night?”

She nodded.

“I don’t understand.”

“In the dream, I saw waves of heat in the room. I saw you go to the gardens, but there were snakes waiting for you. I also saw snakes in the meeting room, and I knew what it meant. Snakes always mean the same thing.”

“You expect me to believe you saw the assassination attempt in a dream?”

“If it were a lie, I’d have come up with a better one.”

Eli started to argue and stopped himself. She was right. Lies were often easier to believe than the truth. “You said snakes always mean the same thing. This isn’t the first time you’ve had a dream warn you?”

“First time I wasn’t more than five. I dreamt a snake lurked among my favorite red flowers. Scared me so much I stayed away from the flowers. Another girl didn’t, and a snake bit her. She died that afternoon.”

“You’d said you’d always felt threatened. This snake was part of that?”

Auburn nodded. “Poisoned food, drugged wine, venomous spiders. My dreams have kept me alive many times.”

“These dreams happen often?”

“They come when they will. Sometimes more than others.”

“Only when you’re sleeping?” Eli asked, skepticism hardening his words.

“Usually, but not always.”

“You ever tell anyone about these visions?”

She shook her head.

“Why not? Could’ve saved that girl. Could’ve made a better life for yourself. Lots of people like to believe that nonsense.”