Page 103 of To Kill a King
Black flames burst from his skin and sucked back into him. He collapsed into a pile of ash.
The two survivors blanched.
“Bring me my queen,” Malkov said.
The woman bared her teeth at him, grabbed a rock, and threw it at the scrying mirror.
The connection disappeared.
Malkov pursed his lips and growled deep in his throat. Now he’d have to remember the female assassin’s name for her execution order. After she and Brooks brought his wife back to him, of course.
The assassin would make ideal subjects for his alchemists. They needed volunteers for their trials on an enhanced Whisperer.
Elessan shifted his weight as he balanced on the tree limb above the two remaining assassins. His lungs burned, and his jaw ached from grinding his teeth. These were the murderers who killed Cressida, kidnapped Aliya, and used the whatever-it-was to kill everything at the outpost.
The black fire that had consumed Stephen would provide too easy a death for the Arcane Inquisitor.
The shards of glass sparkled on the ground from the mirror the woman had shattered in her grief.
Elessan’s lips thinned as heat built in his chest. She didn’t understand the meaning of the word. But soon she would.
With the human king gone, it was time. He glanced to where Zadé waited, several yards back. Tilting his head back, Elessan trilled the mountain dipper’s mating call.
Zadé flashed her teeth at him and darted forward.
Elessan palmed his swords and landed behind the humans. “Where is your queen?”
The female gasped and spun, her sword slicing for his gut. With an effortless flick of his wrist, he knocked her weapon aside.
Brooks yelled and charged him, only to be met by Zadé’s shoulder in his stomach. The air rushed out of the man with an “oomph!” as Zadé’s gleeful cackle echoed across the clearing.
Elessan parried the human female’s blade again. “Aliya. Tell me where she is.”
“What’s it to you, elf?” She threw him a crooked grin.
Vision turning red, he growled and lunged.
Zadé tumbled in a somersault and ended up tangling her legs with those of her foe, knocking them both prone. Brooks’s head hit the edge of a rock with a bone-crunching crack. He groaned, rolling on his side.
Elessan’s blades danced, a maelstrom of fury and ice. “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll make your death slow and painful.” The female assassin fell back before his onslaught.
He blinked. She defended herself well, never attacking, but she didn’t look as panicked as she should for someone giving up so much ground. She must be waiting for him to tire. He bared his teeth—he wouldn’t give her the pleasure. Feinting high, he dropped, swinging his leg to swoop hers from under her.
She leapt and swung for his ankles. His shin burned as her sword came away dripping crimson.
His vision cleared with the pain. It seemed he’d underestimated the skill of his opponent. Readjusting his grip, he smiled. Decades had passed since he’d been in a duel against a truly skilled adversary. This would be more satisfying than he’d expected.
The woman read the change in his expression and widened her stance. Dropping her shoulders, she nodded at him. Ready.
He charged. Steel met steel in a jarring explosion of sparks. The shock traveled up his arm, and he tightened his hold as his weapon threatened to twist from his grasp. The woman stepped back, spinning and freeing her blade. He thrust, she parried and lunged inside his reach.
Sliding his second sword across her torso, he opened a shallow but painful cut over her lower ribs. She gasped and stumbled back, wrapping her left arm around the wound.
The scratch wasn’t deep. It should teach her to keep her distance, though.
Zadé’s loud “whoop!” rang out as she tumbled into the other woman’s back. The assassin plunged forward. Elessan braced his blades in front of him. With a sickening pop, the woman impaled herself.
Warm blood gushed over his hands as her eyes glazed over.