Page 100 of Heartless Enemy

“Ah, yes, you’ve said that before.” She cocked her head. “Tell me, how did that work out for you last time?”

“I believe he ended up with two dead elite mages and one dead cousin,” I filled in, keeping my smile vicious.

“And then half a castle full of dead guards,” Eve finished.

“Indeed.” My gaze hardened as I locked eyes with him. “You’d think he would learn from his mistakes and think very carefully before he dares to threatenmy wife.”

Next to me, Eve started in surprise. I hadn’t even realized what I had said before the words were already out of my mouth. Thankfully, though, White hadn’t noticed Eve’s reaction because his hateful eyes were locked firmly on me.

“You keep running that mouth, and you’ll soon find yourself without a tongue,” White warned.

There was nothing left of the smug casualness he had worn like a mask when he arrived. Now, his pale blue eyes burned like frozen flames as he stared me down. His hand flexed down by his side again.

“Threats?” I arched an eyebrow. “Is that really how you want to begin this negotiation?”

“I’m not here to negotiate,” he growled. “I’m here to accept your unconditional surrender.”

“And yet, you’re on the losing side of this battle. Otherwise, you would never have called this ceasefire.”

A malicious smile curled his lips. “Oh, you ignorant fool. You have no idea why I called this meeting.”

“I think—”

In the middle of my sentence, he slapped his hands together so quickly that my brain could barely register it and then vanished into thin air.

Eve yanked her sword from her scabbard, but we all knew that she would always be too late.

Christian White appeared behind me within the span of a second and rammed his knife towards my now thoroughly unprotected neck.

A gurgling noise sounded.

For a few seconds, it was as if the moment was suspended in time. Nothing moved. Not even the wind dared to so much as breathe. Silence thrummed against my eardrums.

Then the world came rushing back in again.

The unmistakable sound of steel cleaving flesh filled the air.

Another cough.

Another wet gurgle.

A soft thud as something hit the ground.

Twisting my head, I looked over my shoulder.

Christian White was standing there behind my back. His pale eyes were wide with shock and pain. And the knife he had tried to stab me with had already tumbled from his unresponsive fingers.

I let out a dark laugh.

Thiswas how you killed a worldwalker.

Eve and I exchanged a glance, smug victory on our faces. She pulled her sword out of White’s side at the same time as I retracted the spike that I had shot out of my armor.

The sharp metal slid back out of White’s chest and returned to my backplate.

Then, I at last released the grip I had kept for several minutes now on the magic flowing inside my own metal armor.

With the loss of support, White crumbled to the ground like a broken doll.