by Frost Kay
A slow smile spread across his face handsome face. “So much light, so much fire in your eyes,” he murmured. “No wonder the warlord kept you.”
Horror moved through her. She whipped her knives out and slashed at the warrior. His hand snapped out, grabbed her dagger by the blade, and tore it out of her hand. Sage dropped to the ground, sweeping her leg out. The warrior avoided her kick deftly. She gritted her teeth. She was slow. As Sage regained her position, the warrior disappeared. She stumbled in surprise and then shouted when an arm wrapped around her throat.
“Weak,” he whispered. A hand traced her side. “But alluring.”
She. Was. Not. Weak.
Sage dug her nails into his arm and tilted her face forward, biting down. A growl filled her ears as a metallic tang filled her mouth. A hand fisted in her hair and yanked. Pain bit at her, but she didn’t let go. He jerked her head back again, tearing her teeth from his arm with a bellow. She cried out when teeth bit into her ear.
“How do you like it?” he hissed. “Just wait until the warlord—”
An earth-shattering roar deafened her a moment before something crashed into her. She slammed into the ground, her face pressing into the damp earth. Sage choked on dirt and leaves and almost cried when the weight crushed her.
She scrambled upright, coughing. She spit dirt out and glanced to the side. She froze, terrified, when she spotted the man-eater tearing into the Scythian. Her hands shook as the beast’s golden gaze met hers, its lips pulled back from its crimson stained teeth. Stars above, Nali was fearsome.
A scream pulled her out of her stupor just in time to watch Jasmine sneak up on the Scythian pinning Blaise. Her fiery friend swung her arm and smashed a rock into the warrior’s head. He yelled and seized a handful of Jasmine’s shirt. Sage’s eyes connected with Jasmine’s right before the Scythian threw her. A scream caught in her throat as Jas tumbled through the air and crashed into a tree. She didn’t get up.
Rage exploded inside her. That was it. She was done with people hurting her friends. Ignoring the beast, she forced herself upright and crept on silent feet toward the warrior beating Blaise into the ground. The beast’s snarling was hair-raising, but a blessing. It hid her movements. It hid the warrior’s death. He raised his fist one more time, and it was his last. Sage struck. He stiffened and then, like a puppet with its strings cut, he collapsed.
“Blaise,” she panted. Her breath sawed in and out of her, and her hands trembled as she tugged on the huge man. He wouldn’t budge. Sage scrambled to the side, dropped to her butt, and used her feet to push him off Blaise. Pushing to her knees, she knelt next to Blaise. Her heart flew to her throat at the state of her friend. Every inch of skin Sage saw was damaged. Carefully, she placed two fingers at the base of her neck. A pulse. A sigh of relief escaped her before the panic came rushing back in. How were they supposed to cross the river?
She glanced around the area, skipping over Nali and her meal. Emotion clogged her throat as Jasmine limped toward her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m alive,” Jas croaked. “Is Blaise alive?”
“I am,” Blaise rasped.
Sage whipped back around. “What is broken?”
“I don’t know. It all hurts, so probably everything.”
“Can you move?”
“Not without help.”
Sage breathed hard while she thought over their options. There was only one. They had to cross the river. They weren’t far from it. She could hear it from here.
“Leave me.”
She focused back on Blaise. “No.”
“Those were part of the hunt, not the patrol. You have to leave now! There’s no time.”
“I know,” Sage growled and slipped an arm under Blaise. “Jas, I need your help.”
Jasmine hobbled around Blaise and slipped an arm under her other side, a moan of pain escaping her thin white lips. Her broken ribs must have hurt horridly.
“What are you doing?” Blaise cried as they forced her upright. Tears poured down the woman’s face as they began hauling her across the meadow.
“Saving your life,” Jas grunted.
“Nali,” Sage called. “Leave your meal. I need you.”
She didn’t know if the feline would follow, but she hoped she would. Every step they took felt too slow. It was like the warlord was breathing down her neck. They broke through the trees, and she about collapsed in relief when Nali loped past them and to the bank.
“I can’t swim,” Blaise whispered in a pained moan.
Sage glanced from Nali to Jasmine to Blaise and back to Nali, an idea forming in her mind.
“Nali.”
The feline eyed Sage, her ears twitching and laying back, a low growl rumbled in Nali’s throat.
Sage’s stomach dropped. Something was coming. Her urgency doubled. “Nali, I need you to take Blaise across the river.”
“Are you mad?” Blaise hissed as they dragged her into the freezing water.
Sage placed a hand on Nali and scratched behind her ears. “Nali, I need you to be kind to Blaise. Take her across the water. Protect her.”
Nali strode deeper into the river and paused.
“Jas, help me lift Blaise onto her back. Hurry!”
They managed to get the Scythian woman onto the beast. Sage wrapped Blaise’s arms around Nali’s neck and met her gaze. “You hold onto Nali with all you have. Trust her. She’ll protect you.”
“It was an honor knowing you,” Blaise whispered.
“We’ll meet again.”
Sage slapped Nali on the rump, and the beast strode deeper into the water and began swimming. She cut through the water like she was a fish. “Be safe,” Sage whispered.
She grabbed Jasmine’s hand and ran along the bank.
“What are you doing? We need to cross!”
“Do you see how wide that part was? We’d drown before we made it halfway. Plus, the water is too cold.”
Sage sprinted harder and crashed through some trees near the river. Branches slapped at her face, but she didn’t register the sting. Panic and fear were ruling her now. Her breathing was rough and she ached to stop, but she tugged on her friend when she slowed. “We’re so close, Jas. Just a little bit further.”
Jasmine clutched her side, sweat pouring off her forehead. “Sage, I won’t be able to swim across the river. I can’t do it. There’s something wrong with my other arm.”
Tears of frustration filled Sage’s eyes. They were so close, they had to make it. She sucked in a deep breath and pulled harder. “We make it together or not at all. I will swim us both across.” She wouldn’t go back to that hell, but neither would she condemn Jasmine to it.
They weren’t going back.
With strength she didn’t know she still possessed, she propelled them forward. “Jas, just think, the twins are just across the river. Think how happy they’ll be to see you.”
Jasmine sobbed and stumbled behind her. “I will hold them and never let go.”
They crashed through the trees onto the Scythian side of the bank. Sage gasped for air, staring at the impossible challenge ahead of them. The water was so swift. How would they survive? She swallowed hard and glanced to Jasmine, who was simply staring at the river. It seemed like an ocean before them.
Every hair on her body rose when the forest quieted behind them. Hell. He was near. She met Jasmine’s wide eyes. “We have to swim now.”
Jasmine nodded, and they both scrambled to the water’s edge. “Have you ever swum someone across a distance like this?” she panted.
Sage shook her head and kicked her boots off while wading into the cold water. Jas’ trembling arm seized her bicep. She met her friend’s eyes, trying to emulate a calm she didn’t feel.
“You need to swim pulling me. I’ll use my legs as much as I can.”
“Okay.” She wrapped an arm around Jasmine’s chest and pushed back into the current. Sage gasped as the cold water wrapped around her body painfully. The river pulled on her, try
ing to suck them down. Sage gritted her teeth and fought against the current and the cold, keeping her eyes on the Aermian bank. They were so close.
“Sage!” Jasmine’s horror filled voice pulled her attention from her strokes.
Sage glanced back to the Scythian bank, and fear clogged her throat, her strokes faltering. Scythian warriors lined the jungle’s edge, silent. Her heart stopped in her chest as she locked eyes with the most devastatingly handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. The warlord strolled to the water’s edge with his hand tucked into his trouser pockets, completely casual. Somehow, that frightened her even more.
“Did you think you could escape me, wild one?” he asked, smiling softly.
Her breath seized in her lungs. No, she didn’t.
“Swim harder, Sage.” Jasmine whispered.
Sage pulled her eyes from the master of her hell and pushed with everything she had. She couldn’t let him mess with her mind.
Masculine laughter sounded behind them, deepening her anxiety. She knew that laugh. It was gloating, triumphant. She flicked her eyes back to the bank in time to catch him stepping out of his boots and pulling his sword free from its scabbard.
“You know I love a good game of chase. Keep running. I love the hunt.”
She battled the panic threatening to consume her. If she panicked, both she and Jasmine died. Sage cocked her head back and gauged the distance to the other side. They were almost halfway, but her energy was waning. She glanced back to the warlord, who was carefully rolling his pants up, as if that mattered when swimming. If he got into the water and they were still swimming, it would be over for them. She knew how fast he moved. They wouldn’t have a chance.
Sage kicked harder and stared at Jasmine’s honey brown head. Perhaps one of them did. Jas had children waiting for her to return. What did Sage have? Her family was well looked-after, the treaty was in effect, and the crown didn’t need her. She breathed out and made one of the easiest decisions of her life. “Can you swim if I get you to the slow part of the river?”
“I think so.”
Sage swallowed and forced her numb legs to kick. “I am going to push you into it and then you have to swim.”
“No,” Jasmine gasped, her cold breath clouding around them.
“Yes,” Sage forced out. “Once he enters the water, we won’t make it.”
“Then they’ll take both of us. I won’t leave you.”
“You don’t have a choice. Think of the twins. They need you. You are their only family.”
Jasmine’s face was grieved. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“You must.” A calm settled over her. This was the right thing to do. She could repay Jasmine for all the pain she’d endured on her behalf. A splash sounded, pulling Sage’s eyes to the Scythian bank. The warlord waded into the water, his face a mask of concern.
“This water is too cold, my love. You need to get out, or you’ll get sick. Come back to me, and all of this will be forgotten.”
“No way in hell,” she hissed between clenched teeth.
He tapped his ear. “I can still hear you.”
“I know.”
“So that’s how it is to be.” He shook his head, his dark hair waving in the breeze. He pushed forward and cut through the water like a leviathan.
“It’s time, Jas.” Sage flipped them onto their stomachs still swimming with everything she had. “Tell my family I love them, that I forgive Rafe, and tell the princes that I’ll miss them.” Sage shoved Jas with all her might and never stopped swimming. Jasmine pushed toward the Aermian bank clumsily, but at least she wasn’t drowning.
Terror strangled her when a hand wrapped around her ankle, jerking her backwards. She clamped her lips together holding in the scream in that would only serve to distract Jasmine. Large burnished arms wrapped around her, hauling her into a solid chest. She stared straight ahead, ignoring the giant body behind her as tears of relief pricked her eyes. Jas had made it to the bank.
“You’ve led me on a merry hunt, Sage.”
Her eyes slammed shut as the warlord’s voice curled around her. A nose ran along the column of her neck as they bobbed in the river.
“Cinnamon,” he growled, “How is it you haven’t bathed in days and yet you still smell like cinnamon?”
She remained silent, her body trembling against him as she ignored him. It was so cold. Everything was numb.
His hand slipped up her chest and to her throat. He pulled her head back and tipped it to the side. “You know how I feel about being ignored. Look at me, Sage.”
Part of her wanted to obey him. The thought caused bile to burn her throat.
He spun her around and pulled her flush against his body as he treaded water in the river like it was nothing. The warlord scanned her face. “You’ve been hurt.” She hissed when he brushed a wound on her cheek. “If you hadn’t run from me, you wouldn’t have been hurt.” His hand dropped to her waist and kneaded the flesh. She cringed at his attentions.
“Have you nothing to say?”
“I would do it again.”
His face transformed into a proud smile that made her stomach drop. “And that’s why I love you, despite the unfortunate line you were born from. You have a fire I want to claim.”
“There shall be no claiming.”
He brushed a wet strand of hair from her face, tenderly, like her father used to do. “You and I both know that’s not true.” He dropped his forehead to hers and stared into her eyes. “No matter where you go, I will be imprinted on your soul, and in your dreams. We will always be part of each other.”
The sick part was that his words were true. If she survived, he would haunt her nightmares for life. “You’re right,” Sage murmured. She lifted her exhausted arms and laid them around his dark olive shoulders. With careful movements, she spun the ring on her finger that Maeve had given her and flipped the lid. “But in death, you can’t haunt me.”
“I’ll never let anything hurt you.”
“You already have.” Sage slammed her hand around the back of his neck holding on tight as his eyes narrowed.
“What have you done?” he growled as he ripped her arm from his neck. The warlord yanked her hand up and examined the ring, his grip going lax even as his eyes burned hotter with rage.
“Nothing that will kill you.” She leaned closer and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I freed myself from you.”
Sage shoved away from him with the last of her strength, managing to break his grasp because of the toxin. The water tore her from him, clawing at her legs and trying to pull her under. She fought it, knowing that drowning was not a peaceful way to go, but she wasn’t strong enough. The last thing she saw was the warlord’s panic-filled gaze before the river claimed her.
Water tugged her left and right, up and down. Darkness surrounded her as her lungs began to burn. Her body flailed as she clawed at the water, desperate for air. Her body slammed into something, forcing the rest of the air from her lungs. Her face broke the surface, sputtering and gasping for air. Sage blinked at the bank not ten feet from her. How? She heaved in painful breaths as the freezing water beat at her body. It would be so easy to close her eyes and sleep.
She jerked, her eyes springing wide, when a growl roused her. A dark, furry head bobbed up next to her. Sage let out a sob and sunk her fingers into Nali’s wet coat. “Help me,” she whispered through numb lips.
She was certain her nails were digging into the feline’s skin, but it didn’t stop Nali from propelling them toward the bank. Slick stones bumped against her knees and feet as they entered the shallows. Her hip dug into the sand, and she couldn’t hold on any longer. Sage collapsed into shallow water, her teeth chattering. Nali quickly moved to her side and bit into the back of her shirt, tugging her from the water. Stone scraped her palms as she did her best to aid Nali, clawing her way up the bank. When her hands sunk into sun-warmed sand, she collapsed with her cheek pressed to the earth, water dripping into her eyes.
She didn’t drown. She didn’t die.
Sage didn’t know how long she laid there, savoring the air filling her lungs, the sand and gravel beneath her hands. Only when her body began to tremble so hard her teeth clacked together, did she gain awareness. Painstakingly, she pushed to her hands and knees and took in the surrounding land.
Forest.
Aermian Forest.
She sat on her calves as a sob tore from her. Tears blurred her eyes and dripped down her face. “I made it,” she whispered to herself, relieved beyond words.
For a moment, she had thought the river spat her back upon Scythian land, but to be back again was overwhelming. She never thought she’d truly make it. Great, heaving cries broke free, wracking her body. She hunched forward and sunk her fingers into the sand.
She’d made it home. She was home.
Time blurred as bone-weary fatigue set in. Sage studied her bluish fingers, and something inside her head said she should be worried. But for the life of her, she didn’t remember why she should worry.
Nali released a heart-stopping growl that finally pulled Sage from her muddled thoughts. The feline hunkered down in front of her, the feline’s jet-black fur puffing up menacingly. Fear penetrated the fog hovering over her mind. There was only one reason Nali would growl like that. He’d found her.
Her heart galloped and her stomach rolled. She kept her blurry gaze on the sand beneath her scratched hands. Why was life so cruel? Hadn’t she suffered enough? What more could she give?
“Sage.”
Her eyes closed, more tears seeping out of the corners. “Tehl,” she whimpered. Even after she’d banished his presence from her mind, still he rescued her when she most needed him. He’d give her a reprieve from the awaiting horrors. “You didn’t leave me,” she choked out.
“Love, I will never leave you.”
Her fingers flexed in the gritty sand. “I can’t live this life.” She gasped for breaths which seemed unwilling to come. “I can’t go back to him. I’m not strong enough.”