The Heir's Bargain (Of Fire and Lies)

Chapter 37

A blood-curdling scream rippedthrough the man”s mouth as I ran my blade through his chest.

Everywhere I looked, men with unmarked clothes surrounded us. In the middle of the night, they had ambushed us, coming out of the woods and up the cliffside. And we were outnumbered three-to-one.

Somehow, we had been betrayed. Whether by our informant or by someone else. Either way, the traitor would die. I didn”t care if it was by my hands or someone else”s. Their death would come.

Oncewe made it through the night.

The lifeless body of my opponent dropped to the ground with a thud. Iron soaked the air as metal clashed and blood spilled onto the ground. The moon was just bright enough to distinguish friend from foe.

I pulled my blade from the enemy, preparing to identify my next victim?—

”Dani!” Sylvia shouted, calling my attention.

I dove, tumbling forward as a man swung his long sword. My knees scraped across the ground as the gravel cut through the fabric of my trousers.

However, Pontanius must not have been watching over us this far away from his beloved kingdom. As I slid across the gravel, I realized too late that I had dove too far, straight toward the cliff.

I tried to stop.

I tried to dig my heels into the ground.

I tried to plunge my short sword into the earth, but the ground crumbled beneath me before I could stop the momentum.

I slid down the side of the cliff, clawing and scratching at anything and everything to stop gravity from tugging me down.

But gravity had already wrapped its tendrils around my ankles and pulled.

Up above, shouts and metal continued to soak the air, but I could do nothing to help them as I slid down, down, down.

I was going to die. I was going to?—

Thump.

My feet landed on solid ground, my right ankle rolling. However, my foot slipped before I could steady myself. I flattened myself against the side of the cliff, my nails digging into the rough terrain. Pebbles peeled off the precarious ledge I now balanced on as the wind whipped at my hair, loud and rancorous. I never heard the sound of the pebbles landing beneath me, yet I didn”t dare look down.

I swallowed. Sweat soaked the back of my neck. My heart pounded, and my lungs screamed.

The clanging of metal muffled the voices of my friends and shouts of the enemy as the fight above continued.

I had to help them.

I had to get back.

I inhaled, the cold air sharp in my lungs. I breathed past the pain and searched the face of the cliff, trying to find anything I could grab onto and use to hoist myself up.

I searched and searched.

I need something. Anything.

I gasped.

A branch!

A single branch barely within reach stuck out of the side of the mountain. For a split second, I inspected it, but there was no time to question whether it could hold my weight, not when my comrades needed me.

I took a deep breath and jumped, the small chunk of the cliff breaking off as I grabbed onto the branch.

The branch sunk with my weight, but I used my momentum to reach for the landing just above it before it could snap.

Arms burning and lungs screaming, I heaved myself up, my feet scraping along the face of the mountain.

Sweat dripped down the contours of my face and neck as I pulled myself up. My nails dug into the dirt, cracking, bleeding, splitting.

Then, when I looked up, my heart almost stopped entirely.

Moris” hands were outstretched, sweat gleaming on his brown face in the moonlight. His eyes were wide and bloodshot as eight men stood paralyzed around him.

But in the moonlight, I noticed the slight tremble in Moris” hands.

His strength was waning, and I didn’t know how much longer he could hold the men.

Beside him, Sylvia was on the ground, and my heart dropped. The glow of the moon illuminated their freckled face as blood seeped the ground where she lay.

After a moment, though, her chest rose, her breathing haggard.

She was still alive.

For now.

IfMoris could hold on.

If Quint?—

Where”s Quint? Panic rose in my throat as I scanned the area, the dead bodies, the paralyzed men, the?—

There.

Blade to throat, Quint looked to the stars, to the god who seemed to have forgotten us in the mountains.

The arm of the man who held Quint twitched, and without thinking, I ran.

Quint would not die today.

Quint would not leave behind his children, his wife, his family.

I pumped my arms, harder, faster. I sprinted as hard as I could—as fast as Gabriel. Then I dove, shoving Quint out of the way without any hesitation.

Searing pain tore through my torso, blinding and piercing.

One faint thought spun in my mind as hot pain spiked through my body, where the metal ripped through my flesh. But as I tried to grab the blade, I fell into a sea of darkness before I could grasp the thought.