Chapter 21 Aurora
Radu’s grip jerked me to a halt.
“That’s far enough.” The voice drove the breath from my lungs. A pause, boots scraping cobblestone as they spread out. “Turn around. Face us.” The flat authority of Nightwatch officers.
Lead poured through my veins, locking my joints. Behind us, five hearts drummed in unison. Slow. Controlled. Deadly. Once every three seconds. My pulse hammered triple-time against my throat.
The Nightwatch never moved in fives.
Panic clawed upward from my chest. They’d hear my racing heart, track the spike in my scent, follow the terror bleeding from my pores like hounds chasing wounded prey. In Lev’s Republic, my royal blood made me simultaneously valuable and expendable.
Either way, we were fucked.
I turned toward Radu, meeting golden eyes that held the dull glow of a still wolf sizing its prey. His jaw set as if he were planning a siege.
That meant someone was about to die badly.
My stomach dropped. If he started cutting, we’d never leave this alley breathing. Five against two weren’t fighting odds. They were execution odds. And I’d seen enough of Radu’s diplomacy to know it involved creative applications of his sunsteel blade.
People feared the Nightwatch for good reason. Century-long training stripped every trace of compassion from them and left behind killers in pureblood shells. They saw through shadows, heard lies in heartbeats, eliminated without hesitation or remorse.
I caught Radu’s wrist before his hand could find his blade. “There’s a gap between the buildings thirty yards back,” I mouthed. “If we can reach it—”
“Not with their Darklings.” His lips moved, but no sound came out.
“Then we talk our way out,” I whispered, but he didn’t look convinced.
I shook my head under the hood, eyes wide with warning. Don’t you dare. But his jaw stayed locked, stubborn as granite. Still, he angled his stance between me and the threat, shoulder blade pressing my collarbone. Always shielding me, even when logic screamed we were outnumbered.
That protective instinct would get us both killed.
“Officer.” I stepped aside, keeping my voice conversational despite the deep-seated fear chilling my bones. Thunder rumbled overhead, storm clouds gathering thick and ominous. “Terrible night to be caught outside. Is there something we can help you with?”
The lead guard ignored my attempt at civility. “Identification. Both of you. Step into the light.”
His tone held the kind of polite steel that brooked no argument. Metal clinked as he moved closer.
I dipped my head further, letting the hood’s shadow deepen across my face.
Through downcast eyes, I caught glimpses of his approach.
Wisps of shadow curling from thick-soled boots where his Darklings writhed in dark puddles.
Red cape billowing around blackened greaves.
The distinctive bulk of Carpathian dark iron armor.
Even from my limited view, the armor’s generous proportions suggested serious bulk beneath—six-two of solid muscle moving with predatory confidence.
The way he carried himself spoke of casual violence, the kind of man who enjoyed his work too much.
The sort you’d cross streets to avoid if you were smart.
Radu’s scent spiked, betraying the tension coiling in his massive frame. I felt his muscles bunch under my grip, ready to spring into violence the second I let go.
“By whose authority do you detain law-abiding citizens?” I released Radu’s wrist and stepped forward, letting righteous indignation seep into my voice while keeping my face hidden. “We’ve committed no offense and were simply returning home before the storm breaks.”
Steel clicked against steel as he drew his weapon. The baton extended with a sharp metallic crack. Blue energy danced along its surface, throwing jagged shadows across brick and mortar.
The guard’s power lashed out, and I sensed the invasive tendrils of his blood magic probing for entry into Radu’s mind.
The psychic attack felt like ice against my own consciousness. A ruthless search for weakness, for trauma to weaponize. But whatever fortress Radu had built around his thoughts remained unbreached, his mental walls harder than the dark iron encasing his attacker.
“Drop the disguise.” His words sharpened to a blade’s edge. “Final warning.”
Four more batons snapped around us, harsh blue light strobing across the ground. I glanced back toward the gap between buildings—our only escape route now blocked by two guards who’d circled behind.
The alley walls trapped us completely.
“Get behind me,” Radu said, and though his voice was soft, his tone was a whip-crack of command.
His hand found my arm, started drawing me backward with gentle pressure. When I resisted, raw strength settled the argument.
“You’ll only provoke them,” I hissed, but even as the words left my mouth, I knew it was too late.
“Remove the hoods. Now.” The leader snapped his baton again.
I stepped back and squinted into the stark whiteness. That’s when an armored arm came into view with a raised baton.
It rocketed toward me so fast that my one thought consisted of one scenario. If my math was correct, accounting for the weight behind the swing, and the length and crackling energy of the weapon thrusting toward me, this was going to hurt.
But the blow never landed.
Radu let out a slow breath—half sigh, half growl of a man pushed past his patience. “Princess, promise not to yell at me for what I’m about to do.”
Terror seized my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable bloodbath.
But I’d seen him fight. Seen him drop Souleaters without breaking stride. When Radu promised violence, bodies hit the ground. The only question was how messy he’d make it.
The wet crunch of pierced flesh snapped my eyes open.
Crimson spurted around the lead guard’s gorget, painting his stunned face.
Radu’s sunsteel blade jutted from the gap between armor and jaw, driven so deep only the bone handle remained visible.
In the blue light of the batons, the pommel stone gleamed almost black—matching the shock dilating his pupils.
Sweet Derzelas.
Radu moved faster than my eyes could track, struck exactly at the one vulnerable spot in Nightwatch armor.
The guard staggered, choking on blood, gauntleted hands clawing at the embedded steel.
Black veins spread from the wound, crawling across his pale skin like spider webs as the sunsteel worked through his system.
Steel-shod boots scraped cobblestone. The other four charged, weapons raised, faces twisted in feral snarls. All matched their leader’s intimidating height, but where he’d been built for speed and versatility, these were pure muscle, thick-necked brutes with arms like tree trunks.
The first one reached Radu and swung his baton in a vicious arc. Radu twisted away, the weapon’s blue energy crackling past his ear, and drove his elbow into the guard’s temple. Armor rang like a bell, but the man barely staggered.
“Stubborn bastard,” Radu muttered, ducking a second swing.
He grabbed the guard’s wrist, used his momentum to spin him around, then kicked him hard between the shoulder blades. The Nightwatch officer stumbled forward, straight into the path of his comrade’s baton. Blue energy erupted across his chest plate, and he dropped like a stone.
Two more guards flanked wide. Dark smoke puffed from their boots as they vanished mid-stride and materialized ten feet closer. Their batons hummed with destructive power, casting writhing shadows across Radu’s harsh features.
One feinted left. Before Radu could track the movement, the guard dissolved into wisps of darkness and reappeared at his right, baton already swinging. Radu caught the weapon’s shaft bare-handed, his skin smoking where the energy affected him, and yanked the guard off balance.
The smell of burned flesh filled the air, but Radu’s face showed nothing. He drove his knee up into the man’s armored stomach, doubling him over, then brought both fists down on the back of his neck. The guard crumpled.
The remaining officer blinked out of existence. I tracked his Darklings as they streaked around Radu in a tight circle, ready to strike.
“Behind you!” I shouted.
Radu spun. His hand shot out, seized the guard’s cape, and yanked him forward. The man’s boots slipped on wet stone as he crashed into the side building hard enough to crack mortar.
But he wasn’t done. Thick vines of shadows crawled up his limbs and torso as he pushed himself upright. He raised his weapon again, and I saw him blurring at the edges as his Darklings prepared to carry him through space.
Time seemed to slow as I forgot about my disguise and tilted my head up to look at him. Only to find his eyes on me.
His pupils dilated with recognition. Even through the blood streaming from his split scalp, understanding dawned across his features as he took in my exposed profile.
“Princess, get away from him!” he shouted. Shadows burst from him in a surge of charcoal-scented smoke, launching him toward me. “We’ll protect—”
Radu’s portal erupted from the ground, ten feet of hungry darkness, and swallowed the guard whole. Armor and weapons and half-formed curses disappeared into the churning void.
The other three guards scrambled to their feet. Dark wisps gathered at their boots, preparing to carry them away. But Radu was already weaving his fingers through the air. Three more gateways tore open and engulfed them in their depths.
One guard managed to grab a jutting ornament in the wall, his gauntleted fingers scraping against brick as the portal’s pull dragged at him.
Darklings hissed against the frigid cold and died out, needing solid ground that he no longer had beneath him.
His eyes met mine for one desperate second before the abyss claimed him.
Radu fisted his hands, snapping all the gateways shut with a crash of thunder. Silence fell like a curtain.