Chapter Six
Clay
Iris was off her horse in an instant, faster than any of us could possibly react.
“No one intervenes,” Nikolai barked to his men.
Iris didn’t have to request the same, not when she was moving too quickly for anyone to possibly step in her way.
She launched herself, blade first, at Nikolai, a mighty war cry coming out of her lips.
Nikolai didn’t even bother to grab a weapon of his own, just tilted his body to the left and right, that damned smile on his face as he dodged her every strike.
She growled in frustration, lifting her leg in a roundhouse kick that should have sent him unconscious, had he not had the wherewithal to duck.
Elaina frowned on the horse next to me. “Should we do something?”
Kent cleared his throat forcefully, an awkward grimace on his face. “I wouldn’t.”
He palmed his chest, rubbing over the still-healing wound. He was getting stronger day by day, but I knew the constant riding had taken a toll on him. He needed to rest.
“Why not?” Elaina asked.
Iris tossed her blade from her right to left hand, pulling back for a merciless punch but Nikolai only grasped hold of her wrist, ripping her towards him and… kissing her.
I lurched forward, grasping for the shortsword on my hip but Kent's hand shot out to my chest, a gentle pressure there to stop me. I looked towards him in confusion just as Elaina hummed delicately and Camilla snickered.
“It would appear that they already know each other,” Kent explained.
I frowned, turning back to—
Good Gods.
Yes, my cousin was in fact pitching forward into him. She was, indeed, happily letting him wrap an arm around her thigh and pull it up against his waist. She was definitely making noises that implied she was a willing participant in whatever that was.
“I’m going to be sick,” I muttered.
Camilla’s head tilted sideways as she watched the two devour each other.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t watch,” Elaina suggested, a rosy blush climbing up her cheeks.
“Perhaps they should have gotten a room if they didn’t want to become this afternoon’s entertainment,” Rankor countered, pulling a handful of nuts from the pouch on the side of his horse and shoveling them into his mouth as if he was indeed watching a performance.
I fought against the rising annoyance building in me.
It was the end of the damn world, and this is the kind of nonsense I was dealing with. A throbbing started at the back of my head as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Nikolai pulled back swiftly, the tip of Iris’ dagger pressed against his jugular. Without moving his head, he glanced down at it, only to smile once more.
“You kept my gift,” he mused.
She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “I would never throw away such a rare weapon.”
“I was hoping I’d get the chance to see you again when the boy king stumbled through my doors.”
I flexed my fingers, working to keep my claws contained.
Iris tilted her head. “Last time I saw you, you promised to kill me if we ever crossed paths again.”
“Can’t a man have a change of heart?”
“Do you have a heart, Nikolai?”
Rankor snickered, throwing back more of the nuts and dried cheese. Silently, I reached my hand towards him and he dumped out some for me.
“I have lots of parts I’d like to give to you,” Nikolai winked down at her, before backing away and glancing up at the rest of us. “Besides, why would I need to kill you to protect my secrets when your king has come to ask for my aid?”
Iris looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes both skeptical and resigned, as if a small part of her held out some hope that he was wrong, that Nikolai’s estate wasn’t the place I was bringing us.
I too wished we were going somewhere else.
But alas.
“I’d consider it more of a request for an alliance than that of aid,” I breathed.
Iris’ eyes closed and she sighed, throwing her head back to the sky and taking three long deep breaths. When she eventually lowered her gaze again, she ran a tongue over her teeth and pushed her dagger back into the sheath on her thigh with careful precision.
“You remember the way home, don’t you bird?” Nikolai teased.
Iris threw herself onto her horse without hesitation, glaring at me as she did.
“You should have told me we were coming to meet him,” she hissed, riding her horse next to mine.
“How was I supposed to know you two were so… familiar?”
“Very familiar.” Kent agreed.
“Yeah, I’m going to want the background story on that,” Rankor chimed in from behind. “Preferably with every sordid detail included.”
Iris only rolled her eyes. “You’re all insufferable.”