Chapter 44

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Ryker

I had no idea who the immortals with the hoods were, but since they were determined to destroy the king, my father, and the rest of the aristocrats, I had to admire them… even if they would add me to their kill list. What I didn’t like was their chaos, ill-planning, and ambush on some amsirah who didn’t deserve it.

No one had expected this attack, which gave the rebels a bit of an advantage, but not enough of one. The tide was already turning in favor of the guards as they held the insurgents back and slaughtered them.

Keeping to the shadows, I searched for Ellery’s mother, Meredith. As far as I was concerned, they could all kill each other, but I had to get her and Ellery out of here.

I had no idea where my father, the earl, his sons, or Ivan were. I suspected the guards had gotten them safely away before the full chaos unleashed.

Maybe they’d been slaughtered. I doubted it, but I’d love to see their bodies out there amid the carnage.

Enough time had passed that Ellery would have left the hidden room in the garden. She could be here now, but I couldn’t think about that. If I did, I’d search for her, and I’d promised to get her mother out of here.

I was almost halfway around the room and still hadn’t seen Meredith when someone leapt out of the shadows at me. The attacker bellowed as they raced at me with their sword raised in the worst attempt at an attack I’d ever seen.

While I had no weapons, they left themselves completely exposed, and if I did have one, they’d already be dead. Whoever these immortals were, they were completely ill-trained and unprepared.

Widening my feet, I lifted my hands and braced myself for their attack but stepped aside at the last minute. As their momentum carried them past me, I swung my arm down and bashed it off the back of their head.

My blow propelled them into the wall behind me. Their skull thwacked off the stone, and their body went limp before they collapsed to the ground.

Stepping over the motionless legs, I lifted their sword from the floor and hefted it to test its weight. It wasn’t the finest blade I’d ever held, but it was of decent quality and would get the job done.

Though my attacker was easy to take out, they’d drawn the attention of some others to me. At least a dozen eyes, some shining from beneath burlap sacks and others from under the guards’ helmets, focused on me.

So much for going unnoticed.

I smiled as I twisted the sword and debated whether I wanted to join this fight.

And which side should I be on?

I knew which side I had to choose to maintain who I was supposed to be in this realm. But I really wanted to shout at the idiots in the hoods to meet me in the Revenant Woods, where they could make a real difference instead of getting slaughtered here as they inevitably would.

I bit my tongue. While these idiots would be helpful in our currently silent war against the king, shouting at them to join me would expose me.

In the end, I didn’t have to make a choice. With a voracious yell, four of those in hoods charged me.

Believing I was on their side, the guards shifted their attention back to the battle. I hated this role I played, and I might have to kill those I’d prefer to help, but I had to act it out, or everything Ellery and I were building together would fall apart.

Plus, I couldn’t stand here and let them attack me. With relative ease, a swing, and a thrust of my sword, I took out the first two. I didn’t kill them, but they wouldn’t get up anytime soon.

The third was better trained and far more ruthless as they shoved the fourth at me. Unprepared to be thrown to the wolves by his ally, the pushed amsirah staggered forward and nearly collided with my legs when they fell.

I danced out of the way in time to avoid being brought down by them. I smashed the hilt of my sword onto their back, knocking them to the ground. Their arms and legs splayed open as they hit the floor with a grunt.

In the time I was distracted by the fourth, the more ruthless amsirah had loaded their crossbow. From only five feet away, the bolt leveled on the center of my chest, the pointed tip of the arrow aimed directly at my heart.