Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

TRESSYA

It was the first time since our departure that the sea didn't toss us about in our beds. I slumped forward, clinging tightly to the railing, my head feeling too heavy to lift. My hair stuck to my cheeks and hung limp from the spray. At some point soon, I was bound to lose more of my supper. Though the sea was calm, the rolling of the ship pressed the railing into my old wounds.

Hindemill said the sickness would pass, yet we had been traveling for five days and there seemed to be no end to the time I spent emptying my stomach into the ocean. By now, I felt weak with hunger and too sick to keep anything down.

"Your Highness, you shouldn't be up here." It was Hindemill, who had become my shadow whenever I came on deck.

"I shall take care of the princess." As if summoned, Radnisa appeared behind him.

It seemed she had taken a disliking to Hindemill or the attention he gave me. I couldn't decide if she feared me finding an ally or loathed the idea of anyone showing me kindness. Why had the sickness not affected her? My only consolation was that Anderline, too, suffered and never rose from her bed.

Hindemill's eyes rolled skyward upon hearing her sharp voice. I would smile at him as a show of unity if I didn't think my stomach was about to betray me again.

The first officer turned to the side. "Of course, my lady. I wouldn't dream of standing in the way of your duty to the princess. You are her servant, after all, not I."

To that, I did smile, especially upon seeing Radnisa's mouth pinch tight and her eyes flare with fury. Maybe I should warn Hindemill to sleep with a dagger under his pillow for the rest of the voyage.

He swept into an exaggerated bow. "Your Highness, seek comfort below."

"I will. Thank you."

He left without acknowledging Radnisa, who followed his departure with a lethal stare.

"He's vital to the sailing of this ship, so I wouldn't do what you're planning."

She turned to face me, chin held high. "What's one man lost when there are plenty more sailors on board to fill his shoes?"

"Discretion, dear sister. Don't let your claws show, or I'll think you're jealous."

"The sooner we reach Tarragona, the better. I'm eager to see you bound to a man's fate. We'll see how smart your mouth is then."

I snapped my head away to stare out over the ocean, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing her words cut me. I had long suspected that her assignment was not simply as my lady-in-waiting all these years, but as my tormentor. Her life had become less about studying the pillars and practices, and more about devising ways to make me feel inadequate.

Her gaze flitted down my body. "You're a disgrace. Go below and clean yourself up before gossip makes its way to King Henricus. Since he's lost the daughter he favored for this marriage, you need to take extra care of your behavior and appearance, lest he refuse you. We cannot disappoint the Mother."

"I'm sure we'll have greater concerns once he meets you," I breathed, losing my sharp tongue as another wave of nausea threatened me.

"Marriage will not remove me from your side," Radnisa hissed. "I'm your shadow. Always. Remember that."

"Do you plan on sharing our bed, too? Because I'm only too happy to move aside and give you room."

She folded her arms across her chest. "And there are the reports I must make to the Mother."

Curses. Once again, I swallowed any further remarks with her final blow.

"I'll head below once I've…" And I spun my head away, leaning over the railing.

"Praise to the Mother," Radnisa cursed with an exasperated tone and fled.

I lifted my head, wiping my limp hair from my face, finding a smile after all. My bed called to me, but the rocking ship felt worse below, and I was fed up with telling Scregs to leave me alone so I could wallow in my sickness. Instead, he brought friends, and they insisted on filling my small cabin and badgering me with questions about Merania, my life, my family, and every conceivable question they could think of. After a day of confinement with the sailor spirits, I pretended I didn't know enough to answer any further questions. Perhaps if I concentrated on developing my skill in the death arts, it would allow me to shut out the spirits until I found them useful.

Around this time of evening, when the sun grew close to the horizon, a mist bobbed its way across the deck. A sudden chill racked my body as the temperature dropped. I was wearing damp clothes from the constant spray and about to get sicker if I didn't change into something dry.

Before I made it two steps to the stern and my room, Scregs and Longhorn blocked my path. Longhorn was short, scraggly, with one eye and full of scars. He talked with a stutter, which meant he rarely spoke, a blessing, but Scregs always made up for his silence.

"If we could, we'd send that one over the edge," Scregs said, while Longhorn nodded.

"Women like her are no good except for bedding, and even then only while gagged," Scregs continued.

About to laugh, I palmed my mouth when my stomach churned. After inhaling deeply, I felt ready to speak. "Radnisa has spikes in hidden places. And I'm sure they can even reach the dead."

"No doubt. Like I said, bedding is all they're good for."

"While I welcome your conversation more than?—"

A sailor walked my way, staring at me with a heavy scowl. I turned back to the railing and watched the mist thicken until he passed. In the few brief moments of talking to the spirits, the sun had slipped below the horizon, leaving a grim gray in its place.

When I turned back, Scregs and Longhorn were floating along after the sailor. Decades of living on the boat as spirits, they still showed a lot of interest in the sailors' lives. It was the spirit of an old, stout sailor with drooping cheeks who told me of the longing in all their hearts. Not only did they continue to perform habitual gestures, but they also remembered what it was like to feel sensations. Losing that ability plagued them from the other side of the dividing veil.

Since my stomach no longer threatened me, I left the railing and headed back to my cabin. Inside, I crawled across to my bed in the dark, feeling my stomach already complaining from the stench of the livestock in the hold below and knowing my cabin's walls surrounded me. Halfway there, I diverted to the window. Perhaps if I let in some fresh air, I wouldn't feel so bad.

The moon had risen, but the mist obscured its light. I stumbled with the roll of the ship, using the desk to help me reach the window without tripping over my feet.

I stalled when a flicker of shadow flashed across the window. Perhaps I was mistaken. I waited, but seeing nothing else, I continued to stumble forward. A thud sounded from over my head. Noises were common. But that was quite a thud. Next came the cries.

The beat of my heart pulsed down into my fingertips. Taking one slow breath, I listened to the eruption of chaos above, the heavy thuds that sounded like barrels falling to the deck, shouts of fear, cries of pain.

Abandoning the window, I headed for my trunk, the one with the small green jewels of no value embedded within a circle of wood carved to look like lace on the lid. I retrieved my two sheathed daggers wrapped in cloth and buried beneath my embellished dresses. Shutting out the sounds of fighting, I focused on shortening my dress, using one dagger to slash the hem to knee length. Once done, I stepped out of the discarded fabric and sheathed the dagger.

Scregs pushed his way through the wall of my cabin, followed by Longhorn and Stede, son of a captain and, sadly, too young to die.

"What yer doing, woman?" Scregs cried.

"How bad is it?" I replied, while focusing on strapping my daggers to my hips for easy reach.

"Ya can't go out there," Stede said.

"How many are we up against?" I continued, ensuring my buckle was tight. I couldn't see in the dull moonlight and wanted to ensure I wouldn't lose my daggers halfway through a skirmish.

"Yer crazy woman. Yer listen to us. Stay here. Ain't nothing but death up there."

Finally, I glanced at the plaguing spirits, but I had nothing to say, so I headed for the door to my cabin. Scregs maneuvered his spectral body in front of me as if to bar my way. "Yer daft, bloody woman. Maybe we should step aside. We could do with some fresh meat on board."

"Fine. Move aside. I don't want to pass through you." An involuntary shudder racked my body at the thought.

He made a grab for me instead, and his arm passed through my chest. My breath hitched as the icy chill tunneled deep through to my heart. Gritting my teeth, I passed through his body, then stumbled for the door as I punched out a held breath. My hand shook as I fumbled for the latch to my cabin door. "I won't be doing that again."

"Go on then. We ain't following yer body overboard. We'll wait for yer to come back to us."

I would've slammed the door in their faces, but they could simply come through the wall. Besides, I had to be quiet lest the enemy hear me.

Faint starlight streamed down the stairs leading onto the deck, guiding my way. I used the wall on one side of the corridor to keep my balance from the roll of the ship as I headed toward the dull light. A harsh guttural sound, like a roar, turned my body to ice. What could make that sound?

Scregs reappeared in front of me. "If yer going to be so foolish. This is what yer face."

I would've stepped around him, but this could be useful. I pressed my back to the wall for balance and waited, hands resting on the hilts of my daggers.

"It's them ruddy beasts from the north. Fierce as they come. They're powerful, those lot. Stronger than any man. Yer be needing more than those knives to cut through their hide."

Another thud rumbled through the deck directly above, sounding strong enough to split the wood. I dived sideways and into the opposite wall, one dagger in my hand.

"What beasts are those?" Curses that my father and the Mother failed to educate me properly. There was no mention of marauding beasts in the limited education I had received. How did they get on board?

A death scream followed every roar, which pierced through my ears and tightened the choke on my lungs.

"They call 'em the Huungardred. Monstrous, evil things. Unstoppable by normal means."

Oh yes, I had heard of those, but only as legends to scare children at night-time. "Are they possessed? Why are they attacking us?"

"They have two forms. Beast and man."

"They're intelligent?" The legends said as much, but I was no longer a child, and the legends told to me as a child held no sway over me now. If they were intelligent, then they would know how to fight like a man, reading body language, using counterattacks, and counterstrikes.

"Lethal fighters. So they say."

"Enough. I have to join the fight." We needed as many as we could get if we hoped to survive the night.

"They have keen eyes."

That stilled me. Night was their advantage.

I took one breath, gripping my dagger tight in my hand. Mother be with me. I used one more breath to steady myself and with the slow exhale, I focused on the noise above me. Radnisa would likely already be above deck; Anderline in her cabin. There she could stay to go down with the ship or be killed. Whichever came first if we failed.

Once my hands felt like steel around my daggers, I pushed off the wall.

"Where yer going?"

Ignoring Scregs, I hurried deeper into the bowels of the ship, but he annoyingly kept pace. "That's it. Go hide yerself. It's the only way to survive."

Hoping he would understand what I meant when I didn't reply, I quickened my pace. But Scregs kept me company as I climbed down to the livestock hold. The stench of excrement burned my nose, but I continued forward, pushing my way through the herd. Animals could sense danger, and the stock shuffled restlessly in their confined space, crying out in distress, as if I was the beast.

"Good plan. Hide amongst the cattle."

I pushed the rump of one animal aside, held my breath, then bent to pick up some of the dung and smeared it over my body.

"Gods, woman. That's gross, but smart."

"If they can see in the dark, they can smell in the dark. And the meat they're after tonight is not cattle."

"Yer smart. But I doubt it will do."

"It will have to do," I said, caking more dung across my body. My delicate stomach would revolt if I'd not already smothered all else except my focus on winning this fight. But when I smeared the dung across my cheeks, my stomach roiled violently. I convulsed forward, unable to stop the retch. Having spent the day with my head over the railing, there was nothing left in my stomach to empty.

"Yer making me sick."

I shook the remaining clumps from my hands, then wiped my hands on my skirts. That would have to do.

"'Ere now what yer doing?" Scregs yelled at my back as I retraced my steps toward the ladder. "I told yer all that to stop yer."

The noise of the fight grew louder as I climbed, but the roll of the ship made my progress slow. I staggered through the bowels of the ship, bouncing off of the walls, and twice lost my footing on the ladders. Scregs persisted in pestering me until I stopped at the bottom of the last ladder leading above deck.

"If you want to help me, get up there and tell me when it's clear for me to come up. I don't want to exit in front of one of our friends ," I said as I gripped firm the ladder's railing. Already my hands itched to feel the hilts of my daggers in my palm again. Looking up to the night sky, a blur rushed past overhead, so fast I couldn't make it out.

"Yer sure 'bout this?" Scregs's head popped up between me and the ladder.

"Go," I growled.

"You'll end up with a claw through your heart."

"If I could, I would put a claw through you."

Scregs disappeared. I scrambled up the stairs, losing my footing once more in my haste when the ship dropped into the trough of a wave, but my grip was like a manacle on the wood railing. Nearing the top, I slowed, waiting for Scregs to reappear. But he didn't. Of all the times to abandon me, now was the worst.

It wasn't Scregs's head that appeared in the hatch, but Stede's. "Ya stupid or brave. I'm going with stupid."

"Is it clear for me to come up?" I whispered.

"What ya mean to say is, are there any fighters up 'ere? A ship full of 'em, but ya don't seem to care."

"Curses," I whispered. I would have to climb up and see.

"'Ang on." Stede held out a hand to stop my climb.

A dark figure rushed past him.

"Blimey, that was close," he said. "Nearly barreled into 'em, ya did."

"And what about now?"

Stede stared over the hatch, perhaps at some fight happening nearby. I was about to reiterate my question when a blur of darkness rose behind him. On reflex, I let go of the railing and jumped from the ladder as a hulking man, too big to be a sailor, fell through Stede and down into the hatch. I landed on my feet, but my momentum sent me tumbling backward onto my ass as the roll of the ship dropped the ground from beneath me. The man crashed down on top of me, pinning my legs to the ground.

The two of us moved as one: me reaching for a dagger as he rolled toward me, fumbling with his hands to reach me. Before he caught me in a situation I couldn't escape, I jerked up and stabbed without aim. My speed caught him unawares, my blade piercing him through the shoulder. Not a fatal wound. That's what my other dagger was for.

His body went rigid as he growled his pain-driven fury. That moment was his mistake. With my other dagger in hand, I struck again, this time straight through his heart. For a breath, he turned to stone, then he fell sideways, leaving me coated in spurts of his blood.

Stede released a long whistle, hovering above me. "Where did ya come from, little lady? That was bloody awesome."

Too busy rolling the large man off of me, I didn't bother to glance in his direction. "This time, look. You didn't even see him coming."

"Sure thing, Captain. Whatever ya say."

I glanced the enemy over. In the dark, he was nothing more than a large, dark mass sprawled in an awkward pose. On my knees, I shuffled closer, feeling for his chest, then shoulder, hunting for my daggers. My blood slicked hands slipped on the hilts, but my blades were sharp, making it easy to pull them free. I wiped them once across his clothes, then re-sheathed both and climbed to my feet.

Hearing a soft noise behind me, I spun, a dagger in my hand.

"What's happening?" Anderline said, slinking closer.

"North men are attacking us," I whispered, nudging the dead man at my feet. "Look at the size of him. They're shifter people."

Anderline came up beside me. "Mother on high, you stink."

"And you smell like prey. But that can't be helped. Come on."

"Wait." Anderline grabbed my arm. "You stay here."

"What? You're joking?"

"I'll go above and fight, but you must return to your cabin." She moved past me, pushing me backward.

"Anderline." Too shocked, I couldn't reply for a wasteful breath. Then, tumbling into action, I yanked her around to face me. "No way. We fight together."

"You're loyal to the Sistern, are you not?"

"You don't need to ask that."

"Then follow orders."

"The Mother would require us all to?—"

"You must reach Tarragona. It's your duty to birth the next heir to the Tannard line. Do you hear me?"

"The Mother did not foresee this?—"

"Are you questioning your orders?"

"No."

"Then do as I say." She pushed me back and fled to the steps.

Anderline was halfway up when something far from human dropped through the hatch, swiping her from the ladder. In the dull shaft of starlight, I couldn't make out what was happening, but I knew Anderline was compromised.

My delay risked her life. I leapt forward, stabbing hard and fast into the monstrous creature's back. The size of my enemy meant my strike hit lower than I would have liked, but if I was lucky, I would hit an important organ. Before I could use my second dagger, it swept its arm back and knocked me off my feet. Such was the strength of its blow, I left the ground to hit the wall behind me, blowing the wind from my lungs and smacking my head on the wood paneling.

My head spun, tunneling the half-muffled cries of fury and tumultuous sounds of fighting to a distant place. I struggled to claw my concentration back, keeping enough wits to know I was in trouble as I was. Above the cacophony, a woman's wails pierced the air. Anderline. She needed me.

I rolled to my side, pulling my second dagger, when I heard breaking bone and Anderline's horrifying silence echoing with finality. A coldness swept through my chest, then spread throughout my body, freezing me in place.

Discipline . I took a deep breath, then scrambled away as the giant beast charged toward me. It caught my shoe, wrapped a hand like a manacle around my ankle and yanked me back with force, sweeping my arms out from under me. I bit back my cry, still holding my dagger firm in my hand. Splinters dug into my wrists and any exposed skin, so I used the pain to sharpen my focus.

Close now, I could feel the heat from its body blanketing me in a suppressive hold. While I struggled to suck in air, the beast drew in deep, lumbering breaths with a low, rippling snarl. Its claws split the skin on my ankle as it yanked me to where it wanted me.

Feeling the creature shift above me, I tensed, straining to listen over the chaos of the continuing fight on deck. I had one chance.

I rolled, at the same time curling myself up, plunging up with my dagger. The beast loomed low. It wasn't far for my strike to go, but a hand seized my wrist, halting my strike mid-air. Tightening its grip, my fingers numbed. I lost hold of my dagger, and it clattered to the wood floor.

Crying the fury of my failed strike, I kicked upward and hit the creature between the legs. I could only hope it would suffer the same pain in beast form as it would a man. With an ear-piercing roar, it tumbled forward, blowing hot breath across my face as it landed on top of me, crushing my breath from my lungs.

The beast roared again, dousing me in the stench of stale blood. I turned my head aside, feeling as though my bones would break, growing hot under its fiery body heat. Spiked hairs tickled my face and neck. Its claws traced tracks along my wrists. Perhaps these marks would be permanent.

Caged, my mind raged, but the beast's body held me firmly in place. I had no hope of escape. No daggers, no room to move. Mother Divine, this couldn't be the end.

I felt it transform, saw its outline in the faint light shift and ripple as it lost its beast form and became human. The hairs that had tickled my skin disappeared. The fiery burn of its body heat lessened, and I felt the surprisingly soft skin of its hands against mine. Its size shrunk, though the man now on top of me remained heavy and too strong.

"You're next." His deep voice was part growl, part thunder, but I couldn't see his face in the dark hold.

"Why have you attacked us? What are we to you?" I spat.

"These people are nothing to me."

"Then you're after wealth?"

"No."

"You're lying. Either you've come for us or for our wealth. You wouldn't be here otherwise. Call off your attack, and I will make a bargain with you."

"That's impossible."

"I have means at my disposal."

"It's impossible because there is nothing you can give me I want."

He sounded sane, which meant I could reason with him. "Please. Just call off your attack. Then we can talk. No one is above bribery. Whatever bargain you've been offered, I can offer better."

I was half-conscious of the words pouring from my mouth, desperate words to keep his attention elsewhere while I grappled to gather my focus and funnel it into him. I hoped impending death was the impetus I needed to overcome whatever blocks I had with finding soul voice.

I concentrated on loosening the confines within my mind and opened my awareness to the surrounding spaces. Apparently commanding the skill went beyond listening for sounds; I had to become a part of those sounds; beyond feeling the deck below me, I had to become the solidity of the wood holding me in place. Only then could I pierce the boundary of another and merge so that my heart beat in time with theirs and their pulse filled my veins. I would have no access to their thoughts, emotions, or sensations. Rather, to find their soul word, I had to delve into the ethereal places where sense was an illusion, where life became indescribable, and you were left with a knowing that couldn't be voiced. Through this mystery came a unique word that held no meaning on its own or power when voiced to any other. I had never found such a word before.

This was all according to the Sistern's training; a level of skill I'd failed to achieve.

"What do you offer, princess?"

His question caught me on the cusp of feeling my heart miss a beat to form a rhythm with his. It lurched to snap back to its own tempo.

Dammit . I'd been so close.

It was the shift in his tone that dragged my focus to the surface. Gone was the deep, threatening rumble of an angry storm. Instead, it sounded smooth, like velvet, with a subtle edge. In human form, was his eyesight comparable to his keen vision as a beast? It was an uncomfortable thought, given his face was merely a hand-span from mine. I could feel his warm breaths, no longer smelling bloody now he was a man, nor did his body smell animalic.

"What do you want?" I tried to dismiss his presence, the heat of his body pressed against mine, the welling panic threatening to consume my control, and corralled my focus once again.

"A dangerous question, princess."

I wasn't the virgin princess fluttering her eyes in court, so I wasn't ignorant of the reasons behind the deepening tone of his voice, laced with a silken caress. If I had a leg free, I would aim once more between his and show him all the ways I would like to play with him. Better if I had my daggers. His prized cock would become fish food.

"Why are you calling me princess?"

"Only royalty can be so conceited as to make demands when they should be begging for their lives. But I must say, royalty usually smell better. It's an interesting perfume you favor."

I was momentarily dumbfounded by his pathetic attempt at humor. If I had a hand free, I would slap myself to my senses. "Why have you attacked us? If I knew?—"

"Can I trust your promises?"

He caught me unawares. "Those within my power to make," I said.

"Go home. Never step foot on Tarragona's shores."

"That's one I can't keep. You must know a woman has no mastery over her fate."

"Is that a lament in your voice? If mastery over your fate is what you desire, I could give you that."

What was happening here?

"All you have to do is promise to abandon Tarragona."

"And I would say you have no sense of duty."

"You'd be wrong there, Princess. It's my unwavering sense of duty that brings me here."

Curses. This conversation would get me nowhere. I renewed my concentration on working my way inside his soul.

"I feel you would fight any who tried to control you."

I didn't understand what he meant by saying these things. He arrived with one purpose, and now he danced with his goal. Was this a game he liked to play before he killed? "And how would I do that? What command do I have in a man's world?"

He snorted a laugh, which shocked me. More so because it sounded light and filled with genuine humor, rather than dark and filled with malicious intent. "You don't believe any of what you're saying."

And now I was confused, but I refused to dance with him. "I'll grant anything within my power. Tell me what you want. King Henricus will be generous, my father more so." He wouldn't. King Regnier would curse his missed alliance. That was all.

His fingers tightened their grip on my wrists, guaranteeing black bruises for weeks to come. "What King Henricus owns is already mine."

What did he mean by that? "Who's your master?" I'd lost my ability to concentrate, so I stood no chance of finding his soul word, and it was too dark to see his death echo. It was unlikely he would die by my hand tonight. But would I die by his?

He leaned down, his face blotting out the starlight. "I'm the master."

"Then who is your informant?" His woodsy smell lingered faintly under the grim of blood and death. How did he know where to find us and who he would find on board?

"You haven't made your bargain."

"Call off your attack."

He released a soft snarl, which rippled across my skin. "You dare give me an order?"

"I'll make no bargain with you while your men slaughter my crew."

He laughed, a deep throaty laugh, resonating against the grizzly noise of death that continued to be dealt above our heads. "Then there is no bargain."

For one fruitless moment, I struggled against the tight binds of his hands on my wrists. His weight and my arms still pinned to the deck: it was all in vain. "Am I meant to live or die? Tell me and be done with it. I won't be your entertainment any longer." I would be no one's amusement.

If everything King Henricus owned was his, then I was his goal; the bride his son shall never meet.

He left the chaos of the fight as his answer. Hearing the cries of fear, the howls of pain, I lost my tight hold on my panic. It wasn't for me I struggled again, but for the men who played no part in this beast-man's cruel game. "Please, I beg you. Spare them. They're only doing their duty. I'll give you what you want."

He stayed silent.

I would have to aim to lure his heart. "I believe you love a fight. I offer you this bargain. Let us decide our fates in a duel."

"Are you not afraid?"

Yes, I was, only that was now mixed with a budding fury that heated me more than the flames of his body. "I harness my fear." I spat at him.

I was crazy, but better to end in rage than silence.

Three heartbeats lapsed, then he lifted his head and let out a deep resonate sound, close to a wild animal's howl. It took more heartbeats before the noise of the attack diminished, leaving wails of lingering pain and unrecognizable softer noises, which swiftly diminished breaths later.

"Give me time to gather my weapons."

"No."

"Then you're not an honorable opponent."

"I never claimed to be." And he pulled my left wrist off the ground as he leaned over. I felt the sting of his bite, fangs piercing through my bruised flesh.

It lasted seconds before he pulled away and dropped my arm. He sprung to his feet, leaving me to suck in lungfuls of air now I was free of his weight. For one moment, I fumbled across the floor for my dagger. Not feeling it, I sat up, nursing my wrist close to my chest.

"What did you do?" My fingers smeared the slimy wetness of my blood.

"The Huungardred bite is poisonous."

"You wish me to suffer a slow death? I ask you to give me my bargain. A duel."

"The wise are never in a hurry to die."

"What makes you think you'll win?"

Head tilted back, he released a deep rumbling laugh. "I like your spirit." Then he stepped toward his fallen friend.

"Excuse me for not finding anything nice to say about you in response."

He looked back over his shoulder at me. "What if I told you there is a cure?"

Traps and tricks. Curses, he'd bound me. "Would you tell me what it is?"

"Who is responsible for the death of this man?"

I swallowed. Would the truth condemn me? "I am."

He turned to face me. "You're quite the surprise… I'll tell you if it gives you hope."

"Tell me?" I snapped.

"I'm the cure."

I whimpered, my arm propping me up, giving way. I was going to die. "How can that be?"

"I'm your only cure, princess. Which means you need to seek me out with whatever means you can, so you can beg me to grant you life. Please my wishes, and I may be lenient."

"Is that so?" I rolled to my side, and the tip of my finger felt the sharp edge of my dagger.

I froze for a breath, then awkwardly shifted to my knees, giving my fingers time to crawl up the hilt, to clasp it firm in my hand. I rose to my feet, balancing my weight, measuring in my mind his height to mine when in a crouch, the position of his heart, the angle of my aim. Precision . I really couldn't afford to miss.

I released the dagger as fast as I spun. The starlight gave insufficient light for my aim, but I didn't always need to see my target; one glance and the mental image was all I needed to go by.

The dull light caught a faint glint of the dagger. It flew swiftly, but I wasn't expecting the reflexes of the beast-man. He snapped his arm up without a grunt or cry of pain.

"Never underestimate your opponent."

Curses. He must've caught it. "Likewise," I replied.

He paced toward me. I wouldn't step back.

"I heard the faint scrape as you pulled the dagger from the floor. Your slow movements were too suspicious. I was ready."

"I'll remember that for next time."

"It was a perfect shot. In the dark, too. I congratulate you."

"Next time I won't miss. I'll take your heart as my souvenir."

"Ah, now a promise I believe you'll keep. Goodbye, Princess." He gathered his fallen friend, then fled up the ladder with speed unnatural for a man burdened by another. He left without my promise, which meant he expected the poison from the bite to end me before I reached Tarragona's shores.