Forged by Magic (Falling for Fables, #1)(34)

“Oh yeah? What are you going to ask the island to give you if you win?”

Kari didn’t answer. Only the continued slosh of water kept an unbearable silence at bay, but that wouldn’t last much longer. In another moment or two, Gregor would reach Kari’s boat.

“No need to answer,” Gregor snarled. “I already know you want to ask it to get rid of me.”

Kari’s hands trembled as she gripped her oar tighter. “I can’t do that. No harm to anyone else, eh? That’s one of the island’s rules. Even if I want to get rid of you—and I’ve never said I do—it wouldn’t give me that.”

“Get rid of.” He moved forward. Slosh. “Not kill.” Another slosh. “I bet it would give it to you. The island hates me.”

“I don’t think an island can hate someone.”

“Well, maybe that’s just you.” He grinned. “Since I made your sister fall madly in love with me. Too bad redheads aren’t my type.”

Kari growled and swung her oar at Gregor’s head. Gregor whirled to respond with a blow of his own, as if he’d anticipated the move. He dodged to the left and swung down and to the right before bringing the paddle up to slam into Kari’s face. Blood sprayed; Kari’s gurgling scream rent the peaceful quiet.

She fell, her back punching the water. Shouts of anger echoed from the far shore, where spectators were watching.

I jumped to my feet. “What the fuck? You can’t do that. It’s against the rules.”

“She came for me first. I was just defending myself, now wasn’t I?” he asked with a sneer, wiping the blood spray off his face with the back of his sleeve. “Now sit back down, orc. Or I’ll defend myself from you next.”

“Yeah? Go on, then. Let’s see how you fare against someone who actually knows how to fight.” I spread my lips into a wicked smile, flashing my elongated canines. I didn’t have tusks, but close enough.

He narrowed his gaze as I stood to my full height, throwing back my shoulders. I knew I looked absolutely ridiculous wearing all this oilcloth on a hot, humid day, but I didn’t care much about appearances right now. Let him underestimate me. It would only make his defeat that much sweeter.

He must have read the deadly glint in my eye and realized going up against Isveig’s “infamous murk” would only end in pain—his pain—because he started sloshing his way back over to his boat.

“Go on and attack me if you want,” he called over his shoulder, “but you’ll only get Rivelin disqualified since I didn’t provoke you. Something tells me that’s the last thing you want.”

I snarled at his back, then eyed the water. Kari still hadn’t resurfaced yet, and blood spilled across the lake like red paint. My heart kicked my ribs.

“She’s going to die if you don’t do something,” I said.

Gregor shrugged and launched himself into his boat, water jetting onto his seat. I dropped the rope and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Fine. Someone else?” I called out to the others hidden behind the weeds, but they were too far away now to do a damn thing.

No, you can’t! my mind screamed at me.

But no matter how many Draugr I’d tracked down, no matter how many throats I’d cut over the years, and no matter how many monsters I’d slain for the empire, I’d never harmed or turned away from an innocent when they needed help. Even if I suspected some of the people in this village of dealing in dragon magic, I didn’t have proof. There was no way to be certain they were all involved. And Kari did not smell of dragon.

I closed my eyes. “Fuck.”

And then I jumped.

The first thing I felt was the cold and the way it squeezed the air in my lungs like a fist was wrapped tight around my chest. For a brief moment, I opened my eyes and peered through the crystal blue, marvelling at the lush green of the cattails and the reeds, the coating of algae along the lake bed, and the schools of orange fish darting away from the disturbance.

And then, there—Kari floated ominously a few feet away, her eyes closed, her blood staining the blue a deep, dark red, the same color as her hair.

I started splashing toward her. That was when the pain hit me like a piercing rod.

I screamed, and bubbles swarmed my face. Still, I kept swimming toward Kari, my determination numbing the pain. I reached her a moment later, grabbed her arm, and tugged.

My lungs ached along with every inch of my skin. Black spots stormed across my vision.

I blindly swam, shoving aside thick pocketfuls of reeds. My mind warred against me with wave after wave of unyielding pain. It felt like I was on fire now.

My boots hit dirt and rock. Shuddering, I crawled forward, dragging Kari behind me. We rose from the depths of the lake, emerging on the bank where Rivelin had darted into the woods to hunt for the flag.

Water dripped into my eyes, blurring my sight. I pulled Kari up beside me and tried to find the strength within myself to check her breathing, but the scalding pain knocked me sideways. My body hit the ground.

A strong hand palmed my cheek. Steam hissed. “Fates be damned.”

And then the darkness took me.





15




RIVELIN





B y the time I got Daella back home, she’d started to wake, which made me more relieved than I wanted to consider. At first, I’d thought she might not make it. Her cheeks, the only bare skin I could see, were a blazing red, and I could only imagine what the rest of her looked like. Her breathing had gone shallow; she’d been limp in my arms as I’d made the long, slow trek back across the lake.