Lenar had struck Maizalyn in the chest. Thewithdrawal sent blood spraying at Sarena. Behind Sarena, Lenarmoaned and curled on the floor.
Kambry gulped, the splatter of blood onSarena’s frenzied features making her want to climb the wall to getaway. Her heel kicked the baseboard behind her, her fists pressedinto the paneling for stability. It was the only thing that feltsolid, though her fingers tingled as if a thin cloud separated herfrom all that transpired in her view. When she stepped farther fromthe door, her shoe crushed a map, one of several lying about.
Felip crossed in front of her, almostshielding her from Sarena’s view. Sarena drew her arm back andthrew the knife at Felip, striking the wall between them when heducked.
It thunked by Kambry’s ear andclattered at her feet. She felt surrounded by knifes. Two on thefloor by her feet and one in her own hand. She couldn’t make herfingers relax and let the queen’s blade fall.
Before anyone could react, Sarena lunged atMaizalyn, who seemed to remain upright on instinct alone as sheslowly crumpled. Their hands twisted together, Sarena crouching asMaizalyn collapsed.
The tink of metal on stone popped inKambry’s ears, and she watched mesmerized as a ring rolled towardher. Sarena stepped on Maizalyn’s prone body to follow it.
The spinning of the ring on the stone floorthundered in Kambry’s ears.
The swirling breeze that was Kavin magicdraped itself along her back and pushed her down to meet the ring.Kambry slid down the wall, and it wasn’t until her knees touch theicy floor that she reached out and the ring rolled up her palm.
She blinked, and when her eyes opened, thesilver ring was on her left thumb. The press of Kavin magic doubledits hold on her.
Sarena’s livid face appeared a handbreadthfrom her own. Kambry’s sense of time and place made it all surreal,and she stared calmly at the twisted grimace on the woman’sface.
Felip grabbed for Sarena just as she graspedthe knife by Kambry’s knee, driving it up toward Kambry’sthroat.
But it never reached her. She tugged a narrowcolumn of stone from the floor between them, and the blade shriekedagainst it.
Kambry peered around the thin column blockingher view.
Sarena jerked back, wailing, Lenar’s armswrapped around her midsection.
Felip fought for the knife in her hand.
Then Russal was there, pulling Kambry towardhim and pressing her to the wall behind him. The three strugglingfigures were only a step away.
The knife drove toward Russal, and Lenardashed Sarena into the tumbled table, his own arm taking the impactand breaking with an audible snap. Even with his arm broken at hisside, Lenar wouldn’t release Sarena while she kicked and spit,still swinging the blade at Russal.
Felip grappled with her and wrested the hiltfrom Sarena’s grip.
Russal pressed himself tighter againstKambry, raising a sword and blocking her view for an instant. Sheleaned around him, unwilling to be shielded. Her grip on her knifetightened to the point she was certain her fingers would shatterfrom the pressure.
“Russal!” Felip yelled, throwing the knifebeyond the table out of reach of anybody. “We’ve no further battlebetween us.” He pinned Sarena’s arms to her sides. “Tend to Kambry.She’s bleeding.”
A strained, quiet voice said, “Felip, shewanted me to kill the queen.”
Sarena bared her teeth and screamed.
“It’s okay, Arnel,” Felip said, his tonesoothing even as he worked to control Sarena. “No more killing.” Hegazed a moment at his mother’s crumpled body. His voice devoid ofemotion, he said, “She’s gone. She won’t make you kill again.”
Guards swarmed into the room. Just as Russalturned to face Kambry, Dorvea stepped beside Felip and struckSarena so hard, the sound reverberated through the room. Sarenabuckled, her head dropping to her chest.
“Gather the traitors,” Dorvea demanded, andthe guards surged forward.
Kambry felt a surge of mirth rise in herthroat, and she knew she was on the edge of hysteria. Russal wasgoing to say he told her so. She should have taken a squad ofguards with her.
Lenar must have released Sarena, for she sliddown the side of the table.
Russal drew Kambry close, pressing her headto his chest.
The feel of his warmth next to her own chillbrought back a sense of being present. The buffer of magicdissipated. “I think I may have damaged one of your map books whenI threw the table. Maybe some maps, too,” she mumbled into hisshirt.
“Shh.” He patted her and paused. “Did you sayyou threw a table?”
“I might have.”
“I’m sure you had reason.” He kissed herforehead.
“Sarena threw a knife at me.”
“Sounds like a good reason.”
“Lenar is Felip’s brother Arnel.”
“Shh. We’ll get all the details sorted later.Where are you hurt?”
“Drew stabbed my hand.”
Russal raised her left hand. Gazing first atthe queen’s blade then at the blood trickling down past herknuckles, he said, “Let me have the knife.”
He had to pry her fingers open. When he tookhold of the hilt, his eyes widened at the sight of the puncture inher palm. “Let’s put this away.” After wiping it on his trousers,he carefully slid it back into the scabbard, out of sight of thosefocused on the tableau behind them. “I’m going to look at yourhand.” He drew her toward the sconce by the doorway.
The guards dragged Drew’s body from the room,tugging an arm each, and Kambry looked away from him, focusing hergaze on Russal as he turned her injured hand gently. Tugging ahandkerchief from a pocket, he pressed it to her hand and caughtCole’s eye. “Get Surgeon Baraby. Then find the queen’sparents.”
His fingers turned the ring on her thumb, andhe looked at her face, his eyebrows rising.
“The queen’s ring,” she said. She leaned intohim, weakness flooding her legs. Everything seemed distant. Evenhis arm around her had a layer of fog reducing the sensation tovagueness.
“So I see.”
“Kavin gave it to me,” she said, her voicedropping to a whisper.
“As it should.”
“I don’t think I want two of them.”
Russal wrapped his arm around her, and shesighed into him, allowing the scene around her to fade. He drew along breath and watched Maizalyn being carried out in Felip’s arms.Two guards followed. Before Felip stepped over the threshold,Russal said, “Felip, don’t go anywhere.”
Felip stopped and slowly turned. “I’ll staylong enough to clear up any confusion. Then
