Nora ran out of the door, only to find herself surrounded by six armed guards. Praying that they were ordered not to shoot her, she stopped short. She twirled her two chair legs, attacking the guard closest to the door. He parried her attack with his sword, which got caught inside the wood. Dropping one stick, she aimed a roundhouse kick at the guard, and it hit him in the chest. He fell into the man next to him, releasing his hold on his sword. She yanked the sword out of the chair’s broken leg and assumed a defensive position, her knees bent and the sword above her head.
One of the four guards who was still on his feet charged her with his sword swinging. She easily sidestepped it and slashed her blade down the length of his left arm. She didn’t kill unless she had to. But if she had to, she wouldn’t hesitate. Turning, she stabbed him in the thigh and then took his sword. She couldn’t have him back in the fight.
The other three guards helped their two companions onto their feet and charged as one group. Two swords were better than a pair of sticks. Twirling her swords, she held back their attack. The sound of steel hitting steel clanked and clacked. They had not broken through her defenses, but there were still too many of them. Nora ducked and swept a leg, taking out one of the guard’s feet. She stabbed him in the side. He yelled in pain.
Two down.
Four more to go.
Her swords continued to swing as fast as she could wield them, parrying their lunges. She couldn’t maintain her sword shield for much longer and she’d already made too much noise. She needed to go on the offensive. Taking a deep breath, she charged through the guards, pushing one to the floor and jumping over his body to get away. A sharp pain tore through her right arm just above the elbow—she’d been cut. But she could worry about that later.
Running down the hall and to the stairs, she ignored the guards’ footsteps behind her and their yells for reinforcements. She jumped the last few stairs and landed heavily on the marble floor with her bare feet. Blood was now dripping from her arm. A few silver candelabras lit the area. The two exterior doors she could see were heavily guarded. She glanced both ways before running as fast as she could down the hall. Hoping, praying to find a way out of the palace with less guards. Possibly a servants’ entrance.
Turning down a lighted corner, she barreled straight into a guard and dropped a sword.
Seven purgatories.
She managed to recover her footing and raised her remaining sword. But she was hopelessly outmatched. In this well-lit corridor there were at least thirty guards. They must be outside the royal apartments. She had run to the worst possible place in the palace. Before Nora could plan her next move, the closest guard charged her. She parried his first blow, but he remained on his feet. His fellow guards circled around them.
There was no escape.
No way out.
But she wouldn’t go down quietly. She slashed and stabbed, parried and thrusted until her left arm ached nearly as much as her wounded right one. But she’d lost too much blood. She was spent. Nora blocked one strike, only to be pushed to the floor by another. The jolt of the impact, as her elbow hit the marble, caused her sword to clatter from her hand. She was bleeding. Tired. Defenseless.
The first guard leaned over her, his cold blade touching her throat.
Nora breathed heavily. She could break his neck, but not before he’d cut her throat. This was not how she had planned to die.
“Enough!” a voice called from behind them. “She is to marry my son.”
8
MATTEO
“What are you going to do?” Isa asked, wearing a dress as black as her hair.
He, Xavier, and Isa were sitting in his private rooms before he met with the dons. Matteo continued to play with the knife in his hands. “I have advised the ambassador of Kaul to return to Sania.”
Xavier huffed and shook his head derisively. “Don’t tell me you intend to declare war on Kaul over Nora, whorejectedyou. The council of dons will never stand for it.”
Isa huffed. “Kaul knew that Princess Eleanora was intended for my brother, and they kidnapped her anyway. It was an act of war.”
“On Urka, yes,” Xavier said, “but not on Sania. We’ve thrived for over a century by not becoming involved in their squabbles.”
Matteo threw his knife and it landed on the map of the continent, directly on the provinces of Lyonese and Bourgoy. “No, we have placated Kaul by giving up lands over and over again. Nearly every don on my council would support a war to reclaim them. Your father has lost nearly half of his holdings to the Kauls.”
His best friend gritted his teeth. “You don’t even know that theprincessthe Kauls have is the one you want. What if you go to war, only to discover it is Elea?”
Matteo stood and pulled his knife out of the map. “The ambassador said the captive princess had great strength—it has to be Nora.”
Isa placed a hand on his shoulder. “I am certain it is Nora. She would have taken Elea’s place in a heartbeat.”
Xavier stood, shaking his head. “You are going to risk the lives of thousands of your people for the only woman who has ever rejected you?”
“She didn’t reject me. She merely pointed out that I had a previous commitment with her cousin—namely, marriage by proxy.”
His friend didn’t smile at his joke, but his sister laughed.