Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,104

and then he tried to smile at me as I lifted my sword, a heart-wrenching grief in his eyes.

For some reason, I suddenly remembered being in his room, when he’d tried to kill me. He’d fought back then. What had he been fighting against? I needed to remember. I had to remember. I shook my head, the pain excruciating now.

“Alexa, now, or I’m going to do it!”

“It’s all right, Alexa. I love you. Just remember that. I forgive you, no matter what.”

Damian’s eyes met mine once more and I knew. I loved him. He’d fought back against Vera because she wanted him to kill me — but he hadn’t.

I turned to look at Rafe, and hatred filled me. He’d done this. He’d turned me into his weapon. My head ached, pounding against his control. I forced myself to lift my sword, even though my muscles screamed at me to stop. Fear flickered across his face, and he took a step back.

“You will not control me,” I growled, and then, as if I’d burst through invisible chains, his hold broke away from my mind, and this time when I lifted my sword to lunge at him, nothing stopped me. He barely managed to parry my blow.

Damian rushed forward and lifted his sword with his good arm.

“Rylan!” Rafe suddenly shouted, glancing left of me. “Stop them! RYLAN! Kill Damian — right now!”

I spun to see Rylan fighting a Dansiian soldier, one not wearing the black robes, but the moment Rafe yelled at him he stopped and turned to us, his eyes blank. He rushed forward, his sword lifted, aimed at Damian.

“Him, too?” Damian cried out, jumping back and lifting his sword to parry Rylan’s attack.

And then Rafe lunged at me.

I turned to face him, my back to Damian’s as we both fought for our lives. With Damian so injured, I knew he wouldn’t last long against Rylan. I could sense him drawing on his power to block Rylan’s hits with his shield, but he wasn’t moving as fast as he should have.

“I will kill you for what you did to Vera — to all of us!” Rafe shouted, pulling my attention back to him as he rushed toward me, aiming to run me through, like he’d done to Tanoori. I made a split-second decision to rush at him, realizing that if I jumped out of his way, he would hit Damian from behind. I swung my blade down and then back up at the last second, hitting his sword to the side so that I could barrel into him with my shoulder without being impaled, and knocked him back. True fear crossed his face as I went on the offensive against him for the first time, holding nothing back. My blade flashed in the firelight as I swung it left, right, then left again. He blocked and blocked, but he wasn’t fast enough — I quickly realized he was weak to the right.

“No, Rafe,” I spat out, “I will kill you for what you’ve done.”

And then I lunged to the left. The minute he took the bait I spun around as fast as I could, and he wasn’t able to do anything except stare at me as my blade sliced through his right side, deep into his belly.

When I yanked it back out, he stumbled back a step. His sword fell to the ground from his limp hand as he stared at me, his one remaining eye slowly glazing over in shock. And then his mouth fell open, and he dropped to the ground, dead at last.

I spun around to face Rylan and Damian, praying they were both still alive. Damian held his sword up, ready to defend himself, but Rylan had stumbled back a step, shaking his head in confusion now that Rafe was dead, his sword dropping a few inches. Relief crossed Damian’s face, and he relaxed slightly, pulling his injured arm against his body once more.

Neither of them noticed the black sorcerer standing further up the trail, lifting his hand, taking aim at the king with his fire.

“Damian!” I screamed, running toward them but already knowing I wouldn’t make it in time.

Rylan and Damian’s heads snapped up. Damian looked at me, but I saw Rylan turn and notice the sorcerer just as he let the fire go, directly at Damian.

It all happened as if time had slowed to a crawl. Rylan’s head jerked back so that his eyes met mine. And then he leaped forward, throwing his body in