Mark of Love (Love Mark #3) - Linda Kage Page 0,26

and he easily—too easily—ducked, swerving to the side. After a minute of fending me off with no weapon, he finally parried one of my attacks by nudging me in the back with his arm, right in the middle of my spine, which caused me to lose my balance and go stumbling forward, straight past him.

“Shit,” he muttered in distress. “Are you okay?”

Was I okay? Hell, no, I wasn’t okay. This guy was kicking my ass, and he wasn’t even fighting back.

As soon as I caught myself, I fumed and whirled back to him, more determined than ever to run him through, once and for all, and be done with this humiliating nonsense.

Tilting his head to the side, as if trying to read the thoughts in my head, he drew his sword slowly, making sure I saw it make an appearance. I got the feeling he was trying not to alarm me, and yet my entire system tightened with panic. I’d never been good at fencing. There was no doubt his skill far outmeasured mine; he’d been besting me for the last five minutes without even using his damn blade. I’d be dead in a nanosecond if he decided to fight back. But that wasn’t going to stop me from dueling until the last breath of air left my lungs.

So I rushed him, and he lifted his sword, but not to swing. Only using it as a shield, he blocked my every advance, merely defending himself, not once attacking, and he didn’t even sound out of breath as he began a conversation with me.

“If you want to get technical, I’m a Far Shore knight at the moment, you know—not a High Cliff one. I’m commanding the queen’s army for her. And before that, I was a Donnelley bodyguard. But I guess that’s neither here nor there, as you’re right, I did originate from High Cliff. What gave me away?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, maybe the fact that you’re trying to kill me,” I seethed.

“Kill you?” He laughed. “What in God’s name gave you that idea?”

Damn him. His blasé attitude only enraged me further. Men who hunted you down in order to wipe you out of existence should not smile so charmingly and look so damned happy about their bloody, murderous quest! This was no laughing matter. It was my life on the line.

And yet when I growled out my livid feelings and swung with all my strength, the bastard chuckled again and lifted his blade to keep me from beheading him. I gritted my teeth and kept pressing my sword forward, its steel only inches from his throat, but his sword successfully thwarted my victory.

He lifted his eyebrows. “Riddle me this, my lady, but if I were attempting to kill you, then why am I the one on the defense right now? In all reality, I believe you’re the one trying to kill me.”

“Don’t play stupid,” I snarled, finally relenting and backing off so I could consider him from a fresh perspective and hopefully discover his weak points. “You’re not going to convince me that you’re not here to end me.”

“I’m so very confused,” he confessed, truly shocked by my admission as he glanced around the forest as if trying to make sense of my words. “Why do you think I want to end you?”

There, I realized. Distracting him with conversation was his softness.

He turned back to me, his blue eyes glittering with promise. “I would die before hurting you.”

“Lies!” I sneered. “Why else would you—a High Cliff warrior trained enough to rise to the commander of the Far Shore army—be tracking me down?”

His cheeks flushed as if the question embarrassed him. But then he said, “Well, if you’d lower your weapon for five seconds and just let me talk, I’d gladly—”

“Never,” I snarled and attacked again. “High Clifters don’t just talk to Graykeys; they only murder them!”

He blinked stupidly before repeating, “Graykey?”

I swung, and he distractedly deflected the blow as if it were instinct for him to block me. Growling my frustrations, I blew the hair out of my face and cried, “Just stop acting already. I know what you are and why you’re after me. There’s no other reason—”

“But I’m not—” He squinted at me, then shook his head. “Are you saying you’re a—” Suddenly, his face went stark white. “Oh, holy shit,” he whispered as absolute dread clouded his features. “You can’t be.”

His sword suddenly flashed forward and clanged against mine. When mine went sailing off, leaving me