the wall. I could feel her free hand moving towards me. I didn’t have to see the blade to know I was about to be stabbed.
With the last of my strength, I brought my knee up into the assassin’s gut.
I couldn’t see her face behind the hood, but I heard the grunt of pain. Her body spasmed, and I knew I’d knocked all the wind from her lungs. And then, most importantly, I heard the distinct clattering sound of a dagger hitting the floor.
She doubled over.
“Skalei.”
She looked up as my blade appeared in my hand. That gave me the opening I needed. I lunged forward and plunged Skalei into her eye. Dead. Finally.
But before she could fall to the ground, Galin gripped her by the head and twisted. The crack of her breaking neck echoed off the walls.
The assassin slumped forward, against me, then slid to the floor.
“Took your time to jump in,” I said as I looked up at Galin. “I had actually already killed her, for the record.”
“Ali, I couldn’t move. The shade Ganglati paralyzed me.”
I no longer had any idea what mystical gibberish he was banging on about.
“Well, I was fine on my own. As I said, I did kill her.” Some of my pride seemed to be at stake here.
Galin crossed to the door and locked the deadbolt.
When he returned, he nodded at the body. “Who is it?”
The assassin lay face down on the floor, and I knelt to give her a better look. I rolled her over, then let the hood fall away, revealing her identity.
I’d expected to see golden hair, but this elf’s hair was a dark brown. Wavy and thick, it draped over her face. I brushed it away. The elf’s remaining eye stared up at me, lifeless. She was unquestionably dead, but that wasn’t what interested me. It was the color—not gold, not silver, but a deep emerald green.
“It’s a Vanir,” I said at last.
Galin whistled low. “I didn’t see any women when we were in Vanaheim, but you did kill their Emperor. The Vanir must have recognized you.”
That again. “Right. I had hoped that might be water under the bridge.”
“It could, in fact, explain why the Vanir came at all,” Galin said thoughtfully. “And now both the High Elves and the Vanir want you dead. I can protect you from my family, but the entire kingdom of Vanaheim will be more complicated.”
Galin began pacing the room, and I checked the dead elf’s pockets. I found them empty. Picking the dagger up from the floor, I tucked it back into her belt.
Then, I turned to Galin, but he was muttering something about full body protection charms.
“Galin,” I said. “We have to get rid of the body. If she’s found in my room, no spell will protect me. The penalty for killing an elf of another tribe is forfeiture of the Winnowing, if it happens outside the contest trials.” I went to the nearest window and began to unlatch it. “We should throw her out the window.”
“Ali.” He gave me a lazy smile. “I’m not Marroc anymore. I’m not a lich. My magic is much more powerful now.” He pulled off his shirt, revealing his chest and arms, thickly corded with muscle.
I stared at him. “What kind of magic are we talking about?”
Without answering, he traced a rune on his chest. It glowed with golden light, and then an electric sound crackled as a portal opened in the center of my room—a ring of sizzling energy with an inky black center. “There are more discreet ways to dispose of a body.”
“Weird, but okay.”
Galin flicked his fingers, and the portal rotated so that it hovered flat, about a foot above the floor. Then, he crouched down to pick up the body bridal style.
I stared as he dropped her in, and she plummeted into the darkness.
He flicked his fingers again, and the portal twisted back into a vertical position. “We should both leave before the Vanir send backup to find out what happened.” Galin glanced at the window. “Sun’s coming up already. Follow me.”
He crossed through the portal just as I heard footfalls outside.
“Skalei.” I still didn’t know where the portal was going, but I leapt in anyway.
I landed in a forward roll, which turned out to be a terrible idea because Galin’s portal had taken us outside. I rolled through a deep drift of snow.
I leapt up, frantically wiping snow from my face. “I’m fine,” I said before he asked. I shook snow from