Chapter 235

The scene in the throne room was chaotic at best. Looking around, Eli quickly ascertained the situation. While the revolutionaries and several members of the Princess’s Guard had the upper hand, there were still twenty or thirty members of the Queen’s Guard and military doing their best to defend the door to the queen’s chambers.

Across the room, Eli caught sight of a familiar set of dark eyes grimacing in his direction, and the Commander narrowed his focus as he stared him down. Scar face didn’t take his eyes off of Eli as he began to work his way through assailants, cutting them down easily as he moved toward his target. As he advanced, the aura of pure evil shifted the room such that darkness seemed to blot out everything around them until only Eli and the man who’d tried to end him remained. One of them would not walk out of this room.

His concentration was broken when he heard another recognizable voice shout, “Goedwig! You’ve finally decided to join us!”

Eli’s eyes pulled away from Vin to a former rival he now counted as an ally, the leader of the Eastburian rebel forces, who shouted at him from a few steps away, just as he sank his sword into the trunk of a military man.

With a grin, Eli replied, “I could hardly bring the princess back to Wrenbrook until you’d fulfilled your duties, Jecob.” Eli noted he was about to have company. One of the soldiers who had just ended his assailant was headed Eli’s direction while Vin continued to close the gap. To his left, the other Representatives were entering the fray as well.

“Where is the princess?” Jecob asked, moving a few steps closer to the dais.

“In the hall, waiting for us to present her with the throne.”

Jecob grinned. “Then let us take it.”

Eli raised his sword as the soldier brought his down with a blow meant to cut him in half. The man was young and energetic, but Eli could tell he hadn’t had enough practice with his weapon. As the swords ricocheted off one another, the soldier lost control for an instant, giving Eli just the time he needed to slip his sword inside as the attacker’s arm came back around. Eli’s sword pierced the man in the gut, and while instinct told Eli to drag his weapon down and end him, he held short, thinking the boy might recover from the blow if he stayed down.

He fell to the ground, his sword clattering on the floor, and Eli moved past him, homing in on Vin who made quick work of a short fellow dressed in Eastbury’s colors before stepping around other pairs of engaged swordsmen on his way to Eli.

Cassius was suddenly at his side. “You can’t possibly think I’ll let you end him on your own. I owe him, too, you know.”

“Two against one hardly seems fair.”

“Now that I have a sword in my hand and am not shackled, one against one hardly seems fair,” Cassius pointed out.

“Touché,” Eli replied, but Cassius wouldn’t have his vengeance at the moment. Two more guards, ones Eli recognized as Vin’s cronies, rushed toward the Representative from Warchester Keep, and Cassius was forced to defend himself. Eli stepped past them, assuming that those two were also involved in Cassius’s beating. If so, he would likely feel inspired to end them quickly.

Vin had blood stains all over his uniform, most of them fresh. He wiped the end of his sword on his trouser leg. “I thought I killed you already, and yet here you are. It should be more enjoyable this time. At least I’ll get to see your face as you breathe your last.”

“I’m sorry beating a man to death as he lay sleeping wasn’t satisfactory to you, Vin. Prepare to be sorely disappointed again, as I don’t believe I’ll be letting you kill me today either.”

Vin’s eyes constricted into slits. “We shall see about that.”

He flew at Eli with the skill of an accomplished swordsman, and Eli found himself on the defensive, blocking blow after blow as Vin’s sword came at him from every angle. Eli needed to find a way to throw him off balance so as to get the upper hand, but Vin’s skill did not falter, and Eli soon found himself backing up, stumbling over fallen bodies and running into those who continued to fight.

“You’re right, Eliason. I am disappointed. All of these years, I’ve been hearing about what a wonderful swordsman you are, and yet you fight like a schoolgirl using a twig as her last defense. It’s a shame, really. For years, I dreamt of battling you. I should’ve been dreaming of pleasuring the princess instead. I think I shall make that dream a reality as soon as I dispatch you and the rest of her group of chosen traitors.”

Despite knowing the comment about Kit was meant to rile him up and distract him, anger set in as Eli looked into the dark eyes of the man who represented everything evil in the realm, everything the revolutionaries were fighting against. With a renewed strength, Eli came back at Vin, carefully studying how he brought his sword around so that, when he saw an opening, he could take it.

Vin had his back to the dais where Eli could clearly see the forces guarding the door to the queen’s chambers were faltering. Whether or not he ended the commander of her guard, Rona’s solace was about to be compromised. It was just a matter of time.

The realization also spurred to invigorate Eli. Vin brought his sword around to Eli’s left, opening his right side to an assault, and Eli took advantage of it, landing a blow that hit just above his chainmail. Vin gasped as blood spurted from the gash, but he wasn’t deterred, and his weapon still swung in Eli’s direction as the Representative managed to jump back out of the way and bring his own sword around to block him.

“Perhaps you are not as rusty as I thought,” Vin muttered, his voice only slightly less of a growl since he was injured. He had a few tricks up his sleeve. Once Eli swung at him again, Vin dodged to the other side, bringing his weapon up and clipping Eli’s sword arm. The cut stung, though it wasn’t deep and wouldn’t affect his ability to fight, so long as there were no more blows to that arm.