Page 37 of Apprentice to the Villain

“No,I’msorry!” She winced, stepping over him, then charged for Trystan. Another knight ran at her but skidded to a halt when Evie’s dagger took on a life of its own. The scar on her shoulder pulsed as her hand parried and the dagger thrust itself through the man’s chest. Her eyes widened. That hadn’t been her. Not really. Right?

“How did you do that?” Tatianna asked, her hands beginning to glow as she gripped one of the knights by the arm. Whatever she did, it caused the man to collapse on the spot.

“I don’t really know, but I—I don’t think that was me.” She exhaled hard, coming face-to-face with Clare in front of The Villain, guarding him. Clare nodded at Evie before pulling a well of orange ink from her pocket. She tossed the glowing liquid out of the well, then wielded and bent the ink through the air like a weapon before splashing it toward the three knights charging them.

They dropped, screaming as it burned their skin. The smell of charred flesh permeated the air. “Ew.” Evie pinched her nose.

Three knights remained, one holding magical cuffs as he charged for The Villain, but he was stopped—by a large green blur that flew out of nowhere, covering the front of the knight’s helmet. “Get it off!” he shrieked. “What is it?”

They all grinned. “Kingsley, you are a shameless stowaway!” Evie cried, but she smiled, too, as the frog held on for dear life and the knight flailed, trying to see around the amphibian, until he tripped, hit his head on a nearby log, and lay still.

The knight holding Blade let go, realizing he was sorely outnumbered, and the dragon trainer didn’t waste the opportunity. He sprinted for Fluffy, cutting through the netting with gentle purpose and murmuring soothing words to the frightened animal.

They were winning, but the boss was still subdued on the ground, the knight with the outstretched hand moving forward.

“Finish The Villain!” the injured captain ordered from where he lay against a tree, seething with anger. He had removed his helmet to reveal a drawn face and furious eyes. “Do it now!”

“No,” the remaining knight said. “I don’t think that I will.”

The knight dropped his hands, releasing The Villain from his painful vise grip, and spun on the captain, running him through with his sword. The captain’s face was frozen in outrage, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, before he fell to the red-soaked grass, dead.

The treacherous remaining knight removed his helmet, revealing a pair of green eyes so familiar, she almost wept to look at them.

The knight smiled, small and hesitant. “Well, that was a bit messy, wasn’t it?”

Her informant had come at last.

Chapter 22

The Villain

“Wait. I know you,” Trystan uttered in absolute astonishment at the man before him. He rarely forgot faces, and though this one had lost the final dregs of adolescence and now angled out into that of a man in his mid-twenties, he was still recognizable.

“I’m honored you remember! It was my first week as a knight when we met in that corridor. Right before you were, uh…”

“Imprisoned?” Trystan offered sardonically.

“I wasn’t going to say that part,” the knight muttered quietly. The man had been a recruit when Trystan was apprenticing for the king ten years ago—they’d chatted for a bit, all small talk; he’d never even gotten the youth’s name. But it had been the first time in weeks that someone didn’t skitter away from him, frightened for reasons he didn’t then understand. He’d liked the boy.

The knight’s eyes fell to Sage, soft and grinning.

Not anymore.

“And who are you?” Tatianna asked, narrowing her gaze on the newcomer. The knight’s expression turned to one of interest when his green eyes found the office healer.

“Someone who’d like to know you,” he said.

Tatianna scoffed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “I could break you in two.”

The knight gave her a crooked grin. “Do you promise?”

Trystan watched Clare’s eyebrow twitch before he noticed her reaching for the leftover orange ink in her pocket. He gripped her wrist. “Don’t,” he warned.

That was, until Sage nearly knocked Trystan out of the way, throwing her arms around the knight and burying her head in his neck.

“Okay, Clare, go ahead,” Trystan said, waving her on.

Tatianna grabbed Clare’s hand when it moved to her belt. The healer looked a little like she was herding two rabid racoons. “Stop it, you two! Good grief.”