Page 81 of Lady Knight and the Thief

With a heart of stone, Cypress stalked after him. These men had come to capture or kill her. These men had raided who knew how many villages on their way to find her.

Cypress didn’t want to even begin to think about how many of the Fair Folk died at the hands of these crown raiders. Thesemen, whom she had fought and trained beside, hadcommandedfor the last several years.

The guard clumsily drew his short sword and rushed toward Cypress with his teeth gnashed together.

Cypress huffed an unamused laugh. Perhaps the man thought that if he brought her head back to Caelith, he’d be favored. Promoted, even.

Knowing Caelith and Cade, the guard would be applauded and showered with gifts, but it wouldn’t last more than a week before the guard found himself deep in a dungeon, never to be seen again.

No one was permitted to take glory for themselves. It wasgiven,handed out like treats. Caelith did not take kindly to his absolute power being threatened.

Cypress side-stepped the guard’s attack. Then, she brought the flat of her blade down on the man’s back.

With a scream, he whirled and attacked again. Cypress shook her head.

She didn’t recognize his face, so he wasn’t part of the Prince Guard.

Still, the man was in too much of a hurry to even think straight, let alone remember his training. Cypress parried again, then kicked some of the loose dirt on the ground into his face.

The man reeled back, arm hooked over his nose and eyes.

With a regretful sigh, Cypress stabbed the man straight through his chest. She heard and felt the bone and sinew pop around her blade as it ripped through him.

The guard was dead before he hit the ground.

Cypress pulled her sword free with her boot placed on the man’s chest while Torren finished with his opponent. His arm was hooked under the man’s chin, and then Cypress heard a sickening crunch.

Torren dropped the man face-first into the dirt.

And then, the sound of the forest returned. It was a haunting melody of birdsong and other creatures lurking in the shadows of the Wylds that somehow made Cypress feel right at home.

And perhaps, she was.

While Cypress cleaned her sword on the edge of one of the Crown Raider’s cloaks, she cut a look at Torren.

“Is this what you meant byCrown Raiders?” she asked and motioned toward the pelts and wings across the backs of the now riderless horses.

“It is,” Torren said while he unwound a length of rope.

Cypress nodded. There was this…rageburning in her gut now. So much.

At Caelith for the betrayal, at Cade for keeping her in the dark about Torren through all these years. More than anything, though, Cypress was angry with herself. All of this had been going on long before she ever set foot within the bounds of the Wylds, and she’d been completely blind to it all.

At least Cypress knew where to put all this rage. With her spine held straight, Cypress stalked back over to where Lieutenant Oswald lay unconscious.

He had been Cypress’s second in command. She had been Captain of the Prince Guard for nearly six summers, and Oswald had been her second for five of them.

If Oswald, hersecond,had been willing to believe the lies Caelith put forth, had been willing to cut her down, then there was no telling what the rest of the kingdom would think.

Where was the loyalty?

Cypress bent and placed her fingers against Oswald’s throat, feeling for a pulse.

Fortunately, or maybe it was unfortunately, Cypress found one. She stepped away once more and began to pace in a circle around the lieutenant.

Cypress had only a few choices before her.

She could kill Oswald where he lay.