Page 114 of Ruthless, But for Her

The Einar held farther out, as they waited.

“This is always the hardest part,” he whispered to Cassia. “This one,” he gestured to Ryker, “believes battle begins when steel is drawn. But it actually begins here, in the waiting, when a decision could still save lives. To the stern,” he said, gesturing. Her rolled eyes told Ashton she knew already where the stern was located.

A shout rose from shore. Another answered. The lookout had seen the boat. Men began moving toward the northern edge of the Spit. Ashton counted as many as he could in the poor light. Eight. Ten. Then more followed.

“Now,” he yelled.

Leif turned The Einar south. The oarsmen pulled hard.

Unlike their quiet approach north, there was no hiding them now. Water broke against the hull while Leif brought them sharply around the lower edge of the Reach.

The first arrow landed well short. The second struck wood.

“Shields,” Ryker called.

Men lifted them along the rail.

Cassia stood near the stern, precisely where she'd promised to remain. Her gaze met Ashton's across the deck. He looked away first.

The keel scraped. Ryker was over the side before The Einar had fully stopped.

Of course he was.

Sorren followed, then Ashton and the men behind them. The water was nearly to his knees, cold enough to make his legs ache even through boots and wool. By the time he reached solid ground, Ryker had already met the first of de Grey's men.

Steel struck steel.

When another man came from the side, Ashton barely had time to raise his blade. The force of the strike traveled through his arm and shoulder. He stepped away, turned and caught the man as he came again.

To his left, Sorren drove another backward toward the water.

Ryker was already ahead. Too far, as usual, but there was no time to correct him.

More men were coming down from inland, drawn by the fighting. Ashton realized almost immediately that the boy's count had been wrong. Thirty perhaps when he'd left.

There were more now.

“Your boy cannot count,” Ryker called between blows, with them once again.

Ashton blocked another strike. “He did say more could come.”

“An important detail.”

Sorren laughed.

It was madness, the conversation they could have while men attempted to kill them. But they'd been doing this together for most of their lives.

Ashton knew where his brothers were even when he could not see them. Sorren to his left, Ryker now farther ahead once again. Their men spread out behind them, enough ashore to keep de Grey's force from pushing them back to the water.

A blade caught Ashton's upper arm.

Pain burned across the cut, though it wasn’t deep.

He drove forward before the man could take advantage, knocking him backward.

“Ashton.” Sorren pointed inland.

Three men were attempting to move around them, using the darkness beyond the fires.