Page 17 of Birthright

She growled and charged. I spun and hit her in the face with a roundhouse-style kick before she could reach me, cutting her forehead with my boot heel. Blood from both her mouth and the new cut streaked down her face and dripped onto her white leathers. She stood staring at me, obviously shocked. I took the opportunity to go on the offensive. She jerked away from my blade, but I elbowed her hard in the stomach with my left arm. As she doubled over, I brought my knee up. It connected squarely with her face. The satisfying blow was hard enough to launch her to her back.

Her head smacked the cobblestones with a low thwack, knocking her out cold.

I walked over and stood above her, kicked her lightly on the thigh to make sure she was completely out, and then leaned down and removed her other blades, tossing them to the side. I stood tall, making eye contact with as many members of the Kith as possible as I turned to Doran. Our gazes held as I dropped to one knee. Blood dripped from my side, soaking through the leathers, down my leg and into my boot. The wound was bleeding freely, leaving a small puddle on the tile.

Kendrick’s face was so tight I thought his skin would tear. “So you fight like a man—is that why you can’t get one for your bed?” he hissed.

I reached down and grabbed hold of Feldema’s white leather shirt, soaked with blood that had dripped from her face. I dragged my half-sister’s unconscious body to her consort. “You have no need to concern yourself with my bed.” I dropped her at his feet.

“I would not dirty myself with a human the likes of you,” he said quietly as I walked away.

The comment made me mad. I’m not truly sure why, but it did. I was part human, after all. I still had the adrenaline rush going, and the jerk had attacked me with the intent to kill the day before. I turned back and marched right up to his face. “Then dirty yourself with this!” I flipped my fingers, splattering his face and shirt with Dema’s blood, and turned away again.

The whole room gasped and then went silent.

That can’t be good.

“I’ll take that challenge, Keena, Priestess of the Wild.” When I looked back at him, Kendrick bowed deeply to me.

“You will not!” Manus rushed toward Kendrick only to be held in check by Tynan. “She knows not what she challenged!”

Kendrick tilted his head and gave an evil smile to Manus, then turned and bowed to Doran. “Her ignorance is of no matter to me. She made the challenge, and I accept.”

I watched them argue as the blood was draining from my side. I was tired, faint.

Bevin came to my side and slid her arm around me to keep me standing. “No!” Manus shouted.

“I am sorry, Manus…but I am bound by the rules of the council.” With a solemn face, Doran turned to leave.

Manus picked me up and carried me to a small room not far from the meeting hall. He set me in a chair. “I’ve told you to hold your tongue time and time again, Keena!” He was angry, and if my wound hadn’t stung so much, my feelings might have been hurt by his tone. Besides, I really didn’t know what I had done.

Bevin was tending my side and saying her incantations as fast as she could. She had tears welling up in her eyes. That, more than anything, sent a chill of fear through me. I didn’t think that the ever-bubbly Bevin could cry. She got mad, sure. But I was concerned with the tears.

I was about to ask what exactly I had managed to do when Doran flung the door open. “What have you done, Keena? What have you done?”

I looked up from my side and Bevin. “That was my question.”

“You offered to allow Kendrick to avenge Feldema’s defeat,” she said, pacing behind me.

Bevin broke out into sobs but kept murmuring her healing spells.

“Oh. Shit.” I was hardly in any shape to fight a Vamp. In top form, I couldn’t best a Vamp without magic. “Did anyone tell me about this particular rule? I think I would have remembered this one.”

Tynan stormed through the door, stopping when he spotted me. He shook his head and knelt in front of me.

“I will fight Kendrick for you.” He took my bloody hands in his. Those dark eyes burned in anger.

“You are not her consort, so you can’t.” Manus couldn’t seem to look at me. He spoke instead to the wall. I could hear from the rasp in his voice he was terrified.

“Keena, allow me this. Take me as your consort.” Tynan tried to soften his face but his tone was stern, sincere. “Allow me this.”

The consequences of my actions were sinking in slowly and I was so tempted to agree. But again I thought of him alone after my death, and shook my head. No. I couldn’t.

Tynan looked up, still rubbing my hands in his. “Doran, talk to her. She will die.”

“I can’t let you do this, Tyn—” I froze when I heard his voice in my head.

Let me defend you.