Page 78 of Thief of Hearts

Levern.

I was at the perfect angle to punch him in the groin, which I did. I hit him as hard as I could and hoped that it would be enough to stop him from ever hurting another woman again.

He tried hard not to double over but I could see how much pain he was in. I was tempted to throw my sword down so that I’d have both hands free to hit him, but that would cost me this event. I settled on switching my weapon to my left hand so that I could connect my right fist with his jaw.

Levern had a death grip on his sword, which meant I would have to punch him until he went down.

That suited me fine.

Two men came up behind me. It seemed they were trying to be stealthy but they lumbered up like sick cattle. While Levern continued to breathe hard, I turned and took out the two new attackers.

After they went down, I heard Zain call out, “I got the last one! The field is clear!”

Of everyone except me, Zain, and the Epirian.

Levern tried to use his sword against me and I deflected it with my bracer and punched him in the nose this time. I heard something break and it was extremely satisfying.

“Maybe I won’t kill you after the tournament’s over,” I said before I punched him again in the face. “Maybe I’ll just turn you into a eunuch so you can’t hurt someone else.”

He roared at me and I started laughing, which only seemed to infuriate him worse. He raised his sword above his head and I decided I’d had enough of this. I let him bring down all his might against my sword and used that momentum to slide his sword down the length of mine and then wrest his weapon free and throw it.

He was already out at that point, but I wanted to make sure. I twirled and then kicked him as hard as I could in his chest, sending him flying. Levern landed on the ground with a loud thud and the audience cheered.

“Stupid, cheating whore,” he said, spitting blood out of his mouth.

He still hadn’t learned his lesson. I took the opportunity to kick him in the ribs, hard. And repeatedly. “Don’t”—kick—“call”—kick—“women”—kick—“that.”

I might not have put an end to the evil things he would do in the future, but I hoped this would at least be enough to make him think twice about it.

And he owed me five hundred staters. I had beaten him as I’d promised I would.

My name was being chanted again and I turned to smile at the crowd. I still had to take out Zain, but that wouldn’t be too hard, and I didn’t have to worry about him trying to sneak up on me.

“Look out!” a voice from the audience called.

I turned to see Levern about to throw a dagger at me.

There wasn’t time.

It would hit me.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I started to move so that Levern’s dagger would land somewhere on my body besides a vital organ.

Zain had rushed the Epirian and was trying to stop him, but he wouldn’t be fast enough.

I heard the loud whisper of an arrow cutting through the air and it struck Levern right in his chest, sending him flying back and into Zain. Both men ended up on the ground.

I whirled around and saw the Daemonian leader with a bow.

Guards were yelling at him and the Daemonian yelled back that the Epirian had ignored the rules and had cheated by having an additional weapon and trying to attack after he was out and that they were preserving the sanctity of the tournament.

Levern was on top of Zain and there was blood everywhere. Bile rushed into my mouth. Oh goddess, had that arrow pierced him, too?

I ran over to him and shoved the Epirian off. “Are you all right?” I asked, trying to look him over to find where he was bleeding from.

“I’m fine. The blood’s not mine. Levern’s sternum stopped the arrow.” He got into a sitting position and I saw that it was true. The blood on the ground was not coming from Zain.