The Princess and the Bard (Royals of the Realms #1)

Chapter Seventeen: Magical, Musical Healing

The guardsmen encircled Thelix, creating a prison of chainmail and crossed swords. His hands and feet were bound with thick ropes, and he slouched to one side then the other, as though he might keel over.

Alori supposed that being possessed by a demon would be exhausting, especially one as ambitious as Dantalion.

He looked up at her as she descended the porch steps, his blue eyes burning with rage. It was still both of them in there she supposed, man and demon, except poor old Dantalion was without his precious book. His focus.

How unfortunate that he'd lost what made him powerful.

Alori smelled a hint of irony in the air as she walked up to the ring of guards, standing just outside a gap between their armor.

"Aren't you going to welcome me back, Thelix? What about you, Dantalion?"

Thelix spat on the ground, his spittle mixing with the trampled mud and slush. His discordant grunts of frustration were convincingly beast-like.

"Don't be so smug, little sweetflame. You weren't the one who did this to me. I would have guaranteed you stayed dead, if those two conniving females hadn't stolen my book."

She hated Dantalion's pet names, but she knew better than to show her cards.

"This isn't your land, nor is my power up for grabs." She crossed her arms against her chest, suffering through Thelix's indignant stare. "If you'll excuse me a moment, I have a breach to seal. I'll figure out how to handle you two later."

"Go ahead, princess," Dantalion chided.

Thelix shuffled forward, and the guards pushed him back toward the center of the circle. He stumbled, falling onto his knees. From his new seat on the ground, he laughed at her, shaking sweaty hair out of his eyes, but Dantalion's voice continued to dominate.

"Go ahead and seal it, if you still can. It won't save your friend, though, will it?"

Alori didn't deign to reply. She marched away from the guards, making her way farther down the strand of cottages to where the rest of their group had congregated, close to the road into town.

Kors leaned against the porch railing of the cottage they'd encountered when they first arrived, the one Yuka had gone into looking for villagers. The paladin had taken off his helmet, revealing short brown hair and a square, bearded jaw. He looked about her father's age.

Now that she'd seen his whole face, Alori recalled Kors standing next to the king on several occasions, his expression stern and uncompromising.

He appeared to be deep into the conversation he'd promised to have with Hira.

Myka and Fox-- who looked surprisingly hale and unharmed for having fallen from a dizzying height earlier in the day-- stood off to the side of the guards still crowded around their injured comrade, the one Taelan had called Loven. The very large man was sitting up, resting against a fence post. His helmet and chest plate had been removed, and a white bandage was stretched around his torso and left arm. He had fiery red hair tied in a knot on the crown of his head, and a face full of freckles.

The injured guardsman smiled as Alori and Taelan approached, lifting a scrape-knuckled hand off his knee. She returned the greeting with a slight nod, her gaze slipping to either side of their periphery

Where was the fallen female guard? Alori didn't see a body anywhere, which was both a relief and a concern. Now she would wonder what had become of the poor woman's remains, although she suspected her fellow soldiers had moved her out of respect.