Preston Du Monde.

I brushed by Eryk and Dimitri to stand in the opening blown in the wall. Du Monde and one hundred men, many dressed in armor, just ten yards away. In the thick of it stood Mathias, broadsword in hand.

I cocked my head at him and then, I smiled.

A flicker of fear skittered across his face before it disappeared, but it was enough to fill me with confidence and give me a jolt of much-needed energy.

I might die here today, but I would do as I vowed and take him down with me if I did.

“Front twenty, stay with me. The rest of you get to the shores and prepare to ambush our ersatz Queen’s men,” Preston Du Monde called over his shoulder, his expression almost apathetic. “Kill the three useless males, but keep her alive for now. Should our men run into trouble at the beach, her sister’s soldiers will bow in supplication to see her life spared.”

A sizzle of excitement rocketed through me. Still a feat to be sure, but our odds had just increased five-fold. In his arrogance, Du Monde believed that we four were no match for his twenty. Now, to do our best to make him regret that hubris.

The back four rows of men broke off and made their way out of the courtyard as the rest began a methodical march toward us in a line.

Dimitri called my name, and I looked over my shoulder at him as he handed me a bow.

“Watch your back,” he said softly. “I didn’t come this far only to lose you in the end.” He shrugged out of one of his quivers and strapped it onto my back. Then, he tucked a knife in my belt.

Eryk pulled a long sword from a sheath on his back. “Nor did we,” he said, stepping up beside me. “Use the weapons for as long as you can so you save your strength, and then shift if you need to. Kill anything that moves. No mercy.”

Titus flanked my other side, his massive form a sorely needed source of strength and comfort. I rested a hand on his back and tightened my fingers in the fur of his scruff.

Dimitri drew his sword from the scabbard on his hip. My stomach roiled at the thought of any of them being hurt, especially now, when we were so close to getting away, but I had to push that aside.

This fight was bigger than the four of us. Lives were at stake. The future of Ironhaven was at stake. This was our chance to make it right. My chance to protect my sister and her kingdom, I refused to squander it.

Du Monde and his men were just slightly below us in the open courtyard. Up the pile of rubble from the broken wall was where we stood.

The men moved toward us, inexorably closer, armor creaking and groaning as they walked.

I could do this. This was what I had been preparing for. A chance to fight. The opportunity to use what I’d learned, and despite my tattered state, I had never felt so prepared to fight. My whole body was tingling; every nerve waiting for a command.

Eryk thrust his sword arm in the air and gave a mighty battle cry. The lioness rose up my throat and her roar mingled with my own cry as the others added their voices.

Dimitri and I stayed back as the others sprinted forward, taking the opportunity to use our bow skills before they got too close.

I managed to fire off five shots in rapid succession, landing three direct hits before Titus and Eryk were enmeshed in the mix and it became too dangerous to continue firing.

From the corner of my eye, I caught Dimitri shouldering his bow as well.

“Two for me. That’s five down, fifteen to go,” he called.

I tried not to follow the movement of the others, but caught sight of Eryk as he clashed swords with one of the enemy. I nearly cried out in relief as he made short work of him, his swift and elegant blade slicing through the air and into his opponent’s gut before the man had even taken a swing.

If Eryk’s speed and grace were a gift, Titus’s size and strength served him equally well. Standing on his hind legs, he was a sight to behold as he bellowed with rage, moments before taking down two soldiers with one swipe of his mighty, taloned paw. Those wouldn’t be killing blows. Not for these shifters, but if we worked fast, we could get away before they recovered and healed.

“Pay attention!”

Dimitri’s voice was sharp as a whip and I wheeled around just in time to see a thin blade pass my field of vision, far too close for comfort.

I dropped back into fighting stance and parried a second strike as I locked gazes with my attacker. He slowed in surprise at my deftness, and I took advantage of the moment, sweeping in low, swiping my blade across the opening in his armor at his knees. He dropped like a bag of bricks and my blade slid through the fabric beneath his helmet.

I was already nocking an arrow and aiming for the other men racing towards us before the dead man hit the rocks. I let my arrow fly and it slammed into the chest of the man I had marked. He toppled over into his companion, who was struck in the eye with my second arrow.

Titus let out a rumbling roar and suddenly the others disengaged, backing up until they surrounded me in a circle.

“Get ‘em, Princess,” Dimitri muttered as the next wave of soldiers came rushing forward.

Instinctively, I slowed my breath, my focus going razor sharp. I could do this.

I reached for Dimitri’s quiver, still fat with arrows, and I plucked the first up with my fingertips. As if in slow motion, I slid the arrow into its notch and set up for my shot, before letting loose.

A muffled scream was my only confirmation that it had hit its mark, as I was already lining up my next victim. One by one they fell as my three protectors rallied around me, fighting off the stray soldiers that got too close.

Titus was rushed by two men with daggers. He plowed through them, their armor of no help as he snapped one of their necks like a twig. Eryk locked blades with another, ducking a second attack as he took the legs from beneath his opponent with a swift kick. Dimitri let his dagger fly, burying it deep into the forehead of a man sprinting out to meet him.

But all of that was background noise, now, as I focused on the handful of men in the distance.

There was no sign of Mathias, he must’ve gone down in the fight, but no matter. My sights were set on the elder Du Monde. If he walked away from this fight, all would be lost. Dimitri, Titus and Eryk would lose people they loved, and Ironhaven would be lost to the Du Mondes forever.

He hadn’t moved an inch since the fight started, standing twenty yards from the battle with a pair of reluctant men standing in front of him like human shields.

A coward, just like his father.

As his gaze locked with mine, he laid a hand on his sword, drawing it and then resting it point first on the cobbles of the courtyard. His fingers were clasped over the hilt, as if he were using it as a staff, eyes trained on me. I saw it there, plain on his face. He had no intention of fighting. The second he had the chance, he was going to run for it.

I nocked another arrow and stepped out from behind my protectors and moved slowly across the stones.

“Iris,” Dimitri called. “Stay back.”

“They’re under orders not to kill me. He’s going to try to es--”

The breath left my lungs in a whoosh as I hit the ground like a ton of bricks.

Bone-jarring pain shot up my right arm and a wave of nausea rolled through me.

Knowing I was vulnerable, I rolled onto my back to find a massive, golden lion skidding to a stop and turning to face me.

Mathias.

Eryk called my name, but through my ringing ears, he sounded terribly far away. The echo of his cry was still on the air when I let my fingers unclench from around my bow and allowed myself to shift.

The lion inside me came forward in a rush, the feeling of power rippling through my muscles giving me a strength that I hadn’t felt in days.

I rolled up onto all fours, ignoring the shaft of agony that shot up my front leg.

The others were in hand-to-hand combat as Mathias padded closer, nearly upon me.

I didn’t wait to defend. Instead, I went on the attack, launching myself forward until the two of us collided in mid-air.

I buried my teeth in his neck as his claws slashed across my face. Hot blood seeped into my fur and my vision blurred, going crimson as it spread. And still, I held tight, growling low in my chest, teeth still buried in Mathias’s muscled neck. I thrashed back and forth, tearing his flesh and muscle, until we both landed in a heap of dust on the cobblestone.

I was on my feet instantly and padding around him as he rose.

He was huge, his mane darker than the rest of his golden fur by just a single shade. Muscles rippled beneath his skin as he paced around me.

When he stopped and roared, I braced myself for another hard impact. We threw our bodies into each other. My vision was still bad in my right eye. I used my shoulders and bore my back to him rather than expose my throat or belly. He tried to grab hold of my scruff, but I twisted out of the way. His teeth cut through my skin, but I ignored the pain and took a good chunk out of his side.

Then his back paw slammed into my jaw in a powerful kick, and I went sprawling across the cobblestone.

My ears were ringing as that coppery taste of blood coated my tongue. I shook my head to clear it and stood shakily. Luckily, Mathias looked equally unsteady as he tried to get his feet under him.

A low sound over my shoulder caught my ear, and I turned to find Eryk beside me in his panther form. He snapped at the air and let out a warning rumble as Mathias faced me again.

I chuffed and dipped my head, urging Eryk to look behind Mathias. There, Preston Du Monde, in the distance in lion form, flanked by his two guards, heading for the trees.

We couldn’t let him get away.

Eryk held my gaze as I begged him wordlessly to go…to trust me.

He paused, and then, with a snarl, leapt into action, moving like black lightning in hot pursuit of Du Monde as I sized up my enemy once again.

I’d been holding my own considering his size and strength, coupled with my time in the dungeon. But I couldn’t afford to take another blow like the one he had just dealt me. He had two hundred pounds on me, which meant I needed to use my speed and agility to outmaneuver him.

We paced around one another, and I closed off the sounds and sights of everything around me, except him. And those gray eyes were alight with an unholy rage.

He was no longer Mathias, good soldier and kiss-ass, ready to follow orders to injure but not kill. Now that his “King” had left him to die, he’d gone rogue and he would see me dead if he could.

I let out a low growl, daring him to do his damnedest.

A moment later, he made his move.

I froze and waited, despite every instinct inside me urging me to move. Breath short, I unsheathed my claws until they ground into the cobblestone, and still held tight. He leapt high in the air and lunged forward with all of his weight; claws out, ready to sink in, teeth bared, gaze fixed on my neck.

I waited that last possible second before I acted, throwing my body to the left and rolling back just as he landed on the spot I’d been, striking at his exposed throat.

My teeth pierced his thick fur, sinking into flesh, and I clamped my jaws with everything I had. Mathias let out a gurgling roar as I shook my head from side to side in a tearing motion.

A minute or more passed as he lurched and shook to get me off him, to no avail. He was long still before a low voice penetrated the haze surrounding me.

“Iris. It’s all right, Princess. You can let go now.”

Dimitri.

I fell back onto the cobblestone with a gasp. Blood leaked into the cracks of the courtyard and ran between my paws.

I looked up to see Dimitri standing over me, a grim smile tugging at his lips. He was bloodied, but alive, and relief rocketed through me. I glanced around, relieved to see that all of the soldiers had been put out of commission, for good now.

I turned to see Titus, shifting out of his bear form, as he staggered forward and then stumbled to his knees. He clutched at his side and he hung his head. The pain in his face registered in my brain and I shifted back into my human form.

“Let me see,” I said, forcing myself to my feet and moving gingerly toward him, fighting through the pain screaming through my shoulder.

“I’m alright.” He winced as I bent low to reach for him. “It’ll heal.”

He had been stabbed through his side and the resulting wound was messy and jagged. I grimaced.

“Honestly, lass, I’m okay. Could do with a stiff drink, but a kiss from you would work just as well.”

Emotion almost drowning me, I cupped his whiskery cheeks in both hands. I kissed him, hard and fierce. When I pulled back, he was smiling and so was I.

“Eryk?” I asked, my happiness dimming instantly as I searched around. “Preston?”

“Eryk is fine, I’m sure. We heard Du Monde’s soldiers approach when we broke you out of your cell. Eryk helped even our odds by feeding them false information about your sister’s army being hours behind. They were waiting in the forest just half-mile away, ready to attack once they got the signal that we’d retrieved you and you were safely out of harm’s way. Preston’s cowardly escape put him with Eryk at his back and your sister’s forces at his front.”

Dimitri nodded as he slid his sword into its scabbard on his hip and looked up. His blue eyes looked even brighter, due to the blood seeping from a cut in his hairline that had bloodied his whole forehead. His tunic was torn open in the front, revealing three gashes across his stomach. His shoulder was a mass of blood and torn skin from where someone had taken a bite out of him.

“That’s wonderful news, but I have to tell you, you guys don’t look so good,” I said.

“You either,” he shot back with a quick grin that made my heart sing.

We were all right. And so long as Preston Du Monde had been caught…

I refused to get my hopes up. For now, I had to be grateful for this moment because it was more than I’d ever thought we’d get.

I let Titus pull me down beside him. When I was sitting pressed up against him, I realized how heavy my body felt. My back was lit with a searing hot pain. Mathias must have really gotten his claws into me, but I assured myself that pain was temporary.

“Thank you for coming to get me,” I said. “Thank you for trying to save me from this before we even got here. Mathias told me that you had changed your mind.”

Dimitri reached over and grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you. After what you had told us about Sebastian Du Monde and some gossip we heard at the port towns along the way, we started to get suspicious that Malikai was just a middle man. It all seemed so overly nefarious and secretive for some ransom money. Turns out we were right.” His brow knitted into a tight frown. “Our mistake was not realizing that Mathias was in on it the whole time. We told him our suspicions, hoping he would be in agreement with our plan to save you. If not, the three of us had planned lose him at port the next day and do it anyway. He agreed, and claimed he cared for you as well, but when we went to wake you the next morning…”

He trailed off, his expression pained.

“We won,” I said sharply. “Preston Du Monde never even set foot in Ironhaven. He never got close to my home and he can’t hurt your families anymore because we stopped him. Things couldn’t have gone any better.”

“I could have done without seeing you nearly decapitated by that piece of shit lion shifter,” Dimitri said sourly.

“And the stabbing would have been nice to avoid,” Titus grumbled.

I got to my feet and peered at the hill in the distance, my heart soaring.

“Come on,” I said, forcing myself to my feet and offering Titus my hand. “Let’s see if we can find some clothes, and then go find Eryk, and Anaya’s army.” A wave of renewed energy coursed through me, giving me strength I’d thought was long since sapped. “We’ve got some celebrating to do.”