Chapter 6 · The Princess's Deal

The ice bowl hit Gareth square in the face. His nose crunched. Blood sprayed across white fur.

Valen didn't wait to see him fall. He rolled left as the executioner's axe came down and bit into frozen ground where his neck had been. The crowd was screaming. Half of them were trying to get out. The other half were pushing closer.

Eliza was already moving.

She crossed the sand in four strides, that bloody knife still in her hand. Two of Gareth's guards stepped in front of her. She didn't slow down. Just flicked the blade twice. Both men grabbed their wrists and dropped their swords.

"Stand down," she said.

Her voice cut through the noise like she'd been giving orders her whole life. Maybe she had. Valen didn't know what hostage princesses did in their spare time, but apparently it involved making grown men back off.

The executioner turned toward her. Big guy, arms like tree trunks, face hidden behind a black hood. He raised the axe.

Eliza pointed the knife at him.

"You wanna execute a foreign dignitary in front of five thousand witnesses?" she said. "Go ahead. See how that treaty holds up."

The executioner hesitated.