Forged Destiny [Book 1: Ch. 4]

"Blake!" I called.

She didn't seem to hear me; the crowd really was too loud. Sod it. If I was going to catch her attention then I was going to have to catch her. As she exited the hall, I was hot on her tail, looking left and right. There – just going down one of the corridors. It didn't occur to me that it wasn't where the guides were taking us. I just followed, right into a pair of yellow eyes.

And a knife.

I yelped as she grabbed me by the arm, pulling me around the corner before pushing me against a wall, steel at my throat. If the words above her head weren't reminder enough, this certainly was.

"H-Hey," I managed nervously, hoping to look as unthreatening as I actually was.

She blinked. Yellow orbs widening but a fraction, before she stepped back and sheathed the blade. I hadn't even thought to draw Crocea Mors, which was actually still by my bed. Even if I'd had it, it wouldn't have been any use. In the time it would have taken to clear the scabbard, she could have carved her name into my neck.

—Forged Destiny [Book 1: Ch. 4]