Free Of Darkness and Crowns by Trisha Wolfe Page A

chest to my gut, and I leap forward. Lilly’s breaths are coming in pants as she stares down the blade toward Lena. My own sword is drawn and crashing into Lena’s before Lilly is able to say a word, her mouth left forming a single syllable.
    Then, “Shit…Kal!” Lilly falls backward out of the way as I advance on Lena.
    Lena meets each of my attacks, her feet taking her farther out of my reach, but I stay on top of her movements. “What—?” she bites out, blocking another quick blow. “What is wrong with you?” Then she steps on my toes, eliciting an angered cry from me, and whacks my blade sideways. She sends the pommel into the side of my head.
    “Lena, stop!” I hear Lilly’s hurried footsteps against the mat, but I’m already recovered from the knock and glaring up at Lena.
    She raises her thin eyebrows. My fist connects with her cheek.
    An eternal moment passes where the only sound is the reverberating thwack of my punch bouncing around the room.
    Lena palms the side of her face as she stares blankly at the floor. “I guess I had that coming.”
    I pump my hand near my thigh, relishing the pulsing ache. The adrenaline is still climbing, egging me on to finish Lena, but when I glance at Lilly’s startled expression, shame helps soothe the need to fight.
    Sheathing my sword, I step back, and Lilly moves to Lena’s side. She reaches out, taking Lena’s face between her hands. “Let me see…”
    I expect Lena to jerk away, claim she’s fine, as tough and as stubborn as I’ve always seen Tagger’s once vicious assassin. But she turns into Lilly’s hold. “Don’t make a fuss.”
    Anger explodes white-hot in my vision. How can Lena ever believe that Lilly would choose her wellbeing over her best friend’s? I’m about to address that, when Lilly’s glare halts my words.
    “We should talk,” Lilly says, then turns her attention back to Lena. She inspects Lena’s reddening cheek, her fingers caressing her skin.
    And that’s when I see it. I glance back and forth between them. My mouth opens, trying to form the words stuck in my throat. Shock closes around my neck like a noose, chocking me off.
    “Maybe I should talk to her,” Lena says, but Lilly shakes her head.
    “I’ll meet you later.” Lilly runs her fingers through Lena’s side-swept bangs, and places a kiss near her mouth.
    I grip the hilt of my sword so tightly I can feel my increasing heart rate in my palm. My pulse races as fast as the thoughts circling my head. Cutting Lena down right here. Severing her head—like I should have done that day in the Cage.
    Before my mind allows me one clear thought, Lena nods to Lilly, making brief eye contact with me, then heads toward the weapon’s wall. I watch her hang the practice sword as Lilly moves closer to my side. Lena shuts off the music before leaving.
    The sudden silence is louder than my thoughts.
    “I know what you’re thinking, Kal,” she says.
    Closing my eyes, I pry my fingers one-by-one from the hilt. “No. You do not know.” I turn toward her. “You don’t want to know what I’m thinking.”
    She thumbs each of her fingers, cracking her knuckles. And I know she’s been dreading this conversation. “I wanted to tell you before…”
    “How long?”
    Crossing her arms over her chest, she shrugs. “Does that matter? Will it change the opinion you’ve already formed?”
    I scoff. “Sure. How long after Van’s body was cold in the ground before you were moving on to her killer?” I shrug, mocking her. “A month. A week. A full day ? Or maybe even before Lena snapped Willa’s neck—”
    Pain explodes across my face as Lilly’s palm meets my cheek.
    I lick my lips, savoring the sting. It gives a very real, physical weight to the emotional turmoil raging within.
    “You just said Willa .” Lilly’s lips are trembling, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I’ll forgive you for that only because I know how this threw you. Finding out in this way. And because