Free Goddess of War by K. N. Lee

his sides.
    Her stomach dropped. She nudged Aric in the forearm.
    “Have you seen that man before?”
    She glanced at Aric and noticed a how his face went ashen at the sight of the man.
    “Yes,” he sputtered, leaning forward to get a better look. When he looked back at Raina, his eyes were widened with terror.
    “What is it?” Raina was almost too afraid to find out what could make Aric look that afraid.
    “That’s the man I killed.”
    Raina searched his eyes. He was serious. She swallowed, a shiver running up her spine.
    A loud explosion gave Raina a start. One of the walls of the banquet hall was blasted through by a large stone.
    Aric pulled Raina to him. She gasped when two servers tried to run from whatever had caused the damage.
    It was him. The stranger did it.
    The servers were lifted from the ground and thrown into the air by an unseen force.
    Aric drew his sword. “Stay back,” he shouted to her. “It has to be magic. I killed that man!”
    Raina heard the servers crash to the ground, their screams cut off the instant their bodies made impact. The blood drained from her face.
    Her own scream was caught in her throat when she saw the stranger from earlier that evening fly pass the opening of the banquet hall.
    It’s him. Desi! What do I do?
    Silence.
    “I have to do something,” Raina said.
    Aric put an arm out, stopping her.
    “No,” he said, drawing his sword with a ring of steel. “This is my fight.”
    The black blade was covered in silver symbols, the language of the gods. He glanced at her, his green eyes glowing.
    “Stay here,” he said.
    Before Raina could protest, Aric vanished.

 
    ARIC CREPT THROUGH the broken hole in the wall, sword ready, eyes glowing with the god’s power of his father’s bloodline.
    Completely unseen, he peered into the courtyard of panicking people hurrying to escape the attack. Now he could use his abilities for something other than fighting for sport in the coliseum.
    If one looked closely, they’d see the ripple in the air around Aric as he stood there. His adrenaline rushed as he sought out the man that had caused such a commotion.
    Was this another assassination attempt?
    Aric was anything but an easy target.
    He stood up straight when he saw the same man fly across the courtyard, his long hair flying behind him like a thick cloak.
    Magic.
    Odd , Aric thought. Who was that man?
    He made sure to keep the man in his sight as he held onto his sword, trying to figure out a way to strike the man from that high above him. The chill in the air seemed to cling to his flesh, eating at it like insects.
    He clenched his jaw, feeling his hand grow colder and colder. It was difficult harnessing his power in more than one place at a time.
    Clasping a black gauntlet on his wrist, Aric breathed out with relief. The sensations faded as the gauntlet charged, turning red as his power concentrated into the jewel embedded into the steel.
    One blast of searing hot power shot through the air and into the flying man.
    He stopped abruptly, his eyes shooting to glare at Aric as his power shifted from the going invisible to his gauntlets. Too bad that he couldn’t use both powers at the same time.
    He didn’t need both. With his hands wrapped around the hilt of his sword, he prepared himself for a battle.
    With lightning speed, his target swooped down and caught a girl by her hair.
    Princess Arela.
    Aric swallowed, lowering his sword.
    “Just put her down,” Aric shouted, his heart pounding in his chest. His voice came out strained. Nothing frightened him more than losing someone he loved.
    “Put down your sword, and all of your clever gadgets, boy.”
    Boy?
    The level of disrespect threatened to make Aric lash out with everything he had. Seeing his sister in distress, as she hung from her hair, a dagger placed at her white throat, forced him control his temper.
    Arela’s life depended on it.
    “Put it down now,” he shouted once again. “Or the princess joins the land of