Paladin

If this were a fairy tale, I'd be my own damned knight.

Sometimes doing the immoral thing is the moral thing to do. I would lie and cheat and steal to protect the ones I love.

Sam, his warrior. He would die before he put her fire out.

Sam’s lingering stares agitated him, eliciting a thickness in his chest that felt suspiciously like feelings. Tristan didn’t do feelings.

You best have dagger hidden underneath those skirts.” Sam patted the small lump on the right side of her hip,the bulge on her left,and then felt for a ridge by her ankles. She had three.

Braeden was a noble, self-sacrificing idiot, but he was her idiot.

He didn’t have time for an existential crisis, not right now.

their long snouts. “There’s no plan?” “Don’t die,” Tristan said, and with a yell, sprinted into the throng of demons.

Braeden?” she called again tentatively. Braeden turned to her and smiled, a feral grin that spoke of cruelty to come. Sam swallowed. She was as good as dead.

We’ve an early start to the morning, and I’ve a feeling if I stayed with you, we wouldn’t be doing much sleeping,

I’s afraid of no one, ’cept maybe the Paladins and me mam.

She bit into a piece of heavily buttered bread, her eyes fluttering closed as the golden, flaky crust melted in her mouth. Pure heaven. Tristan was staring at her. “What?” she asked. “Your expression . . .” he said, pink tingeing his cheeks. “Never mind. Ah, here’s Braeden.

Her answer would kill Braeden quicker than any poison. He shut his eyes, and when he opened them again, his face was a controlled mask. He turned from the curtain, walked down the room past the five rows of beds, and nodded politely at Addie. As soon as he was outside of the infirmary, he ran.

I hate everything that moves without legs. It isn't natural, I tell you.

If Sam were the sort of girl prone to fainting, she would have fainted right there on the spot. But as things currently stood, she wasn’t supposed to be a girl, so fainting wasn’t even an option.

His free hand shot out to steady her. “Are you all right?” he asked. His voice was full of concern, but his dancing blue eyes betrayed his amusement. Her skin heated

She lowered her eyes, then peeked at Tristan through her spidery lashes. “Though I would be ’appy to share me own chambers wiv you, love.