Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy) by Charity Santiago Page A

"
     
    She was pushed out of the way suddenly by Lysato. "Run, Lady! He means to harm you!"
     
    "He means no such thing," she exclaimed, and squeaked as Lysato pulled out a weapon very similar to her crystal shuriken, striking a battle stance. "NO! Don't you dare - "
     
    Before the sentence was even finished, he had lunged at Skye. The swordsman nimbly sidestepped and shoved Lysato backwards, then rushed the smaller man. Lysato tried to edge out of the way and cut down with the shuriken, but Skye moved much faster, catching the weapon and twisting it out of the ninja's hands before landing a solid blow to the other man's lower back, forcing him to his knees.
     
    Skye knocked Lysato to the ground and placed a booted foot between his shoulder blades.
     
    "Move and you'll regret it," he said in Amato-style Toryn, then directed his gaze at Ashlyn.
     
    She was completely dumbfounded.
     
    Skye spoke Toryn?
     
    "You said you could explain," he growled.
     
    "I can." Or, um, not . Ashlyn tried to think of an excuse - just when did Skye learn to speak Toryn? - that wouldn't make it sound like she'd been playing both sides. Which of course, she hadn't, but how to make it look that way to their fearless leader?
     
    She felt her cheeks heating under his gaze. "Devlyn wants to make me co-Leader of Toryn," she said. "It could . . . mean the end of the war . . . maybe before it even really starts."
     
    He raised an eyebrow. "And you were planning on letting us in on this fact . . . when?"
     
    "Hey, I wasn't hiding anything from you," Ashlyn said defensively. "I just found out about it this morning. This guy walked in and told me that he would take me to Toryn in three days. I wasn't sure what to do, but I thought that maybe if I could just talk to Devlyn, we could work it out without, you know, violence and stuff."
     
    "Why didn't you come to me in the first place?"
     
    "Faithless infidel," Lysato spat, rather unexpectedly and totally randomly, prompting wary glances from both Skye and Ashlyn.
     
    "Uh, I wasn't sure that you'd approve."
     
    "Damn right I wouldn't have approved! You're our - stay still," he snapped at Lysato, who stopped struggling and glared at Skye with one eye, having to nearly twist his head entirely around just to see the people standing above him. "You're our only hope for some kind of resolution to this war, Ash. I thought you were a sure thing; I trusted you. Then Vargo tells me you visited the ninja we captured without telling me, and now I find you trading secrets with another Toryn. Tell me, what am I supposed to think? How am I supposed to trust you now?"
     
    "I thought I could get some information out of Kou…um, the ninja," Ashlyn said. "But he didn't tell me enough to make it worth your time to hear. And Lysato - this guy - I don't think he means any harm, he just wants to take me back to Devlyn."
     
    "To make you co-Leader," Skye said, and it was obvious that he didn't believe that was Devlyn's intention at all.
     
    "Look, Skye, people are staring," Ashlyn told him self-consciously. "Can't we take this up to Aik's house or something?"
     
    Wordlessly he reached down to grab Lysato's shoulder and haul the other man upright, handing the shuriken to Vargo, who had somehow materialized behind him.
     
    Ashlyn glared at the red-haired Spartan. She should have known all that sensitive crap he'd spewed had been fake. How could she ever have trusted him to keep her visit to Kou a secret? Jerk. If she hadn't loathed him before, she would really detest him from now on.
     
    To her infinite surprise Skye motioned for her to lead the way. She wondered why, and then realized stupidly that he probably didn't trust her to follow him. Like she'd just run away after being accused of spying? Please. She had a little more pride than that.
     
    Grumbling, she trudged towards the staircase she'd only minutes before came skipping down. "This is such crap," she said loudly, momentarily forgetting her desire to keep