Chapter 172

**CAY POV**

I step in front of a man who goes for a small girl, a large knife in his hand, and I shove him backward, knocking the blade from his hand and grabbing it in mine.

If I’m going down, I’m going down fighting.

Three more men come at me whilst the guy on the floor tries to price together his pride. I shove the first with the balls of my hands and kick the second right in the groin. The third is a little more cautious, he draws his sword.

I dodge the first swing, twirling to my right, but I’m too slow to dodge the second and it slices right through my left arm, making it almost useless to me.

I dodge the third time he swings at me, and the fourth, getting closer enough to stab the small blade I have into his thigh, right into the pierce of flesh I know will not stop bleeding. He’ll be dead in less than five minutes. I hope.

I turn just in time to dodge a punch, grabbing the man’s arm and bending it backwards, almost enough to snap the bone before I kick him in the ribs, knocking him to the floor.

“Stop!” I hear someone shout, distracting me long enough for the first man I attacked to pin my arms and knock me from my feet.

The dirt doesn’t taste very nice, I should know, my face is pressed against it hard enough for loads to enter my mouth, and I can’t even spit it out.

“Hold her.” Booms a voice that comes from someone I cannot see.

A man kneels down beside my head, the guy holding me wading up just enough so that I can open my eyes, and fuck, shape shifters are hot. It’s a shame they’re all murderers.

The guy knelt beside me has black hair, a long, thick beard, green eyes and a scar running down his face that only adds to his beauty rather than takes it away.

“You would fight this whole army by yourself when everyone else has surrendered?” He asks, his voice thick with an accent I don’t recognise. “Lay down your weapon and we may let you live.”

I scoff, laughing as I spit on his shiny boot, “you’ll have to kill me before I submit, otherwise you’ll have no army left.”

He smirks, and it isn’t an nice one, it’s filled with a silent promise of pain, and I know that whatever comes next is going to hurt. A lot.

“Who are you?” He asks, raising a single eyebrow.

I clamp my mouth shut, staring at him with as much hate as I can muster with my eyes. “No one.”

“Hmm.” He murmurs, standing from his place beside me and looking around at all those present. “Anyone who tells me the name of this woman goes free.”

The mayor steps forward, his round stomach poking through the bottom of his shirt, “her name is Princess Cay, she’s the daughter of Queen Lucinda and King Dieter.”

What a snake. I should have known he’d betray me the first change he got.

The stranger nods, turning to one of his men, “kill him.” He orders.

The mayor’s eyes bulge out of his head, his voice littered with fear. “Yo-you said I could go free.” He stammers, walking backwards.

“I changed my mind.” Shrugged the shape shifter.

A sword goes right through the round guy of the mayor, blood spurting from his mouth as he groans and squeals like a goat out for slaughter.

He drops to the ground, bleeding all other the dirt, and I feel nothing for him, why should I? He gave me up so easily that he could have been my enemy himself.

Just another pig torn from the world, what a shame.

“Get her up, and bring her.” Orders the black haired man, “kill the rest.”

I struggle as I am dragged to my feet, and I manage to loosen their grip a little, but not enough to get free.

“They won’t give you what you want!” I shout at him, fighting as hard as I can. “My parents will not give up the kingdom for me.”

The shifter turns, his eyes darkening.

“Should I gag her general?” One of the soldiers asks, pulling harder on my arm.

So he is the general, I should have known, he was the one giving all the orders.

I scream when I watch a young child run through with a shirt sword, the boy’s tony body crumbling into the dirt.

“Stop it!” I scream, fighting harder and harder, punching and kicking, trying to bite.

I’ll do anything to stop them.

These people are innocent.

I’m suddenly knocked from my feet, my back slamming into the sharp rocks as a weight pins me down from above, my eyes locking with with an enormous blade pressed against my throat.

“You think that just because of who you are that I won’t kill you?” Growls the general, his eyes ablaze with rage. “It is I who chooses who lives and who dies, not you.”

“Go ahead.” I growl back, lifting my chin to expose my neck, “go ahead and kill me, it’s just another notch on your belt, right?”

The general stared down at me, his eyes narrowing, and yet, he hesitates, he doesn’t slice my neck open from one end to the other as I expect him to. He just… he watches me.

“Go ahead.” I say again, more aggressively this time.

He smiles so suddenly that I am caught off guard by it, “I’m not going to kill you, princess.” He says, stroking back my hair, “I might just keep you for myself, I haven’t had a new toy in a long time.”

My eyes widen, my heart sinking into the bottom of my stomach where it sits and waits to die, a toy? Is that what he said?

He can’t be serious.

I would much rather he kill me, I will never be his, or anyone else’s.

I will not belong to a murderer.

I will not belong to a monster.

I’d rather die.

I begin to struggle again, screaming in rage and fear, “let go of me!”

The general leans forward, so close I can smell the whiskey on his breath, “sweets dreams, princess.”

I’m about to spit in his face when something sharp connects with the side of my head, my vision fading into blackness as all I hear are his distant laughs.