“That was before I found out your bitch is Diraxon.” He pointed at Ninavis with a combination of chin and elbow, still holding the crossbow aimed at me. “Count yourself lucky I’m not slitting her throat. Most good folk would consider it their duty to kill any Diraxon they met, after they caused the Hellmarch.”

After they …

My muscles tensed. I looked over at Ninavis for an explanation, but she paid no attention to me. She didn’t deny his accusation, but only because she wasn’t listening.

Ninavis was preparing for a fight.

“Don’t do this,” I said, not quite sure if I spoke to the man or to Ninavis. I lowered my arm, still holding the sword. It wouldn’t do much against crossbows, but at least I had freed it from its sheath.

“You know what? Never mind. I changed my mind,” he said. He raised a hand to give an order I was sure I would neither like nor enjoy.

“Don’t do this,” I said again, but he paid no attention either. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

No one gave me the slightest mind; all their focus was locked on Ninavis.

“I’m a count! Harm me or mine and the duke will never stop hunting you.”

The bandit sneered. “The duke can go freeze.”

“Brother Qown, hide.”

“Count, please—”

“To Hell with you,” the bandit leader spat. He pulled the trigger.

I twisted to the side. The bolt’s feathers whistled as it passed, ripping through my tunic and cloak, and tearing open a gash on my left arm. It sailed on to slam against an apartment’s dirty white marble wall.

Pain made me hiss.

“Damn it,” Ninavis cursed. She swung the rolled-up apron at one man’s crossbow while she lashed out with multiple swift kicks to another bandit’s head. He collapsed.

Others remained, however, each a heartbeat from loosing a barrage at us. They all thought Ninavis the greater threat.

I needed to change their opinion.

I ran at the bandit crew’s leader. He had time to consider his mistakes in life before my fist, wrapped around my family sword’s pommel, smashed through his skull. A shocking spray of blood splattered against a wall, but I paid little mind. Instead, I grabbed the corpse by its tunic and held it up as a shield—to block two bolts otherwise headed for Ninavis. I threw the corpse at another bandit to distract him while I sliced him open from groin to gullet. Someone called my name in warning.

I turned and for a moment …

Ah, but for a moment.

I didn’t recognize Ninavis. I didn’t see her as a friend. She stared at me with wide eyes. She must have realized I stood a hairsbreadth from turning my sword on her.

The same bandits trying to kill her saved her life.

A crossbow bolt hit me in the back.