Guardian of Magick has been edited AND proofed! Content has been uploaded for final distribution of pre-orders and ARC's have been scheduled! I am so excited to bring you guys this second installment in Sienna and Daxon's epic journey, and I hope you love it as much as I do!
WARNING: DO NOT READ THE SNEAK PEEK BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ WARRIOR OF MAGICK!
You've been warned!
Here is your sneak peek!
Copyright 2020 B.A.D. Publishing. Jessica Wayne Books.
ONE LAST TIME: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ WARRIOR OF MAGICK!
You've been warned again!
“We’ll stop here for the night,” Lawson announced, guiding his horse off the road and into the trees.
Sienna could have wept with relief. They’d only been riding for a few hours, but already her body felt as though she’d been trampled ten times over. Thank you, Guardian blood.
Climbing off his horse, Lawson tethered him to a tree. “Do you need help?” he asked, turning toward her.
“I’ll be fine,” she lied. Swinging her leg over, Sienna felt her muscles give out, and she fell right into Lawson’s arms. “Thanks,” she muttered as he set her down on the ground. At least Amos had done her a solid by removing the arrows buried in her back after he’d given her another dose of the fucking poison that was Guardian blood.
He straightened after setting her down gently. “Are you okay?”
“Do you really care?” Sienna glared at him.
Lawson shrugged. “I’m going to gather wood for the fire.”
She didn’t answer, just watched as he disappeared into the tree line. Pushing to her feet, Sienna stumbled into the trees in the opposite direction.
“Come on,” she muttered to herself as she tried to run on legs that might as well have been lead. If she could get far enough away from Lawson, she could find some hole to die in where Amos wouldn’t be able to find her body and make good on his promise to reanimate her in order to kill Daxon.
She tripped, her head hitting a branch. Pain exploded behind her eyes, but she pushed up. The Guardian blood made her feel drunk, impairing her senses and making each and every movement feel as though she were underwater, but still, she pushed forward.
Moments passed in complete silence as she staggered through the woods.
Taking a step into a small clearing, Sienna heard the snap too late. She screamed, her leg burning as the animal trap dug its metal teeth into the flesh of her calf.
Reaching down, she pried at the trap, trying to get it off of her leg so she could continue. Lawson was the least of her problems now. If she’d been caught in a trap, that meant—
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” A deep voice filled the space, and Sienna fell back, panting. Fighting would do her no good.
“It’s that white-haired Sage! The assassin from the Amber Isle!” Another man stepped into the clearing, and she heard the crunching of leaves as they walked around her.
“Please let me go,” she asked softly.
The man knelt in front of her. The putrid stench rolling off of him combined with the pain made her stomach roll, and she dry heaved—her stomach having nothing in it to purge. He grinned, showing four missing teeth.
“I won’t be doing that. There be a price on your pretty head.” He reached up and touched her face, and Sienna jerked it away.
Three more men stepped into the clearing, their ragged clothes and his words telling her all she needed to know about them. Bounty hunters.
“I could kill you all,” she threatened.
All but the man kneeling in front of her backed away. “Don’t worry, men,” he told them. “She can’t do shit, otherwise she wouldn’t be trapped, now would ya?”
Sienna ground her teeth. She was screwed. Was this really how she was going to die? In the hands of fucking bounty hunters?
“Go on then,” he said, gesturing to the trap. “Magick yer way out of it?” He waited, watching her every second until finally he threw his head back and laughed. “See, men! She’s not what they say she is!”
“Back away.”
Sienna turned, relief and fear flooding her when she saw Lawson step into the clearing. She was no longer alone, but he was outnumbered, and unless he was half as good as his brother with a blade, they were now both royally fucked.
“And who might you be?” The man stood, hand on his sword.
“She’s my bounty,” Lawson lied. “I’ll be taking her to Cambria to collect.”
The man grinned. “There be no bounty on her from Cambria.”
Lawson didn’t miss a step. “Not that you’ve heard of.” He moved closer to Sienna, circling the men. “My orders come from the king.”
“We don’t report to your king.”
“We all do. Bounty hunters included.”
“No, we don’t.” The man withdrew his blade.
Not bounty hunters. These men were Condemned. She tried to warn Lawson, but the look in his eye told her he already knew. The Condemned did not follow any law. They were their own faction, living on ships just outside of Cambrexia, coming ashore whenever they chose to, and doing as they saw fit.
They killed, raped, and pillaged without a second thought, humans and creatures alike. It didn’t matter. Typically, they stayed close to the sea, and the fact that they were this close to Cambria spelled trouble for the realm.
Sienna tried to stand and cried out, falling back to the ground when her leg gave out. Lawson focused his attention on her, his eyes betraying no emotion.
Pulling out his blade, he turned back to the leader. “I don’t wish to harm you,” he said simply. “But if it comes down to her life or yours, I will kill you.”
The man laughed. “Can you Cambrexians not count? We have you outnumbered, son! There ain’t no way you’re getting out of this one alive, not with her.”
Lawson shrugged. “Then what are you waiting for?”
The man grinned. “I truly don’t know. Kill him, boys,” he ordered and stepped out of the way.
Sienna tried to stand again as Lawson was attacked by three of the Condemned. Metal clashed and scraped as he fought to defend himself.
He ducked, narrowly missing a sword as he drove his own into the gut of one of the attackers. The man fell to the ground in a bloody heap, and rather than remove his own sword, Lawson rolled, drawing out a dagger and launching himself at the next man.
Plunging the dagger down into another man’s neck, Daxon’s brother fought with such skill that Sienna could do nothing but stare in complete awe. In fact, as far as combat went, she’d bet he’d give Daxon a run for his money.
The leader watched, red-faced, as Lawson killed the last of his men and straightened, wiping blood splatter and sweat from his brow.
“I’ll kill you!” He charged, and Lawson spun, burying his blade in the man’s back. Gurgling, their leader fell forward, and Lawson removed his blade, wiping it on the man’s tunic.
Sienna watched him as he looked down at the bodies of those he’d just killed. Eyes wide and jaw set, he turned to her.
“Out for an evening run?” he asked, kneeling at her side.
“Figured I might as well.” Adrenaline surging through her veins, Sienna barely felt the pain, but she knew the second it wore off, she was done for.
“These are in deep. This is going to hurt.”
Sienna closed her eyes and dug her fingers into the dirt as Lawson set his hands on either side of the trap.
He pressed down, and Sienna screamed as the jaws dug further into her flesh before the trap sprung open. He lifted her leg out of it and gathered her into his arms.
Warm blood trickled down her calf and ankle, falling to the ground as they walked back to their campsite. Sienna opened her mouth to warn him about Vamps, but nothing came out. Eyes rolling back in her head, she embraced the numbness as all conscious thought faded from her mind.
What did you think? Who has been your favorite character so far? Who are you most excited to see make a return in book two? Drop a comment below and let me know!