A branch snaps behind me.
I spin around to face the intruder. It's the man with the red beard and flannel. The man who looked so angry at Fen when we arrived.
I stand and step back as he approaches me, his body invading my space as he breathes into my face. His breath smells of alcohol and his eyes roam over my body in a way that makes my skin crawl. "So you're the little bitch they brought to decide everyone's fate? What makes you so special, huh?" He brings his dirty hand to my face and grabs my chin so hard it hurts.
I shove his chest, but he doesn't budge. Of course not. He's a demon. A vampire. Strong. Too strong for me. "Get your hands off me," I hiss at him through clenched teeth. "You will not like what happens if you don't."
"Oh? What are you going to do? Tell the big, bad prince on me? You don't know who my family is, do you?"
He leans in close to my face and extends his sharp fangs, then sticks out his tongue and runs it over my cheek. "Do you taste as good as you smell, I wonder?"
I try to fight him off, but he pins me against the willow tree, his thick, sweaty body pressing against me until I can't breathe. His teeth slide along my neck, nearly piercing my skin.
I have no weapon, so I pull a branch off the tree and swing it at him, hitting him in the head.
His teeth are no longer at my neck, but his grip tightens around my arm. He looks much angrier than he did before. A bear riled from his sleep.
So I do what I've always been taught to do when under attack by a stranger. I scream. I scream so loud the man looks shocked. He squeezes my neck hard and slams my head against the tree. I hit with a painful thud, tripping over a branch, falling towards the water.
The man has a choice. Hold onto my neck and join me in the water, or let go. He lets go, but looks ready to follow, when a wolf growls from the top of a boulder behind him.
Baron jumps onto my attacker.
He bites him in the shoulder.
I scramble away, splashing out of the water, my heart pounding, my hands shaking. Baron pins the man down, his wolf teeth at the man's throat. I stand in the mud. "Doesn't feel so good having a predator at your throat, does it?" I ask.
Fen arrives a moment later and quickly takes in the scene. "What is going on here?" He's not asking me, he's asking the man pinned by Baron. "What did you do to the Princess?"
"I didn't do nothing! I swear!" The man is a mix of anger and panic. "Was just having a nice chat with the Princess when this beast attacked me for no reason."
Fen places a foot on the man's arm and presses in. Bones snap. A scream fills the air.
"Let's try this again," Fen says. "What did you do, Rodrigo?"
"She just smelled so good. You don't let us feed neither. Not proper-like. And I was thirsty!"
Baron growls again and Fen looks like he's about to lose his shit. This time I don't intervene or play nice. This time I want blood. Justice. Maybe vengeance. Something. I'm sick of men acting like they are entitled to the bodies of women just because they want them. I'm sick of this mentality, regardless of which world it's on. So I don't try to temper Fen's rage. Not with Rodrigo. I want the prince to unleash his own brand of wrath.
Fen lifts Rodrigo by his neck and Baron jumps off the man's chest, snapping at him just in case he forgets who's in charge. Then Fen drags Rodrigo through the woods, back to the center of the clearing where the other men wait. I follow, watching as my attacker attempts to get away from Fen, who doesn't seem to even break a sweat keeping hold of the bulky demon.
When we arrive, I see the cutter is working again, diligently chopping logs into smaller and smaller piles.
Fen throws the man into the center of the field. "Rodrigo seems to believe you are not being cared for properly. That my laws about feeding are too strict, that he is entitled to drink from the Princess against her will. Are any of you in agreement?"
All the men take a step back and look down at their feet, even the two who had stood by Rodrigo's side earlier.
"Very well, then we have just one traitor to deal with. Normally, I would sentence him to immediate execution for such an act against royalty. But I'm feeling generous today. So instead, I make his punishment a duel. To the death. Whichever one of us is left standing at the end, wins."
What? No, this isn't what I wanted. I tug at Fen's arm to get his attention. "Can I talk to you privately?"
He nods, then turns to the group. "Don't let him leave, or it'll be your head."
We walk far enough away that I hope others can't hear us. "You can't fight him to the death!" I say.
He chuckles. "Why not?"
"What if you get hurt?"
Now he laughs. "You think he has any chance against me? That's sweet, but you've clearly never seen me fight."
"I've seen you fight a few times actually. Things can go wrong."
He brushes a strand of hair from my face and smiles. "You've seen me spar. You've seen me battle while you were drugged and nearly unconscious. You've never seen me fight. I'll be fine. No one touches you like that and walks away." He heads back to the waiting men, and I follow him, my heart hammering in my chest.
Baron stands by my side, his head under my hand, as the two men take up their swords and face each other.
"My father will hear about this," Rodrigo says as they circle each other.
"Your father owes more than his weight in gambling debts. And I own the note on those. He will not raise so much as an eyebrow at me. Now fight."