Chapter Seven
They stood staring into each other’s eyes, locked in a silent battle of wills. The universe had narrowed to just the two of them; there was one. At last the girl bit her curled lip, and shook her head in tight-lipped refusal.
With his eyes still holding hers, Rahn raised a hand and gestured, summoning the captain of the guard. He whispered his instructions in the captain’s ear and that obedient soldier unsheathed his sword, and raised it over the head of the recalcitrant girl. She didn’t flinch as the iron blade was raised on high, but stood motionless, proud and aloof, boldly facing the tyrant she despised with her cold implacable eyes.
But in spite of her disobedience, the sword did not fall on her, though a flick of the wrist might easily have struck her down. Instead,
