Read The Consort (Tellaran Series) for Free Online Page B

I would let you take my place as consort?” Jazan jeered. “You are stupid as well as honorless, Tellaran.”
    “You don’t know anything about Tellarans,” Kyndan snapped.
    Quick as a coiled snake Jazan struck and with the very tip of his sword cut Kyndan’s face.
    It happened so fast Kyndan scarcely had time to blink.
    He stumbled back, his cheek stinging, and Jazan took up pacing in front of him again.
    He could have taken my eye. Gods, he could have cut my throat before I even had time to block!
    “You are weak,” Jazan scoffed. “You are nothing.”
    “And you’re losing,” Kyndan threw back, adjusting his grip on the sword.
    Jazan’s blade suddenly sliced his right forearm like a hot knife through tararoot mousse. Kyndan drew his breath in sharply at the pain. He risked a quick, foolish glance to see that it was a flesh wound and not deep at all.
    What the hell is he doing?
    “Am I losing, Tellaran?” Jazan mocked.
    “It’s true,” Kyndan gasped. “You—all the Az-kye—are losing to the Tellarans. That’s why your empress is finally willing to talk peace. Your ships are too slow, your society based on stagnating, outdated rules. We outgun you now. In a few generations the Az-kye Empire will fall to dust.” 
    “It is the Tellarans that will fall,” Jazan snarled. “You are barbarians. You are like animals.”
    “Maybe that’s why Alari wants me instead.” Kyndan smirked. “Because some Tellaran seed is exactly what your royal line needs.”
    With a casual flick of the blade Jazan cut his left thigh open.
    Kyndan let out a howl of pain as his leg collapsed under him. Face down in the dirt, curled in agony, he barely kept hold of the sword.
    Nausea roiled his stomach and Kyndan was coughing against the powdery dirt. Only pure survival instinct got him halfway up. Dimly he was aware of the audience getting to their feet and Kinara screaming his name. Blind with pain, he was crawling away when his hand hit against a black stone.
    Something about that stone was important.
    Certain-death-like important but he couldn’t remember what the hell it was.
    Right. Second rule. Don’t cross the boundary.
    But now he was trapped against the stones. He pressed his palm on the cool black surface of the boundary, willing the coldness, the hard solidness of the rock, to steady his mind and let him think.
    Somehow it penetrated through the pain and fear fogging his brain that Jazan hadn’t killed him yet.
    Why the fuck not?
    Gritting his teeth, Kyndan pushed against the stone, using it to help him get to his feet. Sweat was running into his eyes and Kyndan hefted the sword out into a weak en garde position but Jazan wasn’t anywhere near him. 
    Az-kye warriors didn’t smile or show emotion except in private and in the company of those they were closest to. The Circle was one place that social rule didn’t apply.
    But considering the sadistic smile on Jazan’s face now, Kyndan really wished it did.
    Jazan waited on the other side of the Circle, apparently content to let Kyndan get to his feet before the warrior finished filleting him.
    Hey, I’ll take whatever I can get . . .
    Kyndan couldn’t keep from groaning in pain as he staggered away from the edge of the Circle towards Jazan. He hadn’t landed a single hit or even blocked an attack but he raised his sword anyway.
    “You know, I didn’t get a chance to ask,” Kyndan got out between teeth clenched in pain. “Will I have any official duties as consort or is bedding the princess my main responsibility?”
    Jazan knocked Kyndan’s sword downward, hitting so fast and hard it sent a jarring shock up Kyndan’s arms when the blade met the ground.  Kyndan’s sword hit the dirt, then Jazan lifted his massive arm and clipped Kyndan with an upper cut under the jaw with the hilt of his sword.
    Kyndan slammed to the dirt floor hard enough that he saw stars.  His face went briefly, blessedly numb.
    Jazan gave him a contemptuous look and stepped