Dark Devotion: Dark Series 3 by Lauren Dawes Page A

taking another step closer. Tove licked her lips and shuffled back another step. Her foot landed in the water, her shoes flooding with the freezing liquid. She looked at all of them, trying to decide who was going to strike first.
    Her world slowed down then. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, could smell the briny water. She blinked slowly, and when her eyes opened again, she gasped. Hovering above each of the boys’ heads was a shimmer of color. Jarl and Roland’s was red, but Sefi’s was black and Tove knew deep down in her gut that that was very, very bad.
    Sefi wanted to hurt her.
    He was the first to strike. Tove deflected it, letting Sefi’s momentum carry him forward. She shoved him in the back, sending him sprawling into the water. Edging away from the shore, she looked to Jarl and Roland. Roland swung his sword and hit Tove in the leg. She limped back a step, prepared for the next time he struck. Roland brought his sword above his head and lunged at Tove. Getting down into a crouch, she swept his legs out from under him and pushed him into the water with Sefi.
    Jarl was the only boy left now. With a cry leaving his mouth, he rushed Tove. The fifteen feet between them was quickly being swallowed up. At the last moment, Jarl’s foot hit a stone deeply buried in the sand and he was propelled forward. Tove stepped out of the way, watching the last of her attackers land in the water.
    All three boys stayed where they were, too shocked to move. Tove stepped back, bringing her sword up, ready for round two. But they didn’t move. A bubble of laughter burst from her lips as she looked at them, soaked to the bone with their teeth chattering.
    She put her sword away and turned around, wandering back the way she’d come.
    When she returned to her house, her father was lifting himself from his chair, finally done with his work for the day. He took one look at her, a deep scowl lining his face.
    “What has happened to you?” he demanded. The few servants in the hall startled at his raised voice before quickly returning to their work.
    Tove looked down at herself. The front of her dress was covered in water and mud. She looked back to her father and shrugged.
    “You’re bleeding.”
    That was when Tove felt the warm trickle of blood down her thigh. Roland must have struck her a lot harder than she realized. She tried to keep her gaze on her father, not acknowledging the injury.
    “Tell me what happened, Tove.” His voice was a command she could not ignore.
    “Those boys attacked me first. They ganged up on me!”
    Fury flashed behind his eyes. “You fought them?” he hissed. She nodded minutely. “How many?”
    “There were three of them.”
    “Who? I want their names.”
    Tove crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. If she told her father and he punished them, they would continue to bully her. He looked at her expectantly, but she wasn’t backing down.
    He frowned. “You won’t tell me, will you?”
    She shook her head.
    He continued to give her a hard look, then shocked her when he began to laugh. Throwing an arm over her shoulders, he led her toward the dais. He gestured for her to sit down in the huge wooden chair, but she hesitated. She was never allowed to sit in it.
    “Go on,” he encouraged. “Sit down while I go and get some water to clean up that cut.”
    Tove lifted herself onto the seat and swung her legs, waiting. Her father returned with a small bowl of water and a rag. He wiped away the blood slowly.
    “You’re just like your mother. Do you know that?” he told her, his focus still fixed on her leg wound.
    Tove held her breath, waiting for her father to say more. He hardly mentioned her mother, and never willingly talked about her. All she knew was that her name was Bodil and she was a shield maiden who had died on the battlefield.
    “When she was your age, she was always getting into trouble and fighting the boys.” He sighed, rinsing the rag in the water. “I