Arrows whizzed past them. Summer's horse squealed in pain. An arrow stuck out of the poor animal's neck.

She hopped off before her ride toppled to the ground. Arrows and a throwing knife stabbed the horse's chest and side. Ida and the two guards' horses fared slightly better, though one of the guards fell off his horse and the animal galloped away.

Armed men poured out of the trees on either side of the road, blocking their way and surrounding them from all sides. Ten. Fifteen. No, almost twenty men. Charging at once, they cut off Summer from Ida and the guards.

"Summer!" Ida called out. Summer was their target.

A man reached for her. She ducked down and drove her fist in the dip beneath his breastbone. He choked. Summer whirled. Another man grabbed for her. She dodged, stepping into his space. Then drove her palm up his nose. Blood spurted out. Summer spun, swiping her machete out and swinging. The men stepped back. They hadn't thought she would be armed.

"Want to play, little girl?" One of them said, taking out a sword. "Let's play."

Three charged at once from all sides. Summer slashed and kicked at once. Ducking beneath a sword, she switched her grip and drove the machete back. Blood sprayed her neck and cheek. She was already turning in a crouch. Swiping a dagger from her ankle and driving it into a man's thigh in two quick strikes. He screamed. Summer kicked her leg out.

More men replaced the injured and dead. Summer was surrounded by men twice her size in moments. She fought, but there were too many, they were armed and well trained. At one point, one of them wrapped his arms around her from behind, immobilizing her hands and arms, and dragged her away. Summer kicked her head back. He dodged. She kicked her heels. He grunted but didn't let go.

In moments, they were in the trees out of the road. A few other men joined them. The archers. The sound of fighting continued, clashing swords and grunts of pain. She hoped Ida was alright.

"Get the rope! Quick!"

One of the other men shoved a wet rag over her mouth and nose. Summer recognized the scent. Her heart hammered. She held her breath.

The rag was dipped in a solution made of a mix of tranquilizing substances. Boyd used to have a vial of it on him, and he had her smell it so she knew its effects on her. Five breaths and she would have difficulty controlling her muscles, her mind would go hazy and her senses would dim. She was older now, so it would take more than five breaths. Still, it was dangerous. Fear twisted up her insides. She didn't want to wake up in the mercy of these men. Who knew what they'd do to her?

For now, though, she had to play along.

It was difficult to go against her natural reflexes, but Summer forced her body to relax, slowly. Her lungs burned from lack of air. And while she could hold her breath for a long time, it was still a challenge after all the fighting she'd just done. If they didn't remove the rag soon, she would have to really breathe in.

"Is it working?"

Summer let her eyelids droop and her head loll. Her machete and dagger dropped to the ground.

The man saw that and grunted. "It should be. Let's just tie her up first. Get the rope!"

The giant holding her eased his hold a fraction. That was all Summer needed. She dropped down, slipping right through his arms, then, still crouching, swiveled and kicked the man's legs from under him.

He toppled to the ground. Summer swiped her dagger, slashed his heels so he'd stay down, flung her dagger. It hit a man right in the throat. He gurgled blood. It all happened in a blink.

"Did you not give her the damned drug?!" One of the thugs asked his friend as they surrounded her. Summer rose to a defensive crouch. Seven males, excluding the one she'd kicked down. She'd never fought as many before all on her own.

Well, she would just have to do it now.

Summer whirled when she sensed one coming from behind her, and kicked his guts. He staggered two steps. She elbowed another sneaking at her side. His nose crunched.

Kick. Slash. Elbow. Punch. Kick. Sweat trickled down her neck. Summer couldn't keep this indefinitely. Her blades whooshed through the air.

"Damn it," one of them said, his nose bloody, and charged her with a cry. He was the size of a bear and built like one. Summer dropped down at the last moment, ducked and rolled away. The man almost barreled into his friend.

As she knelt on the ground, her hand touched something hot. She glanced down. The artifact.

What in the world...?

"Where is she?!"

Summer looked up at the men. They looked around wildly as if they couldn't see her sitting right there, only steps from them.

"How in the world did you lose her?" One of the men said, blood trickling down his forehead to his left eye.

"I didn't! She just vanished!" The man who'd charged at her last said.

Summer kept completely still, unable to believe herself. Their eyes swung around, passing right through her as if they truly couldn't see her.

They couldn't see her.

Summer looked at the artifact touching her hand. The artifact's usually dull white gem glowed softly. She felt like a thread pulled her towards the medallion. Felt as if she couldn't let go even if she wanted to. She gripped it despite the burning hot metal and slowly stood up. Nothing. The thugs didn't react.

"You! Go that way! She can't have gone far! You..."

Summer looked at her hand. She could see herself. She was right here.

No matter how good she was at going unseen, she couldn't escape the notice of five men focusing solely on her in a place where there was no one else. The artifact's temperature kept rising, it was almost painful to hold. But if a burnt hand was the price to becoming invisible, Summer would gladly pay it.

The sound of fighting was still ongoing on the road. Ida.

Summer rose to her feet and snuck up behind the closest man, hitting him on a particular spot on the back of the neck. He swayed and fell.

"Hey! What's-"

Another one fell. Being invisible certainly made things easier. Summer knocked down the seven men and rushed out of the trees towards Ida and the two guards. They were still fighting. The guards fought back to back with Ida, trying to cut through the bandits. Men littered the ground, motionless, their blood staining the dirt.

Summer made use of the unexpected new talent and cut across the fighting. Men fell like flies.

"Alive! Alive if you can help it!" Ida called out.

Ida beat the last man standing with the back of her sword and kicked him down. He dropped, unconscious.

No longer able to bear the heat, Summer let the artifact drop. She was right in front of Ida.

Ida's sword came within an inch of Summer's neck before she stopped it, her eyes wide. "What in the- where the hell did you come from?! Are you okay?"

Summer glanced at the fallen artifact. Ida followed her gaze and frowned. "Is that-"

"Yes. Can you pick it up?"

Ida picked up the medallion, hissing slightly. "It's hot. Wait, the gem looks different. Did they steal it from the castle?"

One of the fallen men groaned. Ida made a face. She gave orders, and one of the guards who wasn't badly hurt ran off.

Soon, city guards filled the road, joined shortly by members of the Royal Guard. Ida tucked the artifact in her pocket.

"Do you think they stole it?" Ida asked Summer, walking to the edge of the road out of hearing. All the bandits were tied up and gathered. The live ones anyway. Summer wondered how many of those dead she had killed.

"I found it in the woods when I was fighting those guys," Summer replied. She could no longer feel that pull from the artifact. "Can I try holding it?"

Ida turned to shield her hand from everyone's view and gave it to her. Once Summer touched it, it seemed like it heated some more, but she didn't feel any different, and from Ida's expression, Summer hadn't disappeared. Why had it worked earlier and not now?

Summer's heart pumped faster, and it wasn't because of the fight. All of her and Leon's assumptions might just be true. And wouldn't that be a blast? Summer, a little orphan thief, belonging to a Blessed bloodline. She would give her left arm to get more information out of her mother right now.

"Can I ask them a few questions?" Summer asked Ida, handing her the artifact back.

"Sure." Ida motioned for the guards to give them some space.

Summer crouched in front of one of the tied men, Ida standing tall next to her. "Who sent you?"

He sneered. Ida knocked her foot against the man's head. He cried out, toppling down. Ida grabbed his hair and jerked him up, holding a dagger in front of his face. "Answer the question."

The man cursed. Ida's dagger inched closer.

"Fine! Fine!" he begged.

"Talk," Ida said, dropping his head.

He gave a few more colorful curses before spitting some blood aside and answering, "a dapper fellow in Wanton street. He told us to get the violet-eyed girl. Paid half yesterday."

"Only yesterday?" Ida asked. "You sure work fast."

"He paid well."

Summer narrowed her eyes. "With money?"

"What else would he pay with?" The bandit said. So it wasn't gems like Oakly.

"What does he look like?" Summer asked.

"Short, dark hair, brown eyes," the man grumbled.

Ida slapped him upside the head. "That's the description of half the city."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Try to remember if there's anything noticeable about him?"

The man scowled. "I tried. Nothing comes to mind."

Ida whacked him upside the head again. Summer barely held back her laughter.

"Try harder," Ida said, pressing her dagger to his cheek. "Or would you like some help?"

At the feel of Ida's wicked dagger, the man groaned. "He looks like he's rich. Fur cloak and a red gem earring. I don't remember if it's the left ear or the right. There! That's all I remember!"

"How did you know we'd be here?" Summer asked.

"He told us."

He told them? How would he know? Who knew Rose would invite Summer?

"One last thing," Ida asked, pulling the artifact out of her pocket. "Where did you get this?"

The man frowned. "What the hell is that junk?"

Ida and Summer exchanged a look. Was he just bluffing? Summer had a feeling he was telling the truth. If they hadn't stolen it, then how in the world did the artifact get here?

Ida and Summer went through the conscious men one by one. No one could give them any more useful information.

Summer's horse had died. The poor animal had done nothing wrong, and yet it had lost its life. Ida and the guards' horses fared much better. One of Summer's two guards bled heavily from a gash on his head. The other limped slightly. Ida had a nick on her cheek and her jacket was torn around her shoulder.

Despite the odds, they were alive, by some miracle. And the miracle was that artifact.

Summer and Ida rode to the castle. Surrounded by more guards.

"I thought violence isn't always the answer. That's what you told Wolfe," Summer told Ida as she rode beside her.

"When it comes to people who haven't been proven guilty yet. Those bastards killed a horse, hurt my colleagues and tried to kill us. Violence is the only answer as far as I'm concerned." Ida uttered a very unladylike curse. "Just thinking about it makes me want to go back there and knock some sense into them. Idiots."

All in all, she couldn't say her visit to Rose was uneventful. The earlier fight weighed her heart down. She had taken lives. Again. Summer's hands tightened around the reins.

It was kill or be killed. But those men weren't trying to kill her. They were only trying to capture her. So was killing them justified?

But they would've easily killed Ida and the two guards. Summer had to protect them just as they tried to protect her.

At which point, exactly, does murder become legitimate? Summer felt like her lines were growing blurry. She'd always upheld the principles Boyd and then she had set for herself. But she'd never thought she would one day need strict lines when it came to taking human lives. And yet here she was.

Summer heaved a deep breath and urged her horse to a canter. She could feel a headache coming.

*** **** ***

Sorry for the missed update last week. If you follow me on IG, you know I caught a stomach bug last week and it hasn't been very fun lol

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter will be up on Patreon tomorrow for my subscribers. It'll be up on Wattpad next week!

Thank you for your support <3 <3 <3

Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.