"Father, you can't!" Reynold said, stepping forward to put an armored hand on his father's shoulder. "Let me fight for you…"
"No," Tybal said, stubbornly shaking his head. "I can't send you to face that, that monster," he said, looking up at the hulking figure who had gone to stand on the far side of the Imperial Box with Rastlan and a woman who came from the same clan as Dirar.
Reynold followed his father's gaze, a hot retort on his lips, but that retort died the instant his eyes found the dark, murderous stare of Taghai. He thought that he'd prepared himself. After two nights spent facing off against Dame Sybyll and her nightmare horse, Poppy, he thought he was ready for anything.
He was wrong.
The sight of Taghai's muscular frame with a lower body the size of an ox-cart and an armored torso to match, made even his resolve shake and tremble. Still, the sight of his opponent alone wasn't enough to make him give up. Not when so much was at stake.
