She cradles her head and moans.
A boot slams into my back, shoving my face into the cobblestone next to Sam. She winces as she attempts to stand and is met with the heel of a boot to the side of her face.
“Filthy,” a man snarls.
I squirm, attempting to get free, but the iron burns as my wrists are locked together once again.
Fifty
Samaria
“Get off of her!”My throat stings as I scream, the wound from the guard, festering. I kick my legs, biting any hand that dares come close to my face, but the guards don’t stop until they’ve drug both Elora and I to our feet.
Her cheeks are fiery, hair plastered to her face, and her wrists… My stomach knots as metal grates in my ears.
“Put your hands out.” A guard steps forward, so I spit in his face. He turns but it’s too late. He wipes his face before his fist connects with my jaw and I’m seeing stars.
“Sam!” Elora growls, kicking her feet out.
The wolves howl next to us, and I manage to crack my eyes open just enough to see that they’ve been tied down.
Elwyn and Celia are at my sides, their hands clean and hair neatly combed despite how hard they fought only moments ago.
Who knew being a Spiritwalker meant also channeling the dead. My magick has depleted since using it. But I wouldn’t change it. They saved our arses more times than I can count.
A tear runs down my cheek, stinging the bruised areas.
“Hey,” I say over my shoulder to Elora, just as darkness begins to encompass my vision.
Thick clouds blanket the sky, dark and ominous. Thunder cracks in the distance, a low rumbling of promise that the worst has yet to come. Elora looks up, her golden eyes wide, feral.
“At least we’re together.” My voice cracks on the last word and her face falls.
The final clasp of iron around my wrist is like a death sentence. Inevitable yet terrifying all the same. We’re dragged forward and just when my vision wanes, I hear it.
My knees buckle as the sound of horns come from the harbor. The guard holding me doesn’t catch my fall, and my knees smack to the ground.
“What was that?” he asks his companion. They both shrug just as the horn sounds again, this time much closer. My head is spinning and I know Elora can’t be in better shape, but there must be something we can do with the guards distracted. Must be some way…
Another blast of the horn, and the guard drops my arms completely to cover his ears. I’m a bit envious I can’t do the same as the horn blares over and over again, but I use the noise to my advantage. Rising to my feet, I keep light on my toes, raising my arms over the guards head and then quickly slamming them down so his throat is pressed against my locked wrists.
Then, I squeeze.
The guard holding Elora drops her, coming to his friend’s aid, but he doesn’t make it far before Elora attacks, her teeth digging into the flesh of his calf. From the amount of blood pooling on the ground, I suspect she’s more wolf than she thinks.
When my guard has stopped squirming, I release him and he drops to the ground.
“You’ll pay—” The guard holding Elora stops, his body crumpling forward onto the stone ground, an arrow protruding from his back.
Elora and I glance to the castle, to the many windows lining the front, but it’s too far to make anyone out.
Elora sways as I pull her to her feet.
“Are you all right?”
She nods, but doesn’t speak, her chin still stained red. When I’m sure she won’t fall, I leave her side and swipe the keys from the guard’s belt. When we’re both unchained, I grab her and hold her as close to me as possible. I lost her once already, but twice would have been the end of who I am as a person. There would be no coming back from that. No?—
“Samaria!”
