I mean, she's actually slaughtering our enemies—but every deadly move she makes is so lithe and graceful that it looks like a macabre, perfectly choreographed dance.
The earth elemental launches at her, but she does a back handspring to land directly behind the vampire. He whirls, trying to grab at her, but she breaks both of his arms in one brutal movement before dropping down and breaking both of his knees, too. He screams and collapses, and my mouth drops open when she…pulls out his heart.
Plucks it right out and tosses it aside without batting an eye.
"Oh…shit. Dear gods above,” Everett breathes as we continue to watch Maven run circles around the fuckers we were collectively just barely staving off. "She's…"
"A badass," I declare.
"Thetelum." His eyes track her movements. He starts fidgeting nervously with his sleeves on repeat. "She’s…the scourge.”
Silas shoots him a suspicious look. "We know. She told us. But how do you know about that?"
"There was a prophecy about the Entity’s weapon a long time ago, and some legacies never forgot about it," he mutters. "I just caught wind of the rumors stirring. That's it."
He's definitely hiding something, but I don't bother trying to get the honest answer out of him as I watch my mate move with deadly speed, cracking one of the caster's skulls on her knee before rolling out of the way of another attack. She moves faster than a human can—maybe even as fast as a shifter. Reacts faster, too.
It's like seeing her in her true element for the first time, and I can't look away.
The earth elemental sends a barrage of sharpened stones flying toward her. Maven uses the vampire's corpse as a shield before taking off into a dead run at the elemental. I tense, worried she's about to need help, but Maven leaps up, twisting midair to wrap her legs around the neck of the elemental. There's a loudsnap, and he drops dead before she lands and rolls back to her feet.
"Did…did she just snap that guy's neck with her thighs?" I manage.
Silas is just as mesmerized. "That she did."
"Fuck."
I wouldn't complain if her thighs did me in. What a way to go.
Finally, Maven faces the final rival—the caster who hit me with the silverblend spell. I can practically smell the fear rolling off of him as he sends attack after attack at her, all of which she deflects with swirling blasts of dark magic. I don't know whatSilas meant about our keeper's magic being different, but it does seem to shatter anything in its path.
When the caster gives up and turns to run, Maven catches up and quickly pins him to the ground from behind, one knee on his back. She's far enough away that even I can't hear what she bends down to say in his ear before shadow-like magic flares out from around them.
He screams.
She beams.
Fucking gods above. My stunning little mate is kind of a sadist, isn't she?
I try to sit up more, grimacing at the pain. "Crypt was right. We've been underestimating her."
"She wanted us to." Silas shakes his head, a gruesome smile playing on his lips. "Our vicious little minx has been far underplaying her own abilities so she could escape all attention here at Everbound. Clever, but it makes me curious how strong she really is."
I hear a garbled cry and realize Maven killed off the last of Brooks' quintet. When she stands, she scans her surroundings in a trance-like state, almost like she's hoping to find another target to take down. There aren't any.
After a moment, she shakes her head to clear it and stalks back to us, splattered in the blood of our enemies with a smile on her beautiful face.
Terrifying.
But in a really hot way.
Mate,my inner dragon growls hungrily.Mine.
I clear my throat, which is still hoarse from all the screaming. "Is anyone else turned on right now, or is that just me?"
Everett looks at me like I disgust him while Silas hums in agreement.
Maven stops in front of us, and for a moment, she observes us warily with her hauntingly beautiful eyes as if expectingusto attack her next. A few days ago, I would have been frustrated that she still doesn't believe me about wanting her no matter what.
