I roll onto my knees.
But I don’t get to move an inch more than that.
The winter fae is suddenly towering over me.
I blink, and he’s there.
I cringe from him, my teeth bared in nothing less than braced cowardice.
That doesn’t stop his hand from coming down on the nape of my neck—and he pins me.
The pressure turns my gaze down to the road.
I’m folded over, tears falling to the black ice, heart frozen in my chest, breath stuck in my throat—and for a beat, all I can hear is the blood pulsing in my own ears.
“Don’t run!” Bee’s shout is fast followed by a hacking sound, like she’s still fighting off the cloth. “Just trust me!”
Far away…
Too far.
Now I know they’re in the darkness—where sound is just that bit off, that bit distant, that bit distorted.
Then Bee’s voice joins that distortion, “Just wait for me. The CB!Argh—”
Her shouts end.
Silence frosts the road.
And I’m left in a thick quiet that’s disturbed only by my thundering heartbeats.
TWO
The firmness of the winter fae’s cold grip leaves the nape of my neck—and I sag, a slight bob to my head.
With the pressure released from my spine, aches spring along my shoulders. The urge to roll them back and stretch out my neck tenses me. But I don’t dare chance it, any movement that’ll return his attention to me.
Folded over on the black ice, I keep myself small. Even my breaths are controlled, shallow.
But it’s all pointless.
I pose no threat to him, just as most people are no threat to the dark fae, but it makes no difference to them.
They still slaughter us.
And now I am left to the mercy of this one as he slowly comes around to my front.
The toes of his soft, leather boots halt on the black road, right at the border of my vision, an inch or two from my splayed, gloved hands.
My eyes widen—
And I stiffen.
I wait, wait for him to do something, for him to deliver the kill strike, the blow to my back that will punch his fist through my ribs and shove my heart right out of my body.
The seconds trickle by.
And I just stare at the toes of soft, leather boots.
