Bright green sap spurted from the wound, drenching Eva. Her skin burned where it touched.
Strong hands wrapped around the back of her shirt and yanked, dragging her free.
Fiona's expression was aghast as she helped Eva to her feet. Caden burst past them, his sword a dance of light as it dismantled and beheaded the creatures who were even now rallying themselves to attack again. They paid little attention to Caden, despite the danger he presented.
"How is it you always manage to happen onto strangeness?" Fiona shouted.
Ghost and Roscoe waded into the fray with gleeful battle cries. Despite the exultation on their faces, they were careful to stay near the two women, guarding them as their swords moved in graceful arcs, each trying to top the other for style points.
"I think it might be a Lowland trait," Roscoe shouted over his shoulder. "Isn't the Battle Queen the same?"
"She's from the Highlands, you lout," Fiona snapped. "Mind your left side. Keep your defense up."
Beyond them, Caden was a whirling dervish, at once beautiful and deadly—his face a mask of fury.
It wasn't directed at her, but Eva couldn't help a small shiver of fear, remembering not so long ago when Caden could intimidate her into silence with merely a look. Seeing him like this made her remember why.
He was death incarnate, a god come to the mortal realm as he dealt destruction and devastation with equal abandon.
The creatures stood no chance against him. Each movement was quick and precise.
It was over in moments, leaving the creatures kindling on the ground. Caden stood in the middle of it all, his Anateri beside him.
His chest heaved as he cast one last glance around, checking to see if any of the creatures were still alive.
"Would you like to tell me why you're in the center of trouble once again?" Caden asked Eva, his voice unnaturally calm.
The thin leash she kept on herself snapped. The fear she'd had to put aside while under attack coupled with the relief of surviving, burst free.
"Oh yes, let's blame me for this." She threw her hands up. "Because I'm the one who brought those things to life and told them to attack me."
She realized she still had a bunch of twigs in her hand from the wood woman's hair and she chucked them at Caden's feet.
"I'm getting a little sick of being the bad guy all the time. You try dealing with all I’ve had thrown at me and see how you fare." Eva's voice had risen to a shout.
"I think she's cracked," Ghost said in a whisper to Roscoe.
He wasn't quiet enough. Eva's attention snapped to them.
Ghost gulped. He'd faced down monstrous creatures only seconds before, but now a touch of apprehension crossed his face at whatever he saw in her expression.
"What was that?" Eva asked, her voice sliding into a low rumble. "Are you insinuating that I'm mentally unstable because I had a natural reaction to another one of you idiots telling me something is my fault when it isn't?"
Eva was aware she was acting crazy, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. It was all too much. Too many people wanting things she couldn't possibly deliver. She wanted her simple life back. Not this dangerous one that seemed to get more dangerous with every passing second.
She wanted to be the type who saw a dangerous situation and ran from it like any sane person would. Not this person who constantly found herself embroiled in it.
This was not the simple life she thought she'd lead as a herd mistress.
"Well, to be fair, you're the only one these things attacked," Roscoe pointed out. "We all had contact with the figures and none of us set them off."
There was silence as Eva stared at them. Her gaze swept the group. Fiona winced as the color drained from Eva's face.
"Not helping," Fiona told Roscoe, who had the decency to look slightly guilty.
"Is this true?" Eva asked.
They all nodded. Some reluctantly. Some less so.
