Their swords clashed together, crossed between their chests. Metal sang. Adara pushed forward, the flames around her sword licking at both their faces.
Beads of sweat rolled down Dominic’s face as he sucked in a breath through his teeth. Ire flared in his eyes. “I’ll kill you,” he sneered.
She smiled. “You can try.”
A vine wrapped around Adara’s hand from behind her. Her fingers strained as she tried to hold onto the hilt. A faint zap of lightning to her hands was all it took for Dominic to force her grip to falter. The vine yanked Infinova right out of her grasp, leaving her weaponless.
His hand wrapped around her throat andsqueezed. Nails bit into her skin, deep enough to draw blood. “It’s too bad Lunard isn’t here to save your ass,” he crooned, a fake pout forming on his mouth. Then his smile turned cruel as he lifted her from the ground.
Words no longer formed on her lips. Only quiet, choked noises, as his grip tightened. Her legs dangled motionlessly beneath her, arms hanging limply at her sides as she tried to choke down air.
“You have no one in your pathetic, worthless life, and I’m betting you’re the reason they all leave. Why else would you riskeverything?”
The journey across the Plagued Sea. A suicide mission to find the relics to forge the Realm Fracturer. And a war of hearts in which she’d have to relinquish her key if she lost. Indeed, she had risked everything because she had nothing. Of course, Dominic could see that.
“It’s a shame it was all for nothing,” he said, sarcasm lacing his tone.
Blood trickled down her neck, Dominic’s nails piercing deeper. The agony was unbearable. Her neck was already bruised from Tyson attempting to kill her before.
Adara strained as she tried to shake her head beneath his grasp.No.The word only echoed in her head, her vision blurring around the edges.
Her feet kicked against his legs, gaining strength with every strike. She raised her arms, hands wrapping around his wrist that held her by the throat.
“No,” she breathed, her voice barely audible.
Then sheburned.
Burned his wrist with a fire so hot that even her own hands stung from it. The stench of his burning flesh made her gag as his hold released, and she fell to the ground. Adara crumpled to the dirt, hand shooting to her neck as if to soothe the ache. Curled on her side, she gasped for breath, blinking away the black splotches obscuring her vision.
Dominic groaned, sucking in deep breaths. “Weak,” he spat.
Adara pushed herself up on unsteady legs, vision still fading in and out from the lack of air. Fatigued, scared, and helpless, Adara found herself in the meadow once again, surrounded by bloodshed. Her slaughtered friends lay scattered upon the grass. Her breaths came out shallow, uneven as she stared at her handscovered in their blood.No.She shook her head.I’m not here. Not again,she told herself.I’m fighting Dominic. I’m going to win—
Silver flashed in the corner of her eye. Pain arced through her face, a stinging line from her eyebrow to her cheek. Adara screamed at the agony dragging through her left eye. Her hand instinctively reached for her eye, as if covering it would somehow help. Blood gushed through her fingers.
She stumbled back, her head heavy, her loss of blood and vision in one eye causing the world to tilt and blur. Dominic moved to her left, hiding in her peripheral that was now lost. Pain slashed across the back of her thigh. Leg buckling beneath her, Adara fell to the ground, knees sinking into the dirt in defeat. Another flash of movement and she was being kicked hard in the chest, sprawling to the forest floor on her back.
Dominic crawled over her, pinned her arms on either side of her with his knees. The tang of metal filled her mouth, blood running from her eye down to her lips. He pressed his sword to her throat, so close that Adara knew if she moved in the slightest, her skin would be ripped apart.
Fear should have squeezed her heart, should have gripped her by the shoulders and shaken her awake. Every instinct in her should have screamed to fight back.
It did not.
“Do it,” her voice came out low and harsh. “Kill me.” Blood pooled in her mouth as she spoke. “Prieth al rone yi mon taka,”she whispered the words meant only for the gods to hear, Callan’s advice be damned.
The Thief of Hearts stared at her, his glowing green eyes harsh. Dark strands of sweat- soaked hair hung limply over his forehead. He drew in heavy breaths through clenched teeth. But beneath that hatred, she saw something more. In all the stories, Dominic Nite was never hesitant to slit a throat. So why wouldn’t he do the same to her?
He peered at her with something she couldn’t quite place. She couldn’t stand him looking at her like that—with pity.
“Kill me,” she urged again, unsure why. On one hand, she still had an empire to defeat, a kingdom to save. On the other, she could destroy it all.
She could be with Cal and the others.
“Kill me!” she screamed this time, desperate for a reaction from him. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just get it over with. “This is what you’ve been waiting for. Do it!” she shouted. Blood flew from her mouth, spattering on his face inches from hers.
His expression only softened. He gazed at her with eyes full of sympathy. His brows were drawn together in confusion, his lips turned downward.
Adara’s voice softened to a harsh whisper as she uttered, “Or maybe you don’t have the guts. You’re all talk of this cruel, merciless monster, but you don’t have it in you to kill me. You’reweak. If I had the chance, you’d be dead as soon as you hit the ground.” She chuckled darkly, sounding completely insane, delusional. Maybe she was after all the years of death following her, her only ceaseless companion. After losing everyone she ever loved.
