I don’t know if it’s the newly unleashed feral side of me that likes that this is a challenge or if fighting alongside Bones for the first time is making all of this feel far more romantic than it has any right to be, but I can’t stop smiling as I push even harder to cut these fuckers up into unrecognizable pieces.
One of my attackers advances when he should have ducked back, and my ax comes down hard on his shoulder. I cleave into him almost all the way to his heart, and I abandon the ax and ready my sword instead. My blades slice through bones and sinew like they’re nothing more than warm lard. When this is over, I vow to myself to fuck Curio on every surface of his masterful workshop for creating such flawless and deadly weapons.
A dagger comes flying at me, and I reach up to pluck it from the air. It slices across my palm as I stop its fatal trajectory, and I hold on to the blade in search of who I’m going to return it to. The palm of my hand sizzles and blisters as the dark gray blade scorches and scalds. I drop it with a yelp and look down at the angry burn now marring my hand.
Iron!
“These fuckers have iron blades,” I warn Bones as I dodge a charge from a female who slips from the other fight to join mine.
She tries to slide past my feet and pick up her iron dagger, but I shove a stinger-shaped dagger through her throat instead.
“Ours are poisoned; I’m not worried,” Bones yells back, and the male who was just about to advance on me hesitates.
I capitalize on his cowardice and lift my hand to the shaft of moonlight that’s thankfully still streaming into the courtyard above me. As soon as it kisses my palm, the burn starts to mend. The fighter in front of me gasps, his eyes going wide and searching as they flick from my healing hand to my face. He squints as though he’s trying to see past my skeletal glamour, which is when Bones walks up behind him and smashes the hilt of his sword into the back of the shocked male’s skull. He crumples to the ground with a resounding thud.
I look from Bones to the surrounding courtyard and stalls, ready for another attack, only to realize everyone wearing the light gray armor and moonbeams for hair is down. I start checking bodies for heartbeats. Poison blades or not, I have the one hostage I needed, but I want to make sure the rest of these shits are dead; otherwise, they can come with us too.
“You good, Beasty?” Bones probes as he watches me check everyone over.
Blood dapples the painted white bones of his glamour, and I’m sure the black patches hide their own fair share of gore. I want to lick it from his skin. A salacious smile tips Bones’s mouth up, growing wider and wider the longer I stare. Then he winces, and the building heat between my thighs takes a back seat to instant concern.
“You’re hurt?” I demand, abandoning the last body left to check and striding over to him.
“It’s shallow,” Bones assures me as he presses a hand to his chest.
Blood seeps from the wound, arguing against his claims ofshallow, but he threads his fingers in mine to keep me from inspecting it.
“It was one of those fucking iron daggers,” he dismisses as I glower at him. “We need to go make sure Scorpius and Skull are okay.”
“Well, that would certainly save us from having to check on you,” Skull calls as he steps out of the dark shadows behind an empty fruit cart.
Scorpius appears right behind him, and they scan me and Bones before taking in the courtyard and the bloody bodies scattered all around us.
“Looks like they underestimated you too,” Scorpius observes, and I notice the blood dripping from their skin and armor.
“Did you get all of them?” Bones asks.
Skull shakes his head. “Only three, they ran when the Vulpi escaped with Hatus.”
“So are we just not going to talk about the fact that they bear a striking resemblance to a certain slave we all know?” I point out cryptically in case there are listening ears nearby.
“No resemblance to aslavewe know, but they could definitely pass as kin to a goddess we often cross paths with,” Scorpius states matter-of-factly, his eyes warm and sparkling with mirth.
I snort and shake my head, but a sweet smile pulls at my lips.
“Let’s go before anyone comes looking for the source of all the noise,” Skull points out.
“We kept one alive.”
I point to the unconscious fae at Bones’s feet, and Scorpius grins like I just gave him the best present in the world. I love how fucked we all are in the head. Who needs romantic overtures and jewels when you can havefights to the deathand thetorturing of your enemies?
It’s good to be a Scorpion.
Scorpius flicks a spark of fire at the pile of bodies Skull collected, and they go up in flames. I stare at him, impressed.
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
Scorpius’s shrug is casual, but there’s pride in his half-cocked smile. “I could try to teach you.”
