“My name,” I say, raising my blade even with his, “is Odelia.”
He lunges, splitting the air with a jab, but something fast impacts the back of his head. The shot makes him flinch, then his eyes widen as the venom pod bursts down his neck and back. Otto grins from a branch high above, as if he hasn’t just attacked the person he should fear most in the world. I do grin this time, meeting his eyes.
My father’s rage ignites, then, his eyes wild as he charges, swinging recklessly. Broken branches crack apart under his boots, but I hold my ground, my heart in my throat. As he lifts for his next blow, I sweep under his arm, fast as a dartfish now, and toss my blade hand back to land a glancing blow to his ribs, the way Rune said he’d learned from his brother. The moment I reach the other side of him, I snatch up my bola and roll forwards, expecting a blade to follow me at any moment. Instead, I see Tavi ahead, and a man aiming a bolt at her back.
“Tavi!” I shout, tossing the bola with half a thought. It wraps the man’s crossbow and pulls it off aim. The shot goes wide, embedding in the leg of a Viper nearby. Tavi turns, hands blurring as she aims a throwing knife first at him—then at me. My stomach drops as the steel flies. Surprise keeps me still for a blink too long, but it slices by the flap of my ear, landing somewhere behind me with a wet thunk.
I turn as the body hits the ground—a Viper with the blade in his eye to the hilt—but I keep turning, because Ivor’s crashing step has me diving for the downed man’s sword.
We trade blows, my new speed evening out his strength. Each strike sends shocks of pain up my arms, rattling the joints of my shoulders. My instincts flare, helping me put anything I can between us, rocks, trees, brush. Some he tears down, others he kicks away, his face that familiar shade of red. It’s life or death now. He’s lost to rage, to grief. And I’ve gone too far, pushed him too much. It’ll be a loss for him, but not the kind it should be.
I twist, almost dancing away from the hits I can’t block as my arms lose strength. I wait for the fear, but it doesn’t come. The realisation emboldens me, and I risk stepping in rather than leaping away, and feel the flesh of his shoulder open under my blade.
He roars, backhanding me with his sword hand. I’m only on the ground for a moment before I pop up, ready to leap under his next swing to get behind him—but he won’t let me get away with it twice. He spins, too nimble for a man his size, then I feel the air shift as the blade sweeps above me, and fire blooms in the back of my ribs. I hit the ground hard and roll onto my back, feeling briars snag on my fur.
“PUT HER AWAY,” he roars, stabbing the ground with every word. I’m barely able to avoid them, each strike hitting closer than the last as I crab walk away. Air saws in and out of my lungs. My body is soaked in sweat and warm blood. My back hits a tree, and he lifts his sword high, his eyes frenzied with frustration. Red and oozing green drips down his shoulders and to the front of his neck from where the acidic venom has gnawed through his skin.Burned patches mar his jacket, and Otto shoots another pod that hits his back and bursts into short-lived flames.
Ivor roars and swipes his sword down. Even with my shift I’ll be too slow, but I smile at him. I’ve won in the only way that matters.
The ringing sound of steel on steel obliterates the world around us for a moment, and when I look up, Rune and Elio stand over me, their blades caught on Ivor’s own. Together, they overpower him, shoving him back until I can gain my feet. They work in beautiful tandem, one stepping in when the other steps back, taking turns catching the heavy strikes of his blade. For the first time, hope blooms through my chest. They’re gaining ground. Maybe we can win this. Together.
“Otto!” Tavi screams, her voice breaking. She’s caught against two others, trying to fight her way towards the three Vipers that swarm the tree Otto is in. One shifts, a selbie, and flies up to rake at him with savage talons.
“Go!” Rune shouts to me as Elio catches a strike, but I don’t need the order.
Otto’s cries already have me moving.
YOUR MERCY WILLBE THE DEATH OF YOU
39
RUNE
She did it. Odi half-shifted into her deer form, and she’s magnificent.
She’s bare from the waist up, but her breasts and chest are covered in golden fur with white spots. My breath had caught at the fire in her eyes, the way she moved with such elegant speed and precision.
With her shiny black nose, velvet skinned ears. I’m in awe. There is no version of this woman that I’m not obsessed with, and when we are done here I plan on showing her just how attentive I can be.
I just have one thing to finish first. I narrow my focus, until there’s nothing and no one but the male in front of me. Grey eyes, haunting and empty. A pale jagged scar running from his right eye to the middle of his cheek. His grin wicked, like he made a deal with death and plans to fulfill it.
The chaos around me slows. I’ve been waiting to take down Ivor for three years. Putting all my pent up anger, and fury into finding him and dealing the deadly blow that he deserves. For years he’s evaded the navy, taken lives withoutthought, poisoned my ocean with his greed and bloodlust. He mutilated Otto, stole peace from my crew—yet as I stand in front of him, blade in hand, I see the father of the woman I have fallen for. Viper or no, he’s all the family she has left.
Can I end him?
My chest heaves, dragging in air as my blade slices through the space between us. The sound of sword against sword rings out, the chaos around me becoming a whirlwind of madness once again. Through it all, my gaze finds Odi across the sand. She’s tearing through men like waves in a storm crashing over rock, one after another, unstoppable as she races to protect Otto. To balance the scales of her father’s existence.
I set my jaw, chin tipped up slightly. She is nothing like him, and she never will be. There is not a single particle of doubt left in my body. Odelia Nisse Ivor isn't just a Viper, she’s a fierce, loyal, kind, beautiful woman.
She’s a weapon. And she’s mine.
Elio is at my side, moving like he can read my thoughts. I duck, he strikes high. I drive forwards, he covers my back. To one man, Ivor might seem unassailable, but none of us are alone, and together we wear Ivor down. The man shuffles on his feet, swinging his blade through the air. Fury is carved into every line of his face. Grey eyes bloodshot, wild, the veins crawling red like a spider's web as he takes in the carnage of his crew around him.
For a moment, the bastard looks less like the beast legends claim him to be, and more like a man.
He bellows, a sound that rattles the air, and swings his ridiculously huge broadsword with the kindof strength that could split me in two. The blow jars through my arms as I block, teeth chattering, the impact shoving me backwards a step.
Elio darts in, fast as a striking barracuda, blade catching Ivor across the ribs just barely.
