After all, who could possibly love her? How could they when she couldn’t hope to return the feeling?
But this thing with Malekar was probably the closest she’d ever get. And she refused to let it go.
The clash of steel echoed up the slope, and the acrid bite of smoke from fresh fires pulled her out of her thoughts. Rynna remained silent, though, as she took in everything Vorian, Daziel, and Kaelric had unleashed.
“You know.” Malekar pulled twin short swords from where they hung on his back. “It wouldn’t be such an issue if we learned how to control it.”
He never looked at her as he spoke, heels digging into the horse’s side, driving it to a light canter.
“No,” Rynna replied. She’d spent over five hundred years searching for answers. Now she sought the only escape that worked.
Closing the distance, flame and sorrow filled her senses. The horses kicked up dirt and blood. Shouts and desperate cries sent her heart pounding, dulling the constant ache within her.
She leaned over Empty Night’s broad neck, murmuring, “Fly.”
The mare responded, muscles bunching, hooves pounding, carrying Rynna down the hill and into the slaughter.
The first soul stumbling into her path was wild-eyed, arms flailing. Empty Night didn’t break stride. Bone crunched under hooves as Rynna rose in the saddle, blade sweeping down in one clean arc, splitting the woman from collar to gut.
Blood struck Rynna’s skin in a burst of heat, coating her arms and cheeks. The woman crumpled, forgotten before she hit the ground. But the pain eased, just a fraction. The inferno inside dulled beneath the rush of it, soothed by the way something else had broken first.
Two more fell before her blade as she charged onward. They had somehow made it past the initial wave of carnage and were scrambling for safety when she found them.
Not that there was any hope of escape, even if they had made it past her.
Daziel’s pack was already at work—lean, feral things with matted fur and eyes too smart to be natural. They tore through the village, dragging down anything that moved.
One broke from the others and lunged at a young man sprinting in her path. He barely had time to yell before it clamped down on his neck and shook until cartilage snapped and blood sprayed in long, red arcs.
Rynna scowled.
She swung off Empty Night, closed the distance in three strides, and drove her boot into the dog’s ribs. It yelped as it sailed through the air, hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up on its feet, snarling.
She bared her teeth right back. “That one was mine.”
The dog let out a low whine, tail dropping as it bolted into the smoke.
She watched it vanish, then turned back to the massacre. The soil beneath her feet was damp but not yet soaked. She needed more.
Rynna walked deeper into the village, fingers skimming along Empty Night’s flank as they moved together.
When they came upon another wounded villager, Empty Night’s ears twitched. She turned her head, one dark eye catching Rynna’s. A pause. A question.
Rynna gave the faintest nod.
And with a flick of her dark mane, Empty Night charged. The man barely had time to raise his head before the mare trampled him into pulp.
A raider, clearly new to their hunt, stood nearby, laughing and pointing at the deranged mare and her mangled victim. The others had taken notice now, too, but not of the horse. Their attention locked on the laughing fool, too stupid to realize he was already dead.
Empty Night looked up, mud and gore streaking her chest and legs.
Rynna paused mid-step, halting her stalk into the town to watch what they all knew was coming.
Thrusting her head forward, blood and spittle exploded from the mare’s jaws, splattering across the fool’s face. He reeled, cursing as he flailed, trying to wipe the mixture from his mouth. Then, he did the unthinkable.
“You stupid horse! You’ll pay for that!” Quivering and red-faced, he leveled a cracked, dirty blade at Empty Night.
His bravado died in an instant, though, as the assembled raiders drew back, a hush washing over them. And before he could finish his insult, Empty Night leaped, smashing into him, her round teeth ripping at flesh as her hooves crushed bone.
