I drove the long knife up into Hortensia’s back, up through her heart, and out through her breastbone with a shattering crack. Umar pulled the trigger when the knife poked out of her chest, but I merely moved Hortensia’s limp body into the trajectory, and the bullet lodged in her brain.
I proceeded at vampire speed, yanking the knife out, letting her nearly lifeless body fall to the ground. I spun and whirled the blade up at an angle at Umar. I sliced clean through his neck before he even released his finger from the trigger. His head just sat there on his shoulders, his permanent expression in death one of surprise.
I grinned and nudged his head off his body, watching as it fell and rolled away from me, stopping with dead eyes staring at me.
Grabbing Hortensia’s body, I lifted it up at an angle and sliced her head clean off in an easy move, and kicked it over to rest next to Umar’s—side-by-side, their lifeless eyes gazed up at me.
Failures. The both of them.
Athena and the other companion stood mere feet away, their mouths agape.
The companion lifted his hands as if he were going to move against me.
I whipped the bloody knife up. “Try it. The aesthetic would be even better with a third head staring dead at the ceiling.”
The room erupted in applause. The humans watching had thought it was all a show for their entertainment, so I whipped around and bowed to them, accepting the praise for something they didn’t even understand. As I turned to leave again, I found Lord Otto and Cato standing in the shadows, three body lengths away, their expressions void of any emotion.
Apparently, they had been spying.
And they had let me handle it.
I threw the knife on the floor in front of them. “Clean up on aisle ten.”
Someone’s muscled arm wrapped around my waist from behind, lifting me off my feet.
Then I was yanked away.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
~KIMBER~
Jallina sat at our usual spot in the coffee shop.
She jerked her head up when I sat down and gave me the biggest grin I had seen from her in months. “Kimber? That’s really you?”
“Certainly is, Jallina.”
She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “I’ve missed you these past few weeks.”
Nodding, I squeezed her hand back. “I have missed you, too. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to do…anything.”
A small, proud smile danced across her lips. “You are quite the celebrity around here.”
Laughing, I sat back in the chair and shook my head. “I don’t mean to be.”
Once I ordered my coffee, Jallina sat forward and wrapped her hands around her mug. “Are you still teaching?”
I shook my head. “No. They took me off that duty a while ago. I train with magic most of the time now. I don’t even know why. And you? What are you doing?”
“Same thing I’ve always done. Organize the shelves and books in the library. Though they have me checking the returns now as well, for damage, so life got a little more exciting.”
“Baby steps, Jallina. You’ll get to director eventually.”
Her eyes were fixed on the coffee foam in her cup, and she grunted. The mood at our little table changed immediately.
“Is something wrong?”
“No…”
