As if summoned, the Vydera returned. She unfurled herself as she pushed fully into the cave. Her legs unfolded, stretched out in that elegant arachnoid way. Her armored body was wide and tapered into her plump abdomen, which bore complex markings. Snow stuck to invisible hairs and made her glimmer.
She was breathtaking and absolutely terrifying.
The battle-hardened Orcru lifted his saber with a shaky arm and invoked a god’s name. But only she answered.
Kedar and Vessa backed away as the Vydera struck. Her prey didn’t stand a chance as he swung his blade uselessly at her. It clacked against her legs, serving only to annoy her. She trapped him with her front two legs. Pulled him toward her impressive waiting fangs. They sank deep into his shoulder. Unable to moveor cry out, he was at her full mercy. Those ancient and intelligent opaline eyes roved over Vessa and Kedar as she shuffled the body efficiently between her legs toward her backside. Within seconds, the Orcru was enclosed in a silk coffin.
Then the Vydera backed out of the entrance, holding their gazes the entire time, before disappearing.
Vessa let her raze sword retract, but she could hardly believe what she’d witnessed.
Kedar lifted a shoulder in a lazy shrug. “That’s why I threw Orcru down to them. She knows me. I could come here centuries from now and her cluster, if not her entire colony, would remember me, and you by association.”
“Fine,” Vessa said, blowing a lock of hair out of her face. “Thank you for being a Vydera whisperer. I’m sure you’re looking forward to the future family reunion. Unfortunately, I’ll be unavailable. Busy.”
Just as she was about to once more put as much distance between them as possible, that same unnatural howl rang out.
“Whatisthat?” she asked, taking a step into the tunnel.
“Don’t,” Kedar said. “You’re worthless in this storm. I’ll recon and—”
“You are so fucking irritating,” she growled, rounding on him. Pits, she hadn’t even been trying to go outside. As much as she itched for a fight, she was not trying to meet yet another creature that called this planet its home in the elements. “I’ve never needed you to tell me what to do. I did just fine before youandafter you. You’re acting like I didn’t beat you soundly seven years ago. You arrogant, odious—”
“Vessa!” Kedar lunged for her, but it was too late.
Something long and whip-like wrapped around her leg and pulled her out of the cave.
Chapter 10
Vessa
Vessa was dragged violently through the snow at an impressive and deadly speed.
If she survived this, she would have to kill Kedar immediately. He would beinsufferable.
Snow kicked up in her wake, and between it and the ice chips pelting her face, she had no visibility. Worthless, Kedar had said. She growled as she fought against the intense air resistance enough to sit up. The wide, fleshy tentacle wrapped tightly around her ankle looked as if it was bruised—purple and black. What in the depthless Pits had her in its grasp?
The unknown creature swung her around hard as it turned sharply. Distant lightning flashed blue somewhere in the storm, and for the briefest moment, it revealed the silhouette of the beast.
“Fuck this!” Vessa roared as she swung at the tentacle with her raze sword. The first strike barely nicked it as the creature swerved. She flew over a snowbank right as she tried to slice ita second time. She caught air and landed hard on her ass as she came down.
Abs burning as she fought the air resistance once more, she swung her sword with all her might and fury. The sharp blade severed the appendage. A mournful howl rent the night not far from her.
When she finally slid to a stop, it was on the edge of two worlds. Behind her, the blizzard still seethed—a wall of relentless white and freeze. Before her, it was clear. Nothing but an untouched ocean of snow.
But not for long.
Electric blue lightning cracked through the sky and lit up the silhouettes of dozens of Orcru marching in the distance.
They had brought an entire gods damn war party to deal with her. The other two had merely been their overconfident scouts. And now they were Vydera meat.
Vessa swung her blade in a lazy arc. At this point, being abducted by a tentacle-wielding beast and attacked by an ice-thriving horde wasn’t nearly as shocking as it should be.
She’d wanted a fight, and here it was.
Hairs on the back of her neck rose. She dropped into her fighting stance seconds before a large mass leapt through the storm and landed before her. The beast scrabbled until its claws gripped into the packed snow. The true coloring of the creature’s sleek fur shifted between white, gray, and black, allowing it to practically disappear. But itsfourunblinking crystalline eyes gave its positioning away as it creeped in front of her.
This was what had dragged her through the snow?
