Freville squirmed. “Fastrada Manor is heavily guarded!”
Drauna rolled her eyes. “You lack perspective.”
“Why her?”
Drauna quirked a brow before leaning in. “That’s no longer your concern,” she whispered in his ear. It was like a siren’s song—beautiful,but deadly. “This is only the beginning. Something stirs within the realm of Magoria, but you won’t be around to see it.” She clamped down on his neck, sinking her claws into his arteries.
Freville choked and blood poured in a stream from his neck. With a single swipe, her nails cut through his windpipe and blood bubbled with a single gasp. He clawed at his throat, gurgling, but nothing could stop the drowning as he fell back and took in his last sight of Drauna licking the red from her claws.
Chapter 1
Amaris
Amaris Carter wasno stranger to the silent whisper of death. It could clasp around her throat and choke her of her last breath, but she’d still welcome it. The raging fire surrounding her and Charlie was a testament to that. Charlie drenched the staircase in a shower of mist and rain, but the fire grew, feeding every last ember.
Amaris gripped the fire hose behind Charlie, feeding him more as he pushed up the stairs. She sucked in a breath, eating the beads of sweat pooling in the bottom of her mask. Each salty breath was a reminder. Her hands tightened, clinging to the last bit of hope as a wave of memories flooded her mind.
No longer were her gloved hands clasped around a fire hose, but a single piece of driftwood. The waves rolled over her face, threatening to suffocate her and drag her into their depths, along with the ship it’d claimed all those years ago.
“Amaris!” Charlie’s scream pulled her from her memory.
Her eyes shot open, stinging in a murky haze from the sweat dripping from her brows.
“I’ve got a room here for you to search!”
Amaris blinked to clear the sweat. The fire hose sat between her gloved hands. She tracked the red hose, one of the few things visible in the heavy smoke surrounding them.
The fluorescent stripes on Charlie’s gear and his panting breaths came from the top of the staircase. His helmet shifted, and a stream of light illuminated the cloud of gases, piercing Amaris’s sensitive blue eyes. She faltered in his beam like a damn deer in headlights.
She took in a warm, stale breath and shut her mind to the morbid memory threatening to pull her from the fire. Bile filled her throat, but she swallowed it.
I need to keep my head in here.She couldn’t allow herself to surrender to her grief. Since she’d been promoted to lieutenant, Charlie was more than her friend now—he was her responsibility.
It was dangerous to let the anxieties stirring in her stomach cloud her mind. A neighbor had seen the couple come home from a walk this morning. Amaris and Charlie had searched the entire downstairs with nothing to show for it but aching knees and waterlogged socks. As the officer in charge, she’d chosen to send them inside. She had to follow it through.
What if we’re too late?She shook away the horrendous thought and climbed the stairs, pushing past Charlie. She eyed the shut bedroom door. Hopefully, it’d kept the smoke and fire from the room.
She entered, darkness overtaking her, and sprawled out onto her stomach, feeling for a wall nearby. Her only ally was the muscle memory and second sense she’d developed through grueling hours of training with her mask covered. She reached out, moving over the carpet until she smacked into a dresser. Groaning, she righted her face piece and checked she didn’t have a mask leak. Her senses pulled her further—a lamp, a chair, but no human life.
She found the corner, marking her surroundings in her head, creating a map to lead her. Her hand slid along the wall until she met a large object,a bed. Lunging forward, she felt around and gripped a hand. Her heart lurched into her throat.
“I’ve got a victim!” She croaked, the acceleration of her heart seeping into her voice.Calm down. You can do this.A quick cough rid her mind of further anxieties, and she reached farther onto the bed. She met a tangle of limbs and grabbed under a pair of bony shoulders. They were light—probably the wife.
A rumbling of her face mask regulator startled her as she dragged the wife to the floor. How could she be at the end of her air bottle already? Her attention snapped across the room to Charlie. His hummed the same alert.
She took in a short breath, switching her breathing pattern to make her air last. She only needed a few more minutes.
Lunging for the bed again, she grabbed the husband. Her feet pushed off the bed frame to leverage his large body onto the floor.
An air horn blared from outside, pricking the hairs on the back of her neck.
No.
A second blast followed and then a third, signaling them to exit the structure immediately.
She grabbed her webbing from her pocket, wrapping one around the husband and the other around the wife to get a better hold to drag them out. Her mind homed in.I can make it.
“Get out of here, Charlie!” she shouted. “I’ll meet you outside!”
