He could think of worse ways to die.
The Guard was waiting for them at the top of the steps, at least fifty strong, blocking their way. Sofi and Katerina’s witchwind went before them, parting around Niko and Alexei, sending the Dimis and Shadows of the Druzhina flying. It bought them only moments; Berezin and Novikova scrambled to their feet, their compatriots beside them. The Druzhina’s alpha peered through the darkness, his eyes fixing on Alexei and the swirling mass of shadows that roiled around Niko’s body, concealing him from view.
“Stand down!” Berezin bellowed, louder even than the clang of the bells.
Amusement coalesced in Niko’s chest, emerging as an icy chuckle that ripped from his throat. His shades reached for Berezin, drawing the man close but not draining him—not yet. “I do not answer to you,” he said, and had the immense pleasure of seeing the man’s eyes widen in terror. “I never did.”
He let Berezin go, and the Druzhina’s alpha stumbled, falling to his knees. It was a good look for him.
But Niko had no time to savor the man’s submission. The rest of the Druzhina charged, some bearing the same nets that had captured his Dimi in the clearing, others rending the very earth in hopes that it would swallow Niko and Katerina whole. Hidden within his shades, the night concealed Niko, but his Dimi enjoyed no such privilege. Her red hair gleamed in the moonlight, the fire that sizzled at her fingertips making her an undeniable target.
He wanted to draw her to him under the protective shroud of the shades, to keep her safe. But how might such a thing affect her? Perhaps, if they didn’t touch her, she would remain unharmed—but did he really want to take that risk? What if she fought him, and the distraction got her killed?
Morozov lunged, casting his net, and the edge of it brushed Katerina’s skin. She darted away, unhurt, but the man had come far too close. Snarling, Niko sent his shades after the cretin, reeling him in. A single tendril of Darkness plucked one of Morozov’s blessed blades from his weapons belt and curled around the hilt; another gripped the man’s neck, dragging him closer.
Berezin’s second fought valiantly, struggling to free himself. The net fell from his hands as he gripped his blade, trying to wrestle it from the shade’s grasp, but it was a fool’s errand. The blade held steady, hovering in midair, and the tendril of Darkness around Morozov’s neck curled tighter, compelling him forward inch by inevitable inch. Closer still, the shades dragged him, until at last, with the crunch of gristle and slide of flesh, he impaled himself on his own blade.
Wide and dark and shocked, Morozov’s eyes fixed on the swirling mass of shadow that concealed Niko, as if trying to distinguish the man within. Feet away, Berezin was howling, the sound somewhere between a man’s cry of grief and rage and a black dog’s devastated keen at the fracturing of his pack. Well, let him. He had brought this on himself.
The shades tightened on the blade’s hilt, yanking it from Morozov’s body. Tendrils of Darkness twined around the metal, feeding on his blood.
Morozov wavered, hands pressed to his belly. “You—” he managed, his eyes still fixed on where he imagined Niko to be. “You are a scourge upon the. . .”
The words devolved into a cough, his face draining of all color. This was a terrible thing, killing another Shadow, much less the Druzhina’s second, but Niko couldn’t bring himself to care. The man had taunted him. Imprisoned him. Would kill Katerina, if he could.
“Who’s the weakened pup now?” he asked Morozov.
There was no answer, other than the gurgle of blood through Morozov’s compromised lungs. A moment later, it bubbled up through his lips, and his knees gave way. The job finished, Niko let the man’s body fall.
From within his maelstrom of shadows, he gazed at the battle that raged in the dungeon’s courtyard. A wall of flame had sprung up around Katerina, keeping the Druzhina at bay. Alexei fought back-to-back with Ana, not to kill but to defend his Dimi and himself. Sofi was nowhere to be seen—had she fled to find Damien? Niko could hardly blame her; this could not end well.
Morozov’s Dimi was sobbing, her face streaked with tears even as her features contorted in rage. The earth trembled beneath her as she fell to her knees beside her Shadow, pressing her hands to his stomach in a futile attempt to stanch the flow of blood. “Where are you, Alekhin?” she roared. “Show yourself, coward!”
The word stung. Niko had never turned from a fight, nor was he now. He was trying to keep his oath to Iriska and to his Dimi, to drive the Darkness back into the Void even at the cost of his own pitiful existence. If only the Druzhina had never waylaid him and Katerina by the river, none of this would have happened.
They are fools, his shades hissed. Ignorant and shortsighted. Let us free, let us feed, let us drain them all so they may cringe in the face of your power…
He could do it. He knew he could. It would be so easy to loosen the chains on his shades, to put an end to this battle by letting them descend on the courtyard and suck the marrow from his captors’ very bones. They would see him dead tomorrow, if they had their way; turnabout was fair play, after all.
He gathered himself, teetering on the brink as the shades seethed around him. All he had to do was let go?—
And then another voice spoke inside his head, low and firm, steadying. Katerina’s voice.
Hold, she said, as if this were the same type of fight they’d faced a thousand times. And as he’d done every other time, Niko obeyed.
We have to get out of here, she said, the words coming clear and sharp through their bond. Ana and Sofi have a plan.
Niko’s gaze flicked to her, standing tall and straight within her ring of fire—and then to Alexei, whose fingers moved, forming a sign the two of them had used a thousand times. Scatter, it meant.
A moment later, Alexei and Ana broke from their position and darted down one of the alleyways that led from the courtyard. Katerina did the same, fleeing in the opposite direction, dividing the Druzhina’s forces. His shades still wrapped around him, Niko followed, keeping himself between Katerina and her pursuers.
Berezin and the others bellowed in frustration, the firewitches lighting up the night in an attempt to penetrate the inky blackness that trailed in Niko’s wake. But unlike the tendrils of Darkness that had recoiled from Katerina’s Light, his shades were unafraid. They curled around the flames, extinguishing them as surely as fingers pinching a lit wick.
Niko didn’t have time to ponder what this might mean. He swept after Katerina, craving the sensation of his black dog’s four paws hitting the earth, nose to the ground, defending his Dimi in his purest form. But he didn’t trust himself to Change, not now, with the shades driven by bloodlust. If he lost all control over them, that would be disastrous.
Besides, he had his hands full keeping up with Katerina. She ducked through one alley after another, skirting the edge of Rivki’s city center, then dodging down a narrow passage that bordered the arena. Where are we going? he sent down their bond.
The stables. Damien has horses. Sofi went to warn him.
