“Don’t even think it,” Nora said, lowering onto a fallen tree trunk.
Darci faltered as unexpected exhaustion took hold, and stones poked her bare feet. A grim thought invaded her; was her soul too fragile to sustain any exertion? Just great.
But she damn well wanted answers. She picked up a long piece of driftwood, wielded it with both hands. “Why?”
Nora looked at the decaying wood and didn’t seem bothered by the new weapon. She turned to stare at the silent waters. “Because this has to take place without any distraction, as per instructions.”
Maloch’s instructions? So Blaéz would follow her and they’d be helpless as sitting ducks. Her mouth thinned. She may not live for much longer with her fragmented soul, but she’d be damned if she’d let them trap him. “I was so wrong when I thought we were friends. You’re just the lowest kind of scum that ever crawled out of Hell.”
Nora cast her an unreadable look and said nothing.
A shimmer took place in front of them.
“Well done, sister.” Cruel laughter. The sound grated on Darci’s ears. She inched back, chills spreading through her body. Maloch grabbed the wood from her like it was a toothpick and flung it away. “Now, I will have what is mine while the warrior is trapped, trying to destroy my legions of soldiers, and wondering what I’m going to do to his little slut—”
He grasped Darci’s wrist and jerked her to him, his elongated black talons piercing her flesh. An agonized cry tore free.
“Careful, brother.” Nora rose, dusting the seat of her pants. “You don’t want things to go wrong when everything is coming to pass. I’m sure you want to make the warrior suffer, make him watch what you’ll do to his woman after the way he humiliated and hurt you the last time he was down under?”
Maloch’s eyes filled with hatred. “Yes…”
And here she’d thought nothing about Nora could surprise her anymore. Darci had never felt such a primal urge to kill someone like she did right then.
A furious blast of icy breeze swept over them, frosting the air around her as Blaéz took form. Maloch yanked Darci by the hair, she whimpered.
Blaéz nailed Maloch with a deadly stare. “For that alone, I’ll make you scream, then you will die.”
Ominous laughter rippled in the night air, churning the once calm waters. Maloch’s minions appeared, surrounding him like a black fog. He snapped, “How fast you came for her.”
A screech erupted and a minion grabbed his head. Darci realized then what was happening, her gaze flew to Blaéz’s cold hard face. Another demons followed suit. They exploded one by one—like muted fireworks going off—heads shattering. Blood and gore turning to ashes before it rained to the ground.
A flash of his hand and Maloch sliced Darci’s cheek with a black elongated fingernail. She cried out in shock, pain spreading. Blood oozed down her face, dripping onto her chest.
“Kill more of my soldiers andIwill make her scream beforeIdestroy her.”
Blaéz’s eyes flashed neon in fury. His sword shimmered in his hand. “You won’t get the chance.”
“That puny weapon, again.” Maloch laughed. “Go ahead, try, you’ll kill her first.” He yanked Darci in front of him like his own personal shield.
Then everything happened so fast. The raucous minions froze. Blaéz leaped into the air with impossible speed, twisting his body at the last minute, and as his sword came down, invisible hands shoved Darci away. She stumbled back. Blaéz’s weapon plunged with the speed of lightning before he landed a short distance away.
Maloch lurched back, shock spreading across his pale face, a hand clutching his midriff.
“Never, ever touch my mate,” Blaéz said, his tone a whiplash of ice.
Darci’s gaze locked onto Blaéz’s stone-cold face, a trembling hand pressed to her bleeding cheek.His mate?He didn’t hate her?
Blaéz lunged for Maloch but seemed to collide with an invisible barrier, he staggered back several feet. Maloch appeared to be holding Blaéz off with some kind of force field while he waved a hand over his wounds, trying to heal himself. Another desperate wave, but the wound continued to gush. “Evanora! What in all of hell did you do?”
Blaéz pivoted, his sword swinging, but Nora had already taken on a transient form. “Sorry, warrior,” she said, her tone a disembodied echo. “I can’t let you kill me.”
In her spectral shape, she floated over to Maloch. “I put the potion in his drink as you instructed. Got him to open the portal, a direct path to you as you wanted. But I made sure you had something, too. Only, I adjusted your potion a wee bit—you recall the drink I gave you before I left for the engagement? Good.”
“You double-crossing bitch!”
She smiled. Ignoring Maloch’s snarl, she took corporeal form again in front of him. “That potion blocked your healing powers. It’s only fair, don’t you think,brother,to even the playing fields?”
Maloch backhanded her, hard. His eyes glowed, flames flickering in them. “You have failed me. Once this is over, I will deal with you. You can be sure this will be your last foray into this blasted realm.”
