I poked his arm. “It did. You love sparkwood apples, just like everyone else. Admit it!”
“I’ll do no such thing.” But his smile only grew, and more of that delicious heat flared in my core.
I wanted to keep teasing him, if only to make him smile and laugh, but Denton was shooting us a nasty glare over his shoulder, so I fell silent.
The four of us made our way slowly and quietly down the street. Just to be safe, I gave Denton a wide berth. Stella remained by his side, for which I was grateful. As we walked, something gnawed at my insides. After a while, I realizedwhat it was: the area was too quiet. My instincts screamed that something was wrong.
It’s just the curfew,I told myself.That’s all. It’s quiet because everyone is shut in their homes right now.
Even so… with a curfew in effect, where were the soldiers patrolling the streets?
A sinking feeling settled low in my gut. Something was wrong.
I gripped Theron’s arm tightly, stopping him. His arm was already stiff, all corded muscle, taut with awareness.
We shared a somber look. He, too, knew something was off.
His dark eyes suddenly went wide. Then, he tackled me to the ground. I grunted as my head collided with something hard and lumpy.
Three arrows whizzed past us, embedding into the snow a few feet behind us. Right where I’d been standing moments before.
“Take cover!” Theron bellowed.
Stella and Denton glanced around in alarm before darting out of the street. I didn’t see where they fled to, but I assumed they were using the buildings as cover.
Theron and I, however, remained in a tangle of limbs in the middle of the street. A clear shot for anyone who wanted to harm us.
On instinct, I draped my invisibility around myself like a cloak, even knowing it wouldn’t conceal me very well with the apple still in my system.
Then, a loud and familiar chuckle sounded nearby, and I knew my invisibility wouldn’t do any good.
Vikros.
Vikros and a crowdof armed soldiers emerged from their hiding spots, surrounding me and Eira on the cobbled road. I looked around to find that Eira had vanished… or rather, partially vanished. I could still make out a faint outline of her body next to me, though from a distance, she would have seemed fully invisible. I extended a hand and felt her fingers take mine. Electricity ignited between us, and though I couldn’t see her clearly, that simple bit of contact was a solid reassurance.
She could still flee,I told myself. Even with Vikros able to see through her magic, he was just one man. She could outrun him.
But she didn’t move. And something told me she wouldn’t run even if I asked her to.
The stubborn, beautiful woman.
“Smart move, lingering in the village,” Vikros said, a smug smile on his face as he approached. “We thought you would have left immediately, so we had all the main roads under close watch.” He cocked his head at me, his dark eyes glittering with malice. “Or perhaps it was a foolishdecision, remaining here.” He spread his arms wide, gesturing to the soldiers closing in on us.
I knew Vikros. He had a tendency to be overconfident, especially when he had the upper hand. Perhaps I could use his hubris to my advantage.
“You can’t stop me, Vikros,” I said loudly.
He barked out a laugh. “You may have bested me in hand-to-hand combat before, old friend, but evenyoucan’t stop a dozen soldiers coming at you at once.”
A dozen soldiers. Possibly more lurking in the shadows. Stella and Denton were nowhere to be seen, but that was a good thing. If Vikros had captured Eira’s friends, he would boast about it. Perhaps use them as leverage like he’d done with the human children.
The reminder of Vikros’s savage methods sent rage boiling through me. My fingers flexed at my sides, itching to strangle the man. Magic burned beneath my skin, eager and at the ready. Out of habit, I pushed it away, then froze.
A necromancer holds the threads of life in their hands, whether it’s to preserve a life or to end it.
I had the power to end Vikros’s life right here and now. All I had to do was find his life thread.
But how did Idothat? Each time I’d used my necromancy had been a complete accident. I hadn’t seen any threads at all.
