When I was ten paces away, she threw the dagger, right at center chest. But I spun, catching it neatly in my weapon’s sling, where it did no harm.
Her doe eyes widened and she lifted both hands as I drew near. Her voice was soft, with a musical lilt. “Please, don’t hurt me. I haven’t done anything to you. Why would you hurt me?”
I snarled. “That might work on somebody else, but I see what you’ve done, and it’s not going to work on me.”
She dropped the act and her no-longer-trembling hands. The innocent maiden was gone, a hardened war general in her place. If I hadn’t seen the transformation myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. “Is that so? Well, you’re out of luck. Don’t you know who we are? We’re going to cut a bloody swath through your pack until we get the omega stone. Why don’t you save your own lives and fetch the stone for me, hmm?”
“Does that sugar shit really work on people?” I asked, notching my blade at the hollow in her throat.
The deranged bitch just laughed.
And Bran’s enormous sword knocked mine away as he stepped in front of her. Valens stood at my side, panting, with a gushing slice down his biceps. “Sorry. I tried to hold him off as long as I could,” he murmured.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, angling my body in front of his so he could have a second to heal. I didn’t know why Bran hadn’t just attacked us, but I had to hope it was because she hadn’t successfully won him back under her spell, that maybe he was starting to see through her evil. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t want to kill us.
“You know this is wrong.” I spoke to Bran now, seeing that he didn’t have the red haze over him like the rest of the people under Narcissa’s influence.
Maybe Brielle’s healing effects hadn’t worn off? I was no politician, no great negotiator… but ifhetook a swing at her, he could actually kill her.
I just had to convince him.
“You know we won’t stop, right? No matter what it takes, no matter how many of us die, we won’t stop. And we’ve got dragons on our side now.” I held up a hand, and the great blue dragon swooped low overhead, as if on cue. “Anyone would run if faced with a dragon.”
The dragon aimed a gout of flame right toward Narcissa, but just as when I’d tried to shoot her, she raised glowing red hands, and a shimmering shield lifted before it could strike her. The air simmered with heat, but the flame died, leaving her untouched.
“You will all die,” Narcissa hissed, eyes glowing pure red with her wolf.
Shit, was she feral, or was that her true color? Although, she was in human form, so she couldn’t be feral, right?
I’d never met a true red-eyed wolf before. We had a lot of cool colors, but not red. Red was always a problem.
“Red eyes, huh? That your natural color, or are you as tainted by your own power as everyone else?” I asked and noticed Bran’s subtle flinch. He didn’t like the red eyes either, then, now that he was thinking clearly. “So many people have died, Narcissa. We’re all wolves, here now that your dark allies have fled or been… crunched. Do you really want other wolves to suffer, just so you can have power?”
“Power is safety, and I won’t stop until I have it all.”
I leaned in, lowering my blade since Bran hadn’t attacked thus far. “You won’t stop until everyone’s dead. Is that what you’re saying? You’ll burn the whole fucking world down just to bask in the glow, won’t you?”
“Yes! Yes, I will, and I’m not apologizing for it. The stone belongs to me, these wolves belong tome, and the whole world will bow at my feet before I’m done.”
“They won’t.” Bran’s words were low, sad. “The world won’t bow at your feet.” He turned to Narcissa, and every muscle in my body froze.
“Bran? Whatever are you saying?” The doe eyes were back, but he strode forward, cupped her cheek in his giant hand as if she was a china doll, ever so breakable.
“I’m saying I’m done, Cissa. This is it. The she-wolf is right. Look around at the destruction. So many dead, and for what? Your pack mates are long dead. The war is over. It’s time to move on.”
“You know I can’t do that, my love. I have to have it all. I need it. Don’t you want me to be your queen?” She slid her hands up over her chest, using that treacly voice that made me want to gag. A red glow at her fingertips against his chest scared me. If she turned him again… Brielle was somewhere behind us, fighting her ass off. There were no do-overs.
We’d barely survived our first attempt to heal him.
Bran looked down, shoved her hands off his chest. “There’s no limit to how low you’ll stoop, is there?”
“What— I— Bran, you know I need you to protect me. I don’t see how it’sstoopingto ensure my own survival.”
“How long, Narcissa? How long after we met did you turn your powers on me, after promising that you would never? That we would face the whole world together, but we would be partners, equals.” She opened her mouth, but he gently laid a finger over her lips. “I want the truth, just this once.”
Her expression softened, and for that one second, I saw the woman underneath it all. The vulnerability, the fear, and my heart clenched for what she’d become. “Three days.”
Bran closed his eyes, wound both of his fingers into her raven locks, and dropped his forehead to hers.
