“Get the fuck away from her,” Vincent growled, prompting the asshole behind him to press the dagger a little harder against his neck.
She kept her eyes on me, the tip of the blade pinching my throat. “Thathunk of metalwill not only change worlds, but open them.”
“What did I help make?” I asked, my throat bobbing.
Her grin was bright as she said, “The end of the world.”
I sighed deeply. “Well, that really sucks. I try to avoid that.”
I felt my power pool behind my eyes, and I knew by how her smile faded that they were glowing green. Magic dripped from my wrists, and as quickly as my hands had been removed, they grew back. I flexed them into fists, gathering my magic into glowing emerald balls.
With a violent jerk of my hands, I threw it at her. It landed with a sick squish, colliding with her face. Her head exploded inside her stupid helmet, gore splattering me and everyone behind me. Her knees hit the ground before anyone understood what had happened. The soldiers behind me scrambled back, but it was already way too late. They really had been idiots to consider me neutralized by the loss of my hands.
I spun on one knee, both hands outstretched, my magic spilling from my palms. I may not have been trained in battle, but Vincent had helped me every chance we got, teaching me how to use it for defense. He knew they would eventually catch up to us, and that eventually was here.
When I spun back around, my bravado died. Vincent now had a blade piercing his chest, and a dagger buried deep in his neck, blood bubbling from his lips.
“One move,” the tall, dark soldier said, “and the tip of this blade slides into his heart, and the other separates his head.”
I swallowed, knowing even I wasn’t that fast. I pulled my magic back and slowly held my hands up. “What I said still stands. I’ll give you the medallion if you let him go.”
Vincent’s eyes bore into mine, repudiating my words, and I knew if he could, he would be objecting vehemently. He would not want me to choose him over the world, but was he blind? How could he not see he had become just that to me?
“Okay,” the dark soldier said with a small nod.
I slowly lowered one hand. “I have to get it, but I promise no tricks.”
“How do we know you’re not lying?”
“Because you have a knife to the throat of the one thing I cannot live without.”
Silence fell, and no one moved. I dared not look at Vincent after my raw confession. My hand lowered to the inner pocket of my jacket, knowing the first place they’d look if we were caught was my pockets. I fished the medallion out, magic swirling at the center and the raised runes around the edges glowing faintly. Their eyes followed it as if it were a hunk of meat, and they were hungry hounds.
I raised my hand high, tossing the damn thing over their heads, and just like the beasts I compared them to, they dove for it. Vincent fell to his knees, and I crawled toward him, uncaring that they were scrambling for the medallion. The moment they had it, they disbanded without a look back, rushing to their fleeing ships.
They were idiotic to think I cared about that hunk of material over this man. I engulfed him in my magic, and Vincent gripped his throat, blood streaming between his fingers as I cradled him. Carefully, I placed my hand over his and closed my eyes, the warm sticky liquid coating my fingers. I knew one healing incantation, and I spoke it so fast that I hoped I didn’t accidentally summon a beast from the ether. Words held power, and even a minor slip-up could mean the difference between life and death.
I pulled on the remnants of my magic, my heart thrumming as I poured more and more into him. It wasn’t until his hand grasped mine and he shifted in my arms that I realized it had already worked. I peeled my eyes open, inspecting Vincent’s wounds just to make sure. His throat was healed, the drying blood the only indicator that he had been hurt.
“Cami.”
“I know. I know,” I said, shaking my head. It figured that the first thing he said to me was filled with disapproval.
Ships rose and twisted in the air, seeming to flee. We watched them leave, both of us lost in our own thoughts, knowing I had damned us all by choosing Vincent over the medallion.
It took a moment for me to notice the shadows stirring, darkness slithering from every corner. My grip on him tightened, and he struggled to shift, trying to protect me with his body as a slender form stepped from the darkness and strode forward. Her features were lost in the shadow of her hood, and the black of her tight leather clothing seemed made of the same shadows she had emerged from. I could see the wavy ends of her brown hair as she looked down at me. The multiple blades strapped in various sheaths along her arms, legs, and torso gleamed. There was not a smear of blood on them. They must have arrived too late to battle.
She kneeled before us, and my magic rose in defense. She held up a single hand, and I peered up and down the alley, seeing the darkness slither and writhe. I realized it was not out of fear for me, but a warning to the others to stand down. I wondered how many blades bristled in the darkness.
“I am not your enemy, Camilla.” She said my name like a breeze against flower petals, soft and lilting, but I knew power when I saw it. I’d lived around it my whole life.
“Then who are you?” I asked.
She ignored me. Instead, she nodded toward my exposed skin and Vincent lying in my arms. We were both covered in blood. Copious amounts of it had dried around our ears, noses, and mouths. “That blast she used on you two is not good. You’re lucky your brains didn’t melt, but you need a Jade City healer for those wounds, just as a precaution.”
A cold, short laugh left me. “Jade City was destroyed.”
She glanced at the tall, lean male who stepped out of the shadows behind her. Gods, he had even more weapons strapped to his body. The hilts of twin blades formed an X over his shoulders, and a belt held what looked like tiny smoke bombs. Who were these people? When she looked back at me, my gut turned.
