The first never reached me. It collapsed mid-stride, its body breaking apart in clumps of flesh, shredded by shadow-stained claws. Rotted blood stained my face, the taste slick and sour.
It didn’t frighten off the others. The remaining three, taller than Ronan and draped in tattered black cloaks, closed in, their sunken eyes never blinking.
I could hear Ronan in the distance, murmuring a chant to Niveus and Zyran. I couldn’t turn to him, not yet. Not as another lunged.
One moment its spiraled tongue whipped for my throat, ready to swallow me whole. The next, its neck yawned open as I tore its throat clean out, blood pattering the ground like rain.
Loose curls clung to my face as a wave of heat rose in me, stoked by the iron-rot tang. The crave to keep going.
Horses cried out in the distance as two stallions lay unmoving on the ground. I needed to look, to know if it was Zyran.
A beat was all I gave myself—
Time slowed as I swung my head, toward fangs hanging from mangled mouths and black holes staring toward absence. Zyran and Niveus circled the perimeter as wisps of unbridled air, their misted figures galloping in and out of trees and shadow.
Ronan had turned them to smoke. They were safe.
But we were not.
Three more emerged from the forest near him; one by one he cut them down. And one by one they kept trickling from the trees.
The last two circled me slowly. They couldn’t see me, but they knew. When I stepped left, they widened their arc. If I stepped back, they drew closer.
My fingers found my wrist by instinct, searching for my snake. Only a burned cuff met my touch, the reminder scorching through me. I shoved it down. Buried it deep in the hidden well where I hid all the rest.
Then I took a step forward.
I am resilient.
I flipped the dagger between my fingers, its noxious blade reflecting off the awakened demand in my eyes. A beast snarled, its tongue whipping out to coil around my limbs as I brought the blade down. A howl tore through the forest as its tongue hit the ground, twitching.
I am fearless.
Snarls, wet and furious, leaked from its mouth as it went to pounce, ready to devour me still. But the nix in my blade worked quietly, quickly. And the beast had lost before it even realized it. A savage scream ripped from my throat as my dagger split across its pitted hood.
I am the force no one anticipates.
Its veil came free in my grip, limp with my hand clasped around its severed head. Its body slumped to the ground at my feet, leaving its dulled eyes stuck on my stare.
I had felt its heartbeat die, felt every torn muscle, every gush of blood. The Viper drank deep, curling tighter inside my skull, vitalizing more with each kill. It urged me forward, whispering for another. Promising it would be enough.
Would it ever be?
I let the head fall as I tilted mine to the sky. My arms ached, like my veins were filled with lead instead of blood. I didn’t dare look down. I knew the truth I’d see.
The loss of control.Corruptionbleeding through.
A growl sounded behind me as something tugged my braid, yanking me backwards, forcing my spine to collide with the cold ground. I reached for what held me—rough, spined flesh trailing against my palms as my nails tore through the creature’s tongue.
It dragged me across stone and splinter, melted silver beading off its needled teeth, the heavy liquid dripping over my face.
Ronan cursed, his sword cleaving the throat of another before hurtling for me. My name slipped from his lips in a desperate rasp, his smoke striking, tearing the air straight from the beast’s lungs.
It didn’t falter from the attack, just gripped tighter, lifting me to meet its face. But it didn’t know what it had caught.
And so, as it brought me toward its snarling gape, I laughed.
Not the sound of joy or humor, but something feral. Something cruel.
