His eyes were on the child. Mine had already turned predacious.
Body heat seared in the air as water spiraled from his hand, rising into shape. A water wielder. Callum shouldn’t have left so soon. He twisted his wrists, liquid hardening into the sharp gleam of an ice dagger, as my body drove me forward.
Not quick enough. His arm snapped, hurdling the weapon straight for the girl.
“No!” The word ripped from the throat.
The girl looked up, clenching her eyes. One hand clutched her mother’s body, the other pressed trembling against her own heart.
The battlefield stilled. Screams cut short, metal fell mute. Only my heartbeat was heard. No longer just in my chest, but everywhere, pounding so loud it drowned the camp.
The soldier’s smirk rose slow, taunting, as his dagger closed the distance. By the time I blinked, the light between them bent, its reflection rippling as the blade crashed into something unseen.
Ice hissed to vapor, water burning into nothing—
His smile cracked, and then fell as the noise of battle slammed back in.
“Hey—” Ford’s voice rang out as he barreled in, sword raised high, eyes alight with reckless fury. “That wasn’t very nice.”
The swing of his blade split the air, the thin shimmer of his force shield humming around the girl.
The soldier roared, charging full tilt toward Ford.
Ford swallowed, but he didn’t falter. His hands flared, more movement spreading outward, subtle at first, then bending, as he held the barrier steady.
Blood thickened in the air, dizzying, the temptation almost dysphoric, and I moved. The Viper writhed, starving, and I did not deny it.
My chest slammed into the soldier’s back, driving him to the ground with a crack. His breath left him in a ragged sigh, hair tangling in my fist as I wrenched his head back, straddling him to the stoned floor.
Water turned to frost around his wrists, desperate to harden to form. Ford countered instantly, slamming down force-shields that clamped his hands like manacles, locking the ice away.
“Look at her.” I shoved his face toward the girl still curled behind Ford’s veil. “Look at what you’ve done.”
He thrashed, spittle dripping from his chin as he sneered. “I should have killed herfirst.”
My nostrils flared, jaw snapping tight and I tipped my head skyward, tongue dragging slow across the sharp edge of my fangs.
Let the gods close their eyes for this.
“Oh man.” Ford stepped in front of the girl so she wouldn’t see what had awakened. “You really fucked up.”
The soldier gulped below me, trying to wrench his head free, his shielded hands pounding uselessly against stone.
I leaned close, making sure he heard every word. “You’ll never have the honor of seeing my true face before death claims you. But you’ll know me, us,” fangs grazed his skin, “just from the pain alone.”
He whimpered, the sound almost sweet. My body moved before I told it to, fangs puncturing his neck. His body arched, seized, veins spidering outward from the bite instantly like black lightning.
“Kyartas,” I called to it.Burn.
His screams tore through the battlefield, shrill, desperate, as Ford dropped the shield around his hands. I let go of his head and he collapsed, clawing at his own skin as it bubbled and split, as if fire licked him from the inside out.
It was agony. It was poetry.
“Scoar-” My breath caught before I could finish.
Salt. I smelled salt—the brine of the sea. It filled my nose, my pores, hurdling for the well I kept locked tight.
It was too familiar, his scent. Or was it only the ghosts of my own tears, still soaked into his skin, staining a memory that clung to me like chains?
