He gently placed me on the ground behind him. Even though my heart sang out with a white light, beckoning me to join in the fight somehow, I scrambled to the rocks and pressed my body behind as much stone asI could.
The round, grey head of the first giant emerged from the fog. It turned toward us and stomped forward with its milky white eyeson Riyan.
I bit my tongue and ordered my body to be quiet like Riyan had said. A white-hot claw crept up my throat and held it closed for a heartbeat beforeit vanished.
I blinked and brought my hand up to my neck where the searing sensation had lingered for a moment. I had no idea what had just happened, but I knew deep in my blood that the last thing I was about to dowas scream.
Riyan stood in front of me with Endre’s Revenge ready and thirsting for giant blood. The Hero of Lycaster did not lunge, he did not run, and he did not charge. His bare feet were planted firmly in the snow and his crimson cape fluttered around him in the wind as he waited for the perfect opportunityto strike.
The hunted suddenly becamethe hunter.
The giant’s horrible growl made my skin crawl. Two more giants appeared in the distance behind it. The first giant stepped closerand closer…
…but Riyanwas ready.
As soon as the first giant was within arm’s reach, a war cry tore from Riyan’s throat as he swung his left fist at the giant’s head. His fist met the giant’s head with a crash like a strike of lightning and the giant toppled tothe snow.
Boom.The giant’s body rocked the earth and I gripped the nearest rock to stay steady. White powder flared high into the air around the giant from the impact.
Riyan quickly stood over the fallen giant, grabbed a fistful of its thin black hair, and jerked its head upward. Endre’s Revenge sliced through the frigid night air and cut through the hard flesh of the giant’s neck. Sparkling clear blood spilled ontothe snow.
Riyan held the giant’s head in his fist and hurled it in the direction of the other two giants. The head hit the giant on the left, smacking it in the chest with a deafening crack and knocking it tothe ground.
The earth shook again, but I did not grip onto my rock. Riyan charged for the still-standing giant and my fingertips left the cold stone, my heart pounding as every fiber of my body compelled me to join inthe fight.
My feet softly crunched the snow as I marched forward. I did not know why I had left the safety of the stone, but the diamond in my heart from the Man of the Mountain sparkled with power and forced me tokeep going.
I was twenty paces away from Riyan as he attacked the second giant. He decapitated the second giant with a snarl, and just as he turned to eliminate the third as it rose from the ground, his eyes widened in terror and he froze. The last giant had one large, milky eye—the giant thatkilled Endre.
Riyan stood still as the giant slowly stomped toward him, but my entire body ignited. Seven years of rage that I had shoved behind granite and tried numb through a fog of apathy roared to the surface ofmy heart.
Tears that were so hot they were nearly boiling lined my eyes. Tongues of white flames surged from my chest to my arms. Searing outrage consumed myentire body.
I had loved no one. I had torn my life apart at the seams. I had nearly destroyed every speck of light in my life to shield myself from the pain those fucking giantshad caused.
But no more. I was a scream of morning light, strong as a diamond and tall asthe sky.
Riyan’s sword was not Endre’s revenge,I was.
The giant raised its massive fist to swing at Riyan, but its arm cracked as a single word pulsed through my mindand body.
Burn.
My temples ached and my heart pounded, but I refused to yield. The blood that flowed through the giant’s crumbling arm glowed as white-hot as my rage. Its gray clods of flesh burned red before they fell to the earth and sizzled in the snow. The giant’s milky white eye went dim as I incinerated it fromthe inside.
Burn.Burn. BURN.
The giant sank lower and lower to the ground, its mouth open and releasing a strained growl of pain, before it disintegrated into smoldering ash onthe snow.
My muscles screamed in pain but vibrated with power as I stared at the pile of ash that had killed my brother. My blood was molten bronze. I exhaled and I swore steam curled out of my nose. The crystal in my pocket glowed with warmth againstmy leg.
Riyan’s eyes turned from the fallen giant to me. His chest rose with an amazed breath as he awoke from his worst nightmare. A smile crept up his mouth as his left hand grippedhis forearm.
“Sera, I felt that in my blood, I felt you…” His voice broke, but his smile never faltered. “You,you’re a…”
Even though the word was stuck in my throat, I finished his failed sentence inmy mind.
Sorceress. The Man of the Mountain had made mea sorceress.
