And the opening leading straight to her felt too suspicious.
But she lingered at the edge of the pentagram, and if this was my only shot, I needed to take it.
I luscelered through the gap, beelining for her grinning, smug face.
A sword slammed into my collarbone mid-run, the impact snapping through me and ripping my feet from the ground.
I flew back, hitting the mud hard as a cry tore from my chest.
Aspen bellowed.
Ronen’s wrath speared through my pain.
Rune and Hadrian released vicious growls.
I clawed at my chest, fingers coming away slick with blood. The blade had sliced through my uniform and scored my skin, but the wound was shallow.
The real agony burned deeper.
My collarbone was broken.
Melanie’s infected filled in behind me, separating me from my squad. They fought with fervor to get to me. Our Soulhounds’ snarls ripped through the clearing. Blue fire flashed at every turn. The earth rumbled. Flesh split. The sickly, rotten scent of infected blood filled the air.
Yet the infected never touched me.
They wanted me isolated.
I pushed to my feet.
A sharp throb stabbed through my shoulder, and my nostrils flared, but my anger and pain had nothing, absolutely nothing, on how I felt whenhestepped into view.
“Miss me?” He twirled his sword, the edge dark with my blood.
“Brockalian,” I spat.
“Princess,” he taunted. “Ready for me to take the other?” He tapped his ear, his wrinkled face goading me.
I gritted my teeth and crafted a sword from ice, wrapping it in my Hellfire.
“Only if you’re ready to feel your bowels disintegrate like Lilith’s,” I said loudly enough for Melanie to hear.
Brock chuckled, showing off his yellowing, disgusting teeth.
“Still so ignorant. It’s a wonder you’ve survived this long.”
“Is that what you’re calling killing your queen? Me surviving?”
He tilted his head, the red beads in his beard swaying. Something cunning and cruel curled his lips.
“No. I call that planned.”
Planned?
He saw my frown before I hid it.
“Didn’t think about that, did you? You really believed a seer almost as powerful as Melanie wouldn’t have seen her mother’s death? Honestly, we should be thanking you. All of this”—he spread his arms wide—“wouldn’t have been possible without you killing her.”
My stomach bottomed out.
