Page 699 of Coal Hearts

Peter cried out as a Master grabbed him by the throat, and two others took turns punching him. He dropped to his knees, his arms covering his head as they rained abuse on him.

Ily whimpered as she suffered the same fate. A fist to her belly and a kick to her ankle. She fell, landing heavily on wet cave rock.

“No!” I lost myself again. I stabbed another guard. He twisted out of my reach just as I went to gut him. Another kicked my wrist. My fingers opened involuntarily; the diamond-hilted dagger went skittering into the gloom.

Fuck!

No matter.

I reached for the weapon holstered on his belt.

I managed to pull it out.

A gun banged.

It reverberated around the cave, making everyone duck and press their hands to their ears.

It wasn’t me who’d shot.

So who...

My gaze skimmed over the sea of cowering people.

Victor.

He stood with the muzzle of his weapon pointing down the stone corridor we’d come in from—just in case the bullet decided to bounce off the cave roof and kill someone unintended.

Grabbing hold of the sudden stillness from his shot, he shouted, “Enough!” He pointed his gun at me. “Get him under control. Now!”

The stillness shattered.

I lost myself again.

Dropping my shoulder, I ran into a guard.

He toppled like a boulder.

I struck him in the head just as two more fumbled for my arms, trying to yank them back.

Twisting and leaping to my feet, I kicked and punched. I snarled and struck.

The guards renewed their efforts to subdue me.

I renewed mine to return the favour.

I lost track of how many men I hit and how many hits I received in return.

Time lost all meaning as I tried to take on guards and Masters and slowly lost, one by one. Strike by strike, my energy whittled. Punch by punch, pain overwhelmed my violence. I panted and sweated. Blinked and staggered. I kept feeding my flagging body with sheer determination, forcing it not to give up—doing my best to end this before they ended me.

Through blood and sweat, I tried to find Stewart and Ben.

Why weren’t they helping?

We would have better odds if they jumped into this fight, along with the guards who said they were ready to revolt.

It wouldn’t just be me against countless enemies.

We might stand a chance.