Page 145 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

Through mist and shadow, I wound around the dunes, cursing every remaining blade of light until I slammed back into reality to the unmistakable sounds of a fight.

Terror burned the fog clean out of my mind, and I ran. This was it. Every moment—every godsdamned scorpion, every hallucination that followed—had led to this one.

I ran harder than I’d ever sprinted in my godforsaken life—like mine depended on it. Because theirs did. Because that chorus of familiar voices had my heart leaping, tugging, pulling me toward my family.

My hodgepodge, pieced-together, chaotic, not-so-little family. Warriors and shifters and healers alike. Tears stung my eyes as I ran until I saw them—Lana and Brody, back-to-back, throwing shields and bursts of flame at the massive serpents lunging for them. Maybe twenty yards from the castle, Rika screamed something unintelligible.

Where the hell were the rest of them? Panic never got the chance to take hold. Brody went down, Lana’s furious screech told me one of the fuckers had bitten her, and I was already moving.

Somewhere out of sight, a male bellowed in fury, and a great cat screamed.

I pushed my body past its limit, closing the distance while I watched the horizon. Please. Please let the light drop. Please let my shadows come out. Please. To any gods listening, please.

As if something heard me, the light fell. My shadows exploded outward, hurling snakes away in a shock wave.

Alana Callahan was bloody and bruised but mercifully intact. Canines bared, she decapitated one fucker, the severed halves crashing into the sand. In the same motion, she whipped her blade through another outstretched, muscled body, its fangs inches from Brody as he wrestled a massive snake on the ground.

“No!” I bellowed, throwing ropes of darkness around the thing as it squeezed. I ripped them back. The snake came apart in half a dozen places, pieces tumbling off Brody. But the effort cost us. Another monster struck Lana in the shoulder, blood spraying as she went down hard.

The assassin didn’t move when it struck again. Didn’t move when I screamed or when Brody staggered upright. She still hadn’t moved by the time I threw myself between her and the demon, hands flying up as shadows surged around me.

The cat’s cry shredded the air again, this time closer.

I locked my eyes on the enemy in front of me.

“Stop!” My voice sounded wrong—amplified by my outrage, threaded with a command I should not possess. Somehow one voice and many. The snake froze as though compelled to obey. In the next breath, my shadows tore it apart.

The remaining serpents fled in opposite directions. I stood there panting down scalding breaths, staring after them in disbelief.

“Lana,” I gasped, dropping beside her, palms already sweeping over her body as my magic searched. I’d barely begun spooling the venom out when Rika screamed. My head snapped up in time to see her vanish into the castle and slam the great oak door⁠—

—to block out a godsdamned black cat that stood at least six feet tall.

“What the fuck?” I breathed as it screamed, whipping toward us, foam dripping from its bloody maw. “Lana.” I shook her, urgency cracking through my voice. “Lana!” The thing bounded forward at a terrifying pace. I looked up to find Brody already fighting off another slither of livid snakes. He barely avoided the black beast’s fangs.

The soft skitter of sand sent my shield up on instinct. I threw myself over Lana in the same frantic motion and jammed my eyes shut.

Heart lodged in my throat, I waited for the impact. For the shudder against my shield.

For teeth to gnash and claws to shred.

Instead, the cat’s livid scream tore through my mind, then slowly receded.

A great shadow fell over us, my magic singing.

I sucked in a breath and turned, still half expecting that bloody maw to be waiting for me.

I blinked.

Blinked again.

Sucked down my first full breath in days.

Because eyes as blue as a frozen lake locked onto mine. My heart stuttered, then warmed beneath the beauty of the lopsided smile below them. A shaking hand lifted before I could stop it, just as he extended his bloodied one toward me.

“Well.” He shook his head in amused disbelief, his smirk broadening. “Hello, little dove.”

PART 3