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Ailsa stared back at her for a moment before making up her mind. “Come on. Both of you follow Darach and me.”

With that, she crossed to the clag-doo and climbed onto its back.

The beast turned on its haunches and began cutting a path up the road, through the heaving press.

Ailsa twisted, looking over her shoulder to see Bree and Kayla leaping after them.

35: JUST YOU AND ME

DARACH CLOVE A path through the battlefield.

The clag-doo loved this. He could feel it delighting in every broken bone. Every scream. Every heartbeat that faltered beneath its claws.

There was no hiding from it—not any longer.

Disgust choked him as it ripped a man’s belly open, spilling entrails into the mud.

Thank the Five, there was no time for the beast to feed. Instead, they needed to get through this wall of Circines.

He drove forward.

He’d heard Bree earlier. They had to reach Gregor. He was their target now, not Niall.

A sting lanced across one shoulder as a blade glanced off him. Ignoring it, he bounded on. All the while, Ailsa clung to his back, slashing at anyone who got too close.

Warriors reeled back as he came at them—and there, up ahead, he finally spied his brother.

Niall wasn’t looking as confident as he had earlier. Aye, the battle was still going in his favor, yet victory was taking longer than he’d likely hoped.

The warriors protecting him had just engaged Cailean, Alar, and Tae, and a knot of slashing enforcers. He was no longer looking on from safety.

And he’d just spied the clag-doo.

His face drained of color as he tracked its approach.

Darach bared his teeth.

Aye, his brother knew what he was these days, and he knew Darach was coming for him.

Jaw locked, Niall swung down from his horse and drew his blade.

Around him, his warriors tightened their circle. Darach had almost reached them now.

Gregor flanked him on one side, and Maol on the other. Both men were big and formidable. Confident.

Darach drew to a halt then, allowing Ailsa to slide off his back while Kayla and Bree moved past him.

He’d join them shortly, but he wanted to do so as a man.

Dropping his head, he yanked the clag-doo back, bracing himself for a struggle.

To his surprise, it surrendered.

Just as well, for more Circines surged forward from the rear, pushing past on either side of where Niall’s bodyguards hemmed him in. Ailsa was holding some of them off, but he needed to do this fast.

His body spasmed then, a scream tearing from his throat as agony twisted through every bone, sinew, and muscle.

Warriors leaped at him, blades slashing on the spot where the huge clag-doo had been just a heartbeat earlier.