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She fought harder, kicking her feet against the creature’s iron-clad stomach, but it did no good, and she had gone too long without oxygen. She could feel her face turning purple, eyes shot through with veins.
Roman screamed her name again. Shay sensed his shadows barreling down the hallway like a dark storm.
A different type of darkness began to set in, carrying Shay somewhere else…
A blade swept down from above, cutting the winged creature’s head right in half.
The monster let go, falling to the floor in two perfectly cut pieces, its otherworldly skin steaming where the black adamant had butchered it.
Shay dropped to the floor with a bang. She sat up right away, clutching at her aching throat. Blood slicked her skin, but the wounds were shallow—no stitches needed. She gasped down mouthfuls of air, lungs screaming.
Ivy stepped in front of her, a shining black sword in hand. Using her wrist to wipe the sweat off her forehead, she said to Shay, “Sorry that took so long.”
When Shay replied, her voice was a croak, and she used her sleeve to wipe the slimy saliva off her neck. “That was disgusting.”
The back of Darien’s head smacked against the floor so hard, he couldn’t tell up from down. The only thing he knew was that something was perched on his chest, a claw encircling his throat as leathery wings flapped above him.
Loren. He had to get to Loren. He couldn’t even tell where she was, what she was doing, if she was okay—
Feeeed, said a primordial, slithering voice.
Oh fuck.
This was the same breed as the one under the Strangler Fig. The same monster that had chewed through his shields of magic by shooting acid out of its mouth.
His hand went to the claw around his throat. He tried to pry it off so he could draw some air, but the creature wouldn’t let go.
This was it. He was going to die like this, wasn’t he?
Black nails pierced his skin, sinking in deep. Darien thrashed, blistering pain shooting through his neck. The creature’s eyes flared brightly, its mouth opening to reveal green acid bubbling at the back of its throat—
Blood sprayed Darien’s face as something sharp burst through the creature’s left eye from behind, the tip of it shining like a star. That blade stopped barely three inches from Darien’s own forehead. Any closer, and he’d be dead too.
Darien’s arms shook as he held the creature aloft—as it went limp with death. The light in the monster’s eyes went out like snuffed candles, leaving behind two black holes in its face, one skewered by a sword of—
Black adamant.
Heart pounding, whole body screaming in pain, Darien shoved the dead creature aside with an exhausted roar—
And looked up to see Malakai Delaney standing right there.
The Reaper smiled like a fiend and offered him a tattooed hand. “Bet you’re glad to see me.”
84
Ardesia
YVESWICH, STATE OF KER
Malakai had to admit, it was funny as shit to see Darien gaping up at him like an idiot, rendered speechless for once in his stupid fucking life. Behind him stood Loren, hardly a mark on her tiny body, most of the blood that was drying on her skin or clumped in her damp hair not her own. As a hellseher, Malakai could scent the difference.
Cassel had won. Not just against nearly a hundred monsters that were lying in bloody heaps around the swimming pool, a few mangled corpses floating in the water—but he’d also won in waking Loren up.
Malakai’s grin grew. Son of a bitch. Was there anything this asshole couldn’t do?
“I cannot say,” Arthur began as he shuffled through the room, his eyes sweeping about the wreckage, “that coming to Yveswich was the safer option.” He cringed away from a particularly brutal kill, his pale throat bobbing.
Finally, Darien snapped out of it and took Malakai’s outstretched hand, grip trembling. He sat up, wincing in pain. Malakai pulled him to his feet.
