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They drop like flies. And I do it all silently.
Until number six.
I saw out the tongue of one of her four predators when she snaps her jaw open and screams in terror.
“Help!” she cries. “Help, she’s going to kill me!”
I rub my temple, smearing blood across it. At this point, I’m a blood-covered demon from hell. Even my blonde hair is matted red. I don’t exactly blame her for thinkingI’mthe bad guy, but it’s also annoying as boots trample toward the tent with no way out.
I growl and grab her wrist, further terrifying her but whatever. She’ll thank me later. I swipe my knife down the back of the tent and cut an opening, then I shove her through it. “Run,” I command.
Her eyes widen with her mistake. “Oh, I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t realize —”
I turn my back on her. “Go.”
Her feet slap against the hall’s compacted dirt, but I train my eyes on the tent flap.
It’s thrown back, and the opening fills with a hulk of a figure — one I recognize.
I steady myself and lift my chin. “Felix.”
He scans me head-to-toe in distaste. “I told The Beast you were nothing but a liability.”
“Let him know I’ve terminated our contract of employment,” I remark, taking small steps back toward the slit I cut open. As much as I want to finish what I’ve started, to save the rest of the girls, I won’t manage it if I’m outnumbered.
Larger bodies than Felix’s fill the shadowed space behind him, and his lips pull back into a venomous snarl. He slides out his sword and stalks toward me. “I’ve wanted to chop you to bits since I first laid eyes on you.”
I wipe my blades off on my pants. “And would you agree to a one-on-one, or shall you fight me like the coward I know you are.”
It’s a gamble. Really, it’s to buy me more time to escape.
But then Felix’s eyes gleam with delight. “I am a man of honor, Zora Vyner. If you wish to challenge me, to end this between just the two of us, then I will.”
I stop my retreat.Fuck. My pride flares, and I level my gaze with his. “Then call off your cronies.”
He glances back and orders the others to leave us. He turns his fierce glare to me and juts his chin over his shoulder. “Out here.”
I nod my agreement, but when he turns his back, I lunge forward and dig my daggers into his back.
Felix howls, and I rip them free as he spins around to grab me. “You fucking bitch,” he snarls and grabs my neck.
I curse as he lifts me from the ground and tosses me across the hall. I grunt as I thunk into the side of the stage, a crowd forming around us. “I never saidIwas honorable,” I manage and get to my feet with a wicked smile.
Felix roars in frustration and charges toward me.
I meet him head-on, sprinting forward then sliding to the right and slashing my daggers across his thigh. I narrowly dodge his sword as he drives it toward my skull, then I rush to put distance between us.
He chases me forward, and I glance over my shoulder as my heart rate spikes. He’s clumsy, slow.Both things I can work with. I stop abruptly and drop to the ground.
Felix trips on me and tumbles over my head. He shouts in pain, cutting himself with his sword. Then he lifts up and points at the nearest man. “Get her. If she doesn’t want to play fair, then so be it.”
Shit. I flee and shove through the crowd, but they catch on fast, their hands grabbing me. I shout as someone snags my waist and throws me to the ground. I cough as my breath is knocked from the impact, and I blink a few times to clear the dots threatening me with a concussion.
Felix towers above me, and to his right stands The Beast.
I swallow, fear wiggling its way between each heave of my chest.
“Give me that.” The Beast snatches Felix’s sword and positions its tip above my heart. He glares at me through his mask, his mouth twisted with scorn. “Zora, I had plans for you.”
