“Halt right there!”
For a moment, the world moved slowly all around her. Her breaths sawing past her lips as her heart thundered in her chest, her ears, her very blood. Faces blurred all around her and voices melded into one. One that called out her name desperately, urged her to run. The carriage, the horses, everything moved slowly as her sister was ripped away from her.
And only one thing had remained.
One thing that begged to be let out—used.A pestering call she’d tried to silence from her mind forever.
And so, for the first time in fifteen years, she did. Bringing her hand up to her mouth, she sank her teeth into the center of her palm and bit down until the rush of iron touched her tongue. The pain fueling her senses. Awakening something within her which she had long since buried deep beneath, sofar that she wondered if it hadn’t somehow faded away. Ceasing to exist.
It hadn’t.
The moment a crimson stream poured down her wrist, everyone around her screamed, running in opposite directions, stepping over each other in their hurry to escape the terrible Vedran before them as she faced the Watchmen who had all drawn their swords. A pulsing light emanating from their chests coaxing her to them.
The two guards before her charged forward, swords raised as she turned her palm out toward them, fingers curled as she, with a soft voice of silk, said, “Stop.”
And at her command, the guards, the crowd, the world,stopped.
If only for a few moments. Long enough for her to spin on her heel and run.
8
Anelize ran as quickly as her legs could take her, her skirts soaked in snow and mud as she cut through streets and alleyways. Cold air piercing her lungs with every labored breath she took, she listened to the several thundering footsteps behind her as they pounded against the cobblestones. The Watchmen’s voices a ceaseless storm of curses, threats to bring upon her demise should they catch her. As if they took a thrill in this chase of theirs.
The Watchmen relentless in their pursuit.
She’d managed to hold them off for only a few seconds at most, her power rampant and quick as a viper but not enough to have been able to lose them entirely.
Weak.
After so many years of hiding her power and ensuring none caught so much as a glimpse of it, Anelize had sacrificed the one thing that could have been the most useful to her in this very instance. Her chance of survival close to none as the sound of arrows flew past her. A sharp sting on her arm and the sound of fabric tearing barely made her flinch as she ducked into another alley. The familiar sound of a horn announcing her existence to the rest of the Watchmen nearby, beckoning them all to her.
She ran and ran until she no longer knew which way to go, losing herself in the labyrinth of the city. Pushing past crowdsand ignoring the cries of horror from those who knew exactly who she was,whatshe was. Their faces blurring into one shared look of disdain. Hands that tried to reach for her were pushed aside in her haste. Fingers snagging in her long tresses pulling at her braid until it unraveled around her. Nails sinking into her flesh as she rushed past, refusing to be slowed by them. Caught. In this very instance, there was no force greater than her fear pumping through her veins.
“Stop in the name of the king!” a Watchman called as he suddenly pulled his horse to a halt, blocking one of the streets before her.
Coming to a screeching halt with a gasp, Anelize turned and pushed into one of the alleyways to her left. The Watchmen chased after her as she turned down another street before being met with nothing but a wall. Trapped. She’d gone into a dead-end. The windows around her had been barred and crates blocked the only door she could spy between them. She wastrapped.
The sound of men panting behind her made her freeze as one of them said, “That’s enough now, Vedran! You’re coming with us.”
Slowly, she turned to face four Watchmen who had caught up to her. Three of them held swords in their hands, but the fourth, he held a bow. The gleaming tip of an arrow pointed straight at her. If his aim was any good, he’d shoot it through her throat and end her life within a matter of seconds.
One wrong move and she’d be dead.
Death was preferable to whatever their hateful gazes held for her as the Watchmen stalked toward her. Her eyes flickered between them as they approached, closing in around her as she backed away. Her back hitting the wall seconds later.
“P-please, just let me go,” she panted, knowing it would be useless. But the instinct to survive had won over any logic she may have possessed before.
It should have hardly phased her when the Watchmen laughed at her, looking at each other as though she’d made a great jest. And yet, their lack of humanity, common decency, forced her to shut her mouth. Loathe herself for her pathetic attempt. Weak is what she was, and she’d just proven it to these men with predator’s eyes.
“Let her go?” one of them mocked. “As if she wouldn’t kill us all with a simple flick of her wrist?”
“You’re already at the bottom of the barrel.”
“What did you expect?”
The Watchman who approached her revealed horrid yellow teeth as he grinned, pressing the tip of his blade against the base of her neck until she felt a twinge of pain. His eyes roamed her face then down to where she felt blood had been spilled, a rivulet running down her neck beneath the collar of her dress. The call of her power starting a dull roar in her ears. Commanding her to will it to the surface once more. Her eyes trailed down to the pulsing glow of light from the Watchman’s chest, seeing his heart as clear as day before her vision blurred and she shut her eyes momentarily.
Before she could answer its call, the Watchman said, “She doesn’t look half as fearsome. The last Vedran we killed was at least twice your size, a real ox. And she went down like one too, after my blade pierced her heart. At the very least, she didn’t beg like you. She hadsomepride.” The sick satisfaction in his beady eyes made her stomach revolt as he murmured, “Ah, but I do love it when they beg. Makes this all the more worthwhile.”
