I whip around.
Essi’s gasp puffs against my ear, her fingers clawing into my bicep as I growl, thrusting my sword up like a pike. The beast impales upon it, screeching while its flesh, organs, and bones give way to the sharp intrusion.
It hits the ground with a mightythud.
“Too late,” I grit out, using my boot as leverage to slide the corpse off my blade. “Consider mealarmed.”
The Mists chatter, scream, and growl, painting a grim mental picture of the pack’s vast size, eliminating almost every option.
Exceptone.
I stab my blade into the ground and reach into the pocket of my pants, still scanning the tight noose of snarling predators. “I hope you don’t have a thing against fire,” I mutter, retrieving my weald. “And apologies. This is going to get ugly.”
Essi pulls a soft breath as I flick back the lid and open myself to Ignos, struck with his hissing, spitting language—ravenous as always. Ever ready to chew something to ash.
“Geish athhh vill-vah sheith vakath, Ignos! Eeth atash éno—vui!”
The God of Fire roars in savage delight, not a moment’s hesitation before he plumes from my weald, expanding in a gushing torrent that churns around us. A whirlpool of flames, hungry toconsume.
Panic erupts; screams, yaps, and howls cutting through the incinerating clamor and the greedy melody of a gorging god.
The air swelters, sour with the reek of burnt flesh and hair. So potent I almost gag.
At my back, Essi wobbles, sagging her weight into me, making me feel more important than I’ve ever felt in my entire dreary existence.
I stand a little straighter, find her hand andsqueezeas the world around us burns, hating that she’s being forced to witness this. Wishing I could shield her from the dying sounds and the fucking smell.
She squeezes me back in silent acknowledgment, but then her grip loosens, her hand slipping free as she steps forward.
Awayfrom me.
I spit another sizzling order at Ignos, just looking over my shoulder when the air shifts, lifting the hairs on the back of my right arm. I spin to see a flaming crowl, charging blindly, trying to escape the fire chewing on its hide.
I rip my sword from the ground andslash, decapitating the beast, ending its misery—
A shrill roar dominates the sky, and I become chillingly aware of the rhythmicthud-umpof beating wings. The daunting sound of a hungry dragon.
Creators, not now …
I look up, heart hitching as a ruddy Moltenmaw spears through the smoke, flicks out its wings, then carves its outstretched claws through the flames, snatching a fiery crowl.
“Fuck.”
That could’ve been Essi.
I need to get her out of here.
I turn, intent on tossing her over my shoulder and making a run for the wall, only to see her wobbling toward the barricade of fire. I have a split moment to process the vision before she steps into the flames.
And disappears.
“ESSI!”
I fall to my knees and crawl through the sloshy snow, feeling twelve phases old again. Watching Mah walk out across that skybridge, taking a very precise step over the edge as I screamed her name. As I watched her collide with the ground in the fucking Ditch so far below, then never move again.
“ESSI—No …”
This isn’t happening.
