Luella thrust the dagger outward, stepping back until the towering side of the mountain brushed her wings. "Tell him to—draw back from here. These people are innocent." Her voice shook.
The Umbra tipped his head back and laughed. "Innocent? I don’t think they’re innocent when they harbor what my master searches for. He told us we would be rewarded for finding you—did you know that?" With each word spoken, he stepped closer.
Luella could go nowhere else. She was trapped. The vines and roots snaked over the stone, thorns pointing out.
The Umbra canted his head. "He will be pleased you’re learning your magic. After all, what good is a magicless Princess?"
"What do you want?" She tried to sound strong.
"That’s complicated. What I want and what my master wants are not the same. The Tenebrae wants a bride touse." He drew out the word, and she knew it had many meanings, each one making her skin crawl. "But what I want? I want him to notice me—to realize that a little bitch like you doesn’t have what it takes to keep him satisfied."
Luella’s brows furrowed.
The roots curled around his legs, thorns piercing his calves. He didn’t flinch. He waved a hand before him, and shadows curled, a sword materializing from nothing. His hands wrapped around the hilt. It was huge. Nearly half the length of her. It made her dagger look like a twig.
Without looking away from her, the Umbra sliced the blade down, cutting the roots in two. Something painful unfurled inside her, and she gasped, sagging against the stone at her back.
He cut through each vine and root until lifeless flower petals drifted onto the ground. She felt each slice as if it rended through her flesh.
At her pained gasps, he looked up at her. He took in her trembling body and watery eyes. "Interesting."
Luella was boneless as he finally crossed the distance between them. He held the sword out, the tip grazing beneath her chin, which he used to lift her face. The deadly point dug into the underside of her neck. She held her breath.
He shifted the sword until the edge rested against her neck, his arm notched at her collarbones. Even the feel of the fabric of his shirt against her flesh made her sick. He smelled of dank water.
"I bet you are untrained. Dry as a bone." His lips brushed her ear. "I could make you wet. Maybe if I fuck you, he’ll want me then."
She gave a tortured sob. "Get away from me?—"
The blade cut deeper. Hot blood trickled from a shallow wound at her neck. He pulled the blade away, lifting it to his lips as he ran his tongue over the edge. It cut the edges of his mouth, his blood mingling with hers on the blade. He groaned deeply.
Luella cried, cornered.
"The sound of your tears is decadent." With a bloodied tongue, he pressed his opened mouth to her jaw. "Give me one more, then—so I can tell him you cried for me first."
As his wet tongue trailed up her cheek, she squeezed her eyes shut. Words washed over her, then, unbidden, as if drawn from a deep well:
That’s how the Umbra spreads. Fluids. And of course, they’d choose the worst way to infect another, by raping them.
Luella’s entire body went rigid. The pain of the dead vines dissipated in the face of overwhelming terror. No, no?—
Was she going toturn?
Had his saliva gotten anywhere on her body? What about the blood?
She knew what this Umbra was going to do to her. Through the consuming panic clawing in her lungs, she didn’t let herself think.
The ground shook as trees burst free from the stone. Roots lashed in the air like large worms as they got between her and the Umbra, wrapping around his chest and forcing the sword from his hands. He fell back against the stone with a huff.
The roots and trees kept coming. Even she wasn’t spared.
As if, in her terror, they couldn’t differentiate between friend or foe.
The mountains tremored. She fell, palms scraping the stone.
A large boulder tumbled down the cliff from above. It was headed straight toward them.
The small ledge she was on had a tiny cracked path—her only way out. There was no other way. Luella was essentially trapped. She dove for the path, knees slamming against stone as she hoisted herself further up the mountain.
