Page 149 of The Mortal Trials

If you’re fighting, you stop fighting.

The injured are collected. Then the dead.

But one of Ares’s soldiers ignored the horn and flag. He advanced on Niall.

“Morrigan surrendered. The war’s over!” I yelled as I reached them, but the brute didn’t care.

The Greek soldier prowled forward.

Niall tripped over the body of one of our kern and crashed to the blood-soaked, trampled grass. He stared, his mouth agape, at the deceased woman whose eyes were fixed on the skies. Then he looked up at me, terror in his stare.

Crows already cawed overhead. They landed to pick at the dead he fell beside.

When the Greek soldier brought his sword over his head, determined to bring it down on Niall, Niall did nothing. He was frozen.

I barreled into the soldier’s side. I was smaller than the man but quicker, and Morrigan taught me where to strike to make the most impact. I ducked when he swung his blade and kicked the back of his knees. It felt like striking a tree, but his legs buckled.

He landed on his back, gasping for breath, and clawed the grass for the blade he dropped.

In his eyes was a feral promise. He’d try to kill us the moment he regained the strength and chance. I was ruthless without hesitation, as I had been trained.

I plunged my sword through his throat and the hand he put out to stop me, then stabbed his heart to give him a quick death.

It was more than he deserved for breaking the rules of war.

Warrior Callalie moved to Niall, not realizing that Ares had seen what she did.

August curses when he sees the moment Ares entered the fight.

The Greek god of war strode through the dead and dying, stomping past the mortals crying, screaming, and calling out for him and Morrigan to get to me.

“You killed my soldier after your goddess surrendered!” he bellowed, red cape raging behind him.

I pointed at Niall. “Your man was going to kill this soldier – Morrigan’s – after I told him about the surrender! I was only defending him, and myself. The rules –”

He raised his sword and brought it down. Hard. I deflected the brutal blow and moved farther in front of Niall.

Ares’s eyes narrowed. When he tried to go around me, I realized he planned to slaughter us both. “No!” I blocked another strike. “Get up!” I screamed at Niall. “Get Morrigan!”

But Niall didn’t run. He scooted and scuttled away, leaving me to face Ares alone.

I did all I could to hold off the god of war as he stabbed and cut and sliced, but Niall didn’t even shout for our goddess. “Morrigan!” I yelled. For a second – just one – I looked down the battlefield to see if she heard me, hoping she was on her way to stop this. To intercede and protect us…

Then I toppled sideways as an indescribable, searing pain lanced my thigh. My side and head hit the grass. I curled forward, wondering how deeply his sword cut me, only to see my severed leg lying an arm’s length away.

“Help her,” Ares invited Niall. “Come to her aid. Repay her. It’s the least you can do, worm.”

But Niall shook his head and continued to crawl away.

My hand stretched toward him. “Help me,” I choked.

My lips went numb and my fingers tingled. Every pump of my heart sent more blood pouring from the wound.

My vision blurred, sharpened, then dissolved again as my life drained away. Niall kept retreating. He didn’t yell for help or beg the goddess to intercede. All sound was muffled as Ares came to loom over me.

Suddenly, a night-dark cloud barreled into him, knocking him away. Morrigan gathered me in her arms, and I looked up into the goddess’s furious, beautiful face before I faded away.

Quetzals cry out over our heads, reminding us of the race once more.