Page 195 of Veil of Blood and Bone

Too wounded to use his forearms to dig the wound deeper, Nicholas grabs hold of icy scruff and kicks down.

Ice cracks.

I leap at the same time, driving my shadow-cloaked fist up. Isvargr swings and drives ice toward my stomach. I bring my knee up, leaning to the side, shadows driving like a wedge.

Until Helene screams.

Until her bleat of panic fractures my attention.

The next strike sends me flying and crashing into the crumbled trash of the car. I land hard, indenting the already ruined shell, stars blanketing my vision. She’s screaming for me.

She’s yelling my name.

“Don’t worry, monster.” I grind my teeth and haul free of the metal prison. “I’m not so easy to kill.” Clearly.

“Then quit playing your fucking games and let’s end this!” Nicholas yells.

“Quit your bitching.” Shit, my knees hurt. And I know without looking that the gash on my thigh will take much longer than I need to knit together. “At least he’s not using his full strength. Are you, big boy?”

Isvargr chuckles, and in the next beat, the jötun lifts himself to two legs.

His features shift. The head of the ice wolf remains but his lower limbs crack, bend, and morph him into something capable of fighting on two legs.

“You had to say it, didn’t you?” Nicholas bears down when Isvargr reaches for Helene.

She pushes her hand to the canister. Flame belches and Isvargr shrinks away from it. A single hesitation before he plows through the flames, grasping at her.

Those claws miss her coat by inches, and my throat closes.

Well then.

I send my shadows out, warping them into a shape I know as intimately as my own face. Which I’m well acquainted with.

Magic thickens them, molds them into a puppet of her.

“Over there, Shnookums! You’re going for the wrong girl.” I push another web of darkness toward the ice giant to angle him.

He glances at the puppet and snarls.

Nicholas bends at the knees, leaping up to send his entire weight against the tiny opening he’s managed.

Isvargr lunches for the puppet, Helene scrambling out of the way to avoid his rear legs. He kicks snow and ice in a spray toward her face. A battle of strength and will, sure. But also wits.

I jab frozen shadows into Isvargr’s calf from the rear. Nicholas braves the burns to hack away at the creature when those claws swipe through my Helene puppet.

Darkness scatters. Which only pisses the creature off.

Isvargr roars. Then stumbles when Nicholas kicks deeper, those runes boiling through his pants and skin. I sprint out the way, cutting toward the side again. Circling. Blocking Helene with my body.

“What’s the matter? Is this proving to be a little harder than you thought?” I jeer.

Little bugs. My jötun isn’t rusty enough for me to miss his next grumbled words. Ready to be crushed.

“Not in this lifetime.”

I pull up another Helene puppet, and another, two of them rounding off against Isvargr with their gloomy faces morphed into vulnerable fear.

“Finish it before you force me into play!” Forest yells.