Page 155 of The Stolen Crown

Heavy steps came up behind me. I did not have time to move before fire skirted over my flesh. Long, black claws tore through my tunic, my skin, like a starved hound finding an injured hare in the brush.

Eeva slashed and swiped her claws across my body, shrieking. Blood bubbled through the tattered seams of my top.

I had a choice: go still and die, or survive. Vows of compliance were forgotten. I yearned to live, yearned to claim the chance to see Mira again. Somewhere in my mind, I knew Lena had to die if I had any hope of fleeing Eilifur and escaping the vow to the mortals.

There was no shortage of contentment imagining how I might slaughter the sea witch when I found her.

It would be a damn honor.

Eeva tossed her head back, readying to sink her fangs into my flesh. Instinct took hold. I yanked my bound hands close, curled my fingers into fists, and slammed both against Eeva’s jaw.

A whimper slipped over her dripping lips. She curled over and slunk back, a wounded beast.

“Eeva, please,” I said breathless. “You don’t want to do this. I feel it. You’re in there.”

True enough, through her rapidly quickening heartbeat, there was a desire so fierce I could taste the icy barbs on my tongue. She did not want to kill me.

I did not look away and held her tight yellow glare. “You don’t need to be what they’ve made you.”

Eeva’s chin dipped and spittle dribbled down her chin, tinged in pink where I had split her lip. A drop of her blood fell to the ground. At once, a tiny sprout of vibrant green pushed through the soil. Not golden like the pomes, but a perfectly healthy seedling.

Tears lined her veiny eyes. She lifted the clawed hand that dripped in my blood and pieces of my tunic.

Eeva shook her head. “I want it. I hate that I want it.”

Blood. Her desire shifted. She wanted my blood so desperately, but something held her back. A deeper fear. One any others would not sense. How many fae Djur forced Eeva to kill, I didn’t know, but I was certain none had the opportunity to help her focus on her true desires.

Resistance was there, hot in her gaze. The woman fought against some baser, crueler urge. She clung to the deeper wants of her heart.

“You don’t need it,” I whispered. “I’ll get you free of here. You’re a prisoner as much as me.”

Eeva tilted her head up and shrieked at the sky, a primal sound that sent a chill down my spine.

Dammit.

I did not want to hurt the woman, but what control she tried to keep slipped. Should she fall into whatever had hold of her now, I did not see this ending without one of us dead.

Soon, Eeva would be completely gone.

While she thrashed, I snatched up a stone that lined a bed of thorny blooms. Across the garden was a tall tree with upper branches that rose above the walls. If I could get there, climb fast enough, I could escape over the top.

Guards would be there, but if I could slip past them, I could get to the sea. I could lie in wait until I had a chance to kill their sea witch.

Behind me, Eeva touched the blood on her jagged fingernails to her lips. Her eyes closed. In the back of my throat, I hummed. The bristle of my sea voice coiled around her heart, unseen.

Fetid rage soaked my tongue like rancid herbs. Shit. Desires had shifted. Instinct, the darker nature of the woman, shadowed the kinder, sweeter disposition. Now her need, her craving, was potent. Harsh. Deadly.

Reason and control were at an end. Insatiable bloodlust remained.

Eeva spun on me like she was seeing me for the first time. She raced toward me, snarling and clicking her fangs.

Two paces away, I threw the stone at her head. One of the sharp edges struck Eeva’s skull. She shrieked and stumbled to the ground.

Snarls faded to pathetic whimpers and shallow gasps. Curled over her knees, Eeva clutched her head, shoulders jerking like she might snap out of her joints. She sounded like a pitiful creature caught in a hunter’s snare.

For now, her focus remained locked on the pain in her head. When she recovered, no mistake, she would be as ravenous as before.

I plucked another heavy stone and raised it over my head. One hard strike and I could crush her skull, end this before she had a chance to find her bearings.