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Then I launch myself at the asshole, locking an arm around his throat and heaving him back against me. My claws grip his jaw.
“You’ll suffer for every member of the Ice Fire royal bloodline you murdered,” I growl in his ear, claws digging into flesh, breaking skin. A savage growl rips from my chest.
Steel strikes my arm, and I bellow as that familiar white-hot pain of being stabbed explodes just below my shoulder.
I swing my attention to the man who drove his knife into me.
The Gamemaster twists free from my weakened grip, turns to stare at me, and laughs. “Have you not realized yet that this isn’t something you’re going to win.” Then several men attack me at once, leaping onto me. They kick my legs out from under me, and I drop.
My last view is of the Gamemaster bursting into the cabin.
“Dawn!”
Chapter
Thirty
DAWN
Dread rips into me.
I stare out the cabin window at my three monsters in the clearing fighting to protect me and for their lives. They’re outnumbered, and I’m heartbroken watching them battle. With so many against them, they’re too often overwhelmed and brought down, and I don’t know how much longer I can sit here and do nothing.
I pull back and call to my monster form, which slides over me, gold threading through my hair and tumbling over my shoulders. My skin glows, and I’m taller than before. My muscles flex, and I need to help them, so I swing toward the door when it tears open.
Someone barges into the cabin. Their skin is as bright as mine, complexion bronze, and eyes lit up as though they were flames. And for a few seconds, I’m sure who I’m staring at because he has the same monster features as me.
But it crashes over me as I stare at his face.
The Gamemaster. My stomach drops.
He grins in my direction and shuts the door behind him.
Fury pulses through my temples; his presence makes it hard to breathe. The mere sight of him brings out an ugly side of me because I want this piece of rot to vanish from the world.
“Just so we’re clear, you may be my half sister, but you mean nothing to me,” he declares nonchalantly. “You were meant to die many years ago, and I’m here to rectify that.”
“You’re an asshole who killed so many innocent people.” I spit the words, curling my clawed hands.
His face twists with anger. “My mother was innocent, and our father didn’t bat an eye when he sliced her throat.” Lips peel back over his teeth, revealing sharp fangs.
“She’d be horrified knowing what you’ve done!”
He shrugs, his nostrils flaring. “Perhaps, but she’s not here, is she? And you think I don’t see the same self-entitled preening in you too.”
“You don’t know me,” I say, calculating how easily I could run past him and out the door. Right now, it’s impossible, but if I can get him to walk deeper into the cabin, I might be able to run.
“You’ve got their blood, which is plenty.”
“So do you,” I snap.
A cruel smirk creeps over his face. “And why else do you think I’m so fucking broken? I moved to Earth to find peace, but imagine my surprise when I heard Grimvale had visitors here to pick up one of their own from one of our villages. I had someone ready and waiting for you in Grimvale, but it seems plans have changed. Now, here we are.”
My heart gives a terrible lurch.
“And that’s your big plan?” I say, inching back as he steps closer. “Kill me, then go on living as the king’s personal servant?”
He squints at me, eyebrows pinching together. “I am second in command!” His jaw tightens. “Besides, it’s a stepping stone. While the other courts in Grimvale keep fighting each other, I’ll reclaim the throne that’s meant to be mine. So you’ve done me a favor, giving me the chance to eliminate those three pricks out there. Now, I have the best story to win over their two kings’ mercy when I explain how you killed them.” He laughs like a lunatic, chortling as he waves his blade at me. “So let’s get this over with.”
