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“I did,” my fae snarled, and Janus gave a little shout of surprise. It was only Janus’s vampire reflexes that saved his life as Rush collided with him. Janus yanked his own gobbelin club free and took a swing at Rush just as Collette charged me. She had gumption, I’d give her that much.
It was actually more of a challengenotto kill her. She would never have survived the Trials if they’d started with one-to-one combat.
“Where’s the book?” I asked, dancing easily away from her club while I flicked my whip at her ankles and wrists, drawing narrow ribbons of blood from her skin.
“Fuck off, princess,” she hissed, and I felt her ice magic building.
“Don’t you dare - haven’t you figured out the ice magic draws the gobbelins? You don’t want to be fighting themandme, now do you?”
“You’ve died once already,” she shot back, and I realized Jillian must have figured things out and communicated with her brother. That meant these two would be more reckless with their efforts to take me out. “Either one of us could go to the mist, and if you go, you get a one-way ticket.”
Still, she stopped trying to freeze my mind - which was pointless, anyway. I had much better training than her in resisting that sort of attack, too.
Rush let out a feral roar as Janus landed a vicious blow on his arm, knocking one dagger to the ground. I didn’t have time to help though, because Collette was quick on her feet. She didn’t have as much strength as I did, but she nicked me a few times while I tried to stay back enough for my whip to be useful.
Her biggest downfall - like many nobles - was her cockiness. I noticed her technique slipped a little each time she landed a good blow, so I began slowing my movements just enough to allow it.
While I preferred pleasure, I could handle the pain all day.
Rush managed to lodge one of his daggers in Janus’s arm, and I felt the snap of ice magic reverberate through the labyrinth as my fae hissed and his knees buckled with the sudden pain of Janus freezing his mind.
Turning to Janus, I cracked my whip across his back, breaking his control but opening myself up to Collette.
She clubbed me hard on the shoulder, and I sank to one knee with a grunt. Catching my balance, I swept my leg under hers and brought her to the ground.
Rush recovered quickly and lunged at Janus, who gave a guttural roar as my fae plunged his daggers into the vampire’s stomach, pulling them wide in opposite directions.
Well, fuck. That was a pretty badass move.
Janus toppled over onto the ground, his eyes going glassy almost immediately as his guts spilled messily out onto the dirt.
The mist swirled in to claim his body as Collette started to run, shoving a wild bolt of ice magic pointlessly back at us.
“Give us the book, Collette,” I called, speeding after her. She was fast, but not fast enough.
I lashed out with my whip, ripping a wide gash in her pants, all the way down the back of her calf. From there, it was easy to tackle her to the ground. I snarled down at her, flashing my fangs in her face. Rush caught up to us, his daggers still dripping with Janus’s fresh blood.
“You’re too late,” she said, coughing and grinning up at me. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what she meant.
Rush hissed at her to be silent. Like a taunt, he held the tip of a dagger over Collette’s mouth, and her bloodlust took over as she struggled to reach the deadly blade with her tongue.
I handed my whip to Rush and began to press my knees down on her shoulders, feeling the satisfying pop of dislocation in the left one as she wailed, still scrabbling for the dagger.
“The book,” I hissed, wrapping my fingers around her neck as I began to slowly freeze her mind, ready to hunt for the memory if she didn’t give it to me. She moaned and clawed at her temples as I forced my way inside.
She fought hard, but splitting her attention between the blood and my magic had been a genius move on Rush’s part.
Several minutes of digging through her frozen thoughts finally brought me to the image I wanted. I looked up at Rush triumphantly.
“I have it. Kill her,” I said, rising swiftly off her limp form.
“No time for that, princess. We have to run,” Rush said lightly, catching me under my arm and hauling me into a sprint. I didn’t have to look back to realize the gobbelins had found us, called straight to our location by all that ice magic I’d mistakenly thought she’d used in desperation.
“Enjoy the mist,” I called back to Collette as she moaned quietly on the ground, her hands still pressed against her face.
“You’re brutal, and I fucking love it,” Rush panted as we pounded through the maze. He seemed to know the passages even better than I did, so I let him lead, seeing by the position of the sun that we were heading south, hopefully toward where Luca and Kas still were.
I didn’t bother to look over my shoulder - the gobbelins were loud enough. I’d seen three or maybe four, but it sounded like the crowd had grown, and they were fucking fast.
