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“He’s too caught up in the gore,” Halvar said.
I bit the tip of my tongue, scanning the space, mind whirling. “He is a hunter, yes?”
“He’ll attack anything.”
“Good.” I tossed back my hood and unsheathed the sword off my hip.
“Kase,” Tor snapped. “What are you—”
He didn’t finish before I darted into the clearing. I paused only to grab a small stone and toss it at the king.
Valen grunted when the rock struck his shoulder. My heart stuttered when his bloody eyes caught sight of me. No recognition, no friendship, nothing but feral rage lived in those eyes.
The icy tendrils of fear gripped my heart like bony fingers. For a breath, I was frozen in place when a man I admired looked at me like he wanted nothing more than to rip open the pulse point of my throat and lap up all the blood throbbing in my veins.
“Kase!” Tor shouted.
Bleeding hells, I had to focus. I narrowed my eyes and sneered at Valen. “Come catch me, beastie.”
Then, I dove into the trees.
Heavy thuds of wild steps came right at my back.Run. All I could do was command my feet to push forward. Leaves and branches thrashed around my face, snagging my clothes and skin. Valen had no thought, no care for scrapes against briars or foliage. He pursued me with a desperate obsession.
My body burned. My lungs ached. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder.
Almost there.
A swipe of his claws caught me on the shoulder. Cloying, rotted Alver blood perfumed the damp moss of the forest.Dammit. Hot breath came in ragged spurts behind me. One more swipe and I was gone.
Endless fear coiled my shoulders in darkness. Desperately, I pulled at shadows until the beast roared in frustration. I ran forward, my blood dripping with each step. Even hidden, Valen would catch the scent of my blood and hopefully follow.
The heat of exhaustion ripped through my legs. When I thought I might topple over from the pace, I spilled out of the trees onto the bridge leading to Felstad.
Murky darkness cocooned me on the bridge. To pull mists thicker than black ink wasn’t difficult, not with fear bleeding out from every pore I had.
Locked in my mesmer, Valen didn’t see me when he came at my back, but he paused in front of the ruins. Head tilted, he scanned the broken walls, the lighted windows, the shadows of movement from the intruders.
His crimson eyes brightened. Blood dripped from his lip where he’d lapped up the blood from the journey, and his mouth parted with a sharp inhale. Could he sense the army beyond the bridge? The pumping hearts of fae and skyds, or was my blood too much?
He needed to get closer, needed to catch sight of an enemy. Beneath the shadows, I dipped my fingertips into the blood on my arm and painted the stone walls of the archway covering the bridge.
From deep in his throat, Valen growled.
Closer. A few more steps, beastie.
I skirted along the bridge, buried in the cloak of mesmer. The small forest sprouting in the courtyard was guarded at the entrance by three skyds. Guards marched back and forth in front of the gate. These bastards had taken my Felstad, my home, and turned it into a place in one of the hells.
They’d pay. Brutally, if I had my way. Visions, no,hopesof Valen shredding the skin off their bones, digging his teeth into their throats thrummed through my veins.
Valen was still sniffing about the droplets of blood I’d left behind on the wall, but he followed the trail.
I crouched beside a tangle of slim aspen trees, no doubt looking like a corner shadow, and waited.
The skyds were wholly unaware that the scratching and shuffling in the tunnel was not the wind, it wasn’t a forest rodent. A wave of satisfaction dripped through my chest. This would be over quickly. The king would be our way in, but I had plans to begin this battle and end it.
They’d robbed the Kryv of our safety, of the most innocent among us. For their terror, their worry, for their pain, I’d make the Black Palace suffer tonight.
I lifted a knife from my belt. The guards came close to me, mere paces away, and wholly unaware I was hidden in the shadows. I aimed the point of my knife at the center guard, then let it fly.
