AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We can end this now, Zoei.”
I barely heard Olympia’s words. A roar burst from my lips, anger riding high above any pain—angerthat I had let myself underestimate this weakling.
“This won’t end until I sever the truth from your lips!”
I threw my weight into a cycle kick, my foot aimed at her death grip on Amnesia, but Olympia held on with a stubbornness and determination that would’ve otherwise impressed me. She took a step backward and swung the sword in a defensive move. It was a warning, one I decided not to heed.
I slipped a dagger from my waist and flung it across the room, aiming to incapacitate her. She moved at the last second, although not far enough.
The silver dagger sliced through the tip of her ear, and blood splattered across her pristine tunic.
“Fuck!”
The word grated against my senses. I’d heard worse—much worse—but not from Olympia. Never from Olympia.
A twinge of guilt creased my chest, leaving behind a bewildering mix of triumph and guilt. Rivulets of blood flowed from the open wound, and we stared at each other, chests gusting in wavering pants.
“You could yield and tell me the truth now, Olympia,” I coaxed. “I’ll let you keep the other ear if you do.”
She sniffed, shoving back her hair with a swipe of her bicep.
“You could take off all my appendages and I still wouldn’t confess to a crime I had no part in, Zoei,” she retorted with such bravado I almost broke into applause.
What an actress she was! I hadn’t expected such devotion to her craft, but as she stared me down with unshakeable determination in her eyes, I realized that I’d need much,muchmore to extract the truth from her.
No more half-baked attempts at scaring my opponent.
I vowed not to release her until one of us was mortally wounded.
She lunged forward with a surprising burst of confidence and the whistle of Amnesia’s blade rang high in my ear. The threat of imminent harm sent a jagged spear of warmth through my core, and I threw myself in the opposite direction, willing the unwelcome sensation away with all my heart.
I didn’t succeed, not when the scent of Olympia’s sweat and skin perfumed the air of the small room, distracting my spirit alpha from the task at hand.
We need a confession. Confession, confession, confession!
The word resounded in a loop in my head as she deflected several fireswirls with the elegance of an enchanter.
Each time she twirled away and side-stepped a flame, the anger inside me was whipped to a higher peak.
Unacceptable.It was taking much too long to take this weakling down.
I was done fighting fair.
From the pit of my stomach, I conjured a wall of flame, letting it drip like a waterfall on the brick stone floors. Thicker and thicker it got until the flames became opaque and impossible to see through.
It was no secret that non-fire sorcerers feared flames. Between the smoke that threatened to fill the room and the heat that singed the skin, there was littlenotto fear.
I used that to my advantage, rushing forward and kicking Amnesia from her fingers.
Just as quickly as it had materialized, the waterfall of flames faded away. I lunged, wrapping my fingers around Olympia’s throat and used my weight to press her into the wall.
The crease of pain in her eyes almost made me feel bad.Almost.
“Tell me what I want to hear,” I demanded, breathing hard.
The puff of her breath mingled with my own.
“I can’t,” she panted, and my fingers moved up to her jaw, holding her lying lips shut. Harder and harder I pressed, until her jawbone creaked in the near silence. Just a little more and it would snap beneath my fingers.
