AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He cocked his head to the side, eyeing where the throwing star had nearly hit. He jerked his gaze back to me before he shouted, “Get the water bitch!”
Arkyn’s gaze met mine, a look of triumph written on his muddy face.
Shit. He’d seen. He’d seen my Water Curse.
Suddenly, Arkyn shot to his feet, the man’s weight no longer able to hold him down. Where had this sudden strength come from?
I jerked back as a blade went sailing but a few inches from my face.
My hand shot to the side, producing a water chain—thin and elegant, the molecules forced together, packing it like ice. I wrapped it around the neck of my assailant. I tugged, bringing the large oaf to his knees. His stubby fingers gripped at the chain, trying to remove it. I pulled it tighter until he turned blue. As he slipped into unconsciousness, I let it fall loose.
Cool steel chewed into my arm. I grimaced, my hand shooting to the gaping, blood-pooling wound that now occupied my right forearm.
Four men circled me, their bloodthirsty blades tipped, at the ready. I spread my feet apart and cinched up my chain, waiting to see which one would charge. I bet on the lanky, younger-looking one. What he lacked in age, he made up for with long limbs and sizable feet. Judging by the sneer topped with a dusting of peach fuzz, he looked like he had something to prove.
Sure enough, he charged, his feet slapping like flippers against the ground.
Bingo. We have a winner.
Before I could react, Arkyn was there.
He rammed his shoulder into the younger one, the force of it like a landslide taking out an unsuspecting, grass-nibbling hare.
I had never seen someone fly before, that was, until now. The boy was airborne, his body sailing until he came to a skidding stop on the ground, the back of his head ramming against a time-worn boulder.
I tore my gaze from the boy, looking at Arkyn, who was already working on the other three robbers. He moved so fast, it was hard to track him. In a blur of movements, lethal and precise, he brought them to their knees. They cried out, begged, a plea for mercy, their weapons thrown in defeat on the rocky ground.
But with his face painted in the colors of war—blood and mud and gore—Arkyn did not concede. One by one, he cleaved their heads straight off their necks.
I gasped, stepping back, tension tightening my shoulders. Headless bodies slunk to the ground, blood shooting and spraying from severed arteries, pooling out. The sight of it was gruesome.
“You are bleeding,” Arkyn said as he walked towards me, eyes on my wound, cleaning the weapon of decapitation on his sleeve.
I ignored the blood, the gore, the brutality, the lack of empathy—it was something I would visit later. When I had time to think. Instead, I focused on the torn fabric at his waist. “You are too.”
“YouareCursed.” His brown eyes met mine. He emphasized the middle word, as if it confirmed something he had already suspected.
There was no denying it. No lie I could try to pass. There was only the truth.
I tilted my head, armoring my tongue with pride. “I am.”
Silence drifted between us, hanging on the quiet night air, the wind but a whisper now. I waited. Waited to see if he would try to strike my head clean from my neck, just as he had done to the men mere seconds ago. Waited to see if he would drag me to the pyre and set my body aflame.
But instead of all that, he offered his hand. “Come. We will take the horses the rest of the way and find an inn to stay at.”
I eyed it suspiciously. “Rooms apart, right?”
He gave me a funny look, like he had no intention of sleeping in the same room as I. “Yes, apart.”
I took his offered hand. “Fine.”
The truth?
Nothing about this was fine.
Idabbed at the dried, crusted blood with a wet cloth. A porcelain basin with dainty flowers painted around its lip sat on the dresser. The water inside was clean and crisp.
I eyed my reflection in the mirror. My hair was a tangled mess, courtesy of robbers and riding horseback. In the low lighting of the small room, my eyes appeared less sky blue and more moon gray. It was fitting, I supposed, as I was feeling a whole buffet of emotions—up and down and all over the place.
