Page 106 of Her Blood Revenge

Archie bites my sleeve and pulls me left, avoiding a winged monstrosity from colliding with me.

I look at him, and even in his wolf form, I know he’s smiling.

‘She’s magnificent,’ I admire before we both return to watch her.

Pixie turns, her hair sweeping through the air and sweat building on her brow as she lifts her arm in a vast swiping motion. A great wave of soil ripples upwards and crashesinto the unseelie. And she laughs, several rocks hovering before her. Her fingers move, and they roll in the air. Then she tosses them, and they go through the foreheads of six dark creatures, coming out the other side of their skulls dripping blood.

It’s only when Sathick tears the vines from his neck and charges at her that I snap out of this daze.

I run towards them both. Archie too. But a wall of dark shadows slams into Sathick, forcing him backwards as he tries to fight the impossible.

Dorian stops beside Pixie, his black eyes murderous as he attacks them and protects her.

Seeing us charge, the earth witches join the fight. Steel meets talons, and it’s a battle to be proud of.

Sathick. The baby skinner. He’s broken free of the shadows and is heading straight for our girl!

Her head snaps straight in his direction, and her hand reaches out to him. Her fist clenches, and his feet get dragged into the dirt. He pulls against her, but she’s strong.

Her roots lash themselves around him as he slams his fists into the dirt. Archie bounds past me, heading straight for her. He leaps over her and sinks his teeth into the unseelie running at her from behind. She didn’t even flinch as he jumped. She didn’t even look.

She trusted him completely to protect her.

A group of unseelie go to attack the huddled earth witches cowering by the water. The children. The women. The elderly.

Pixie plants herself between them and slams her palms into the soil. I stagger back as the ground trembles.

She releases a violent scream, and every one of her thick red roots diverts to the incoming unseelie. They look left and yell before getting slammed by them all. When she’s done, there’s not much left.

Whatever is left alive of Neve’s army runs to the treeline, clutching their stumps, broken bones and gaping wounds. They look back in terror at our girl as a wall of thick brambles and thorns begin to grow around the clearing.

The battle has ended, and the silence left in its wake has my ears ringing.

Pixie looks at me with a condescending smirk. She warned me it was a trap. She said nothing good would come from going to the palace. And she said we needed to come here.

‘Don’t say it,’ I groan.

‘I fucking told you so,’ she says.

‘And you said it.’

Pixie’s eyes flutter, and she sways. Before her legs buckle, I have her in my arms, and I hold her weight as she lets out a shaky breath.

Her hands grip my shirt as she catches her breath, and I hold her until she’s ready to stand on her own. Her legs regain their strength, and she rises with my help.

Like hell I let anyone see her fall. I’ll be damned if, after that incredible show of skill and power, she falls in front of her coven.

‘You okay, Pix?’ Archie asks, appearing at our side.

She starts to giggle. A tired, exhausted laugh that ends in a heavy sigh.

‘I am fucking perfect,’ she beams.

Stepping back, I find myself reluctant to let her go. But she remains on her feet and faces the coven.

‘Did we seriously just get saved by an earth witch?’ Archie says quietly as she turns her back to us, with nothing but shock in his voice. ‘Us?’

‘We got saved by something, alright.’

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