Page 293 of Emylia

It buried itself in the warrior’s skull, snapping his life away mid-step. He dropped without so much as a cry. Dead weight. A life snuffed out.

Maalikai didn’t stop.

He pressed himself against the wall, vanishing into the shadows–like darkness had been waiting for him, like he commanded it. Shadows curled around his feet, cloaking him as he moved, making him a ghost–silent, lethal, inevitable.

I didn’t breath.

I didn’t blink.

I watched him bleed into the darkness, silent and brutal, edging toward the front door like death itself.

I stayed frozen in the thicket, my bow still raised, my heart hammering against my ribs so violently it stole my breath.

The danger wasn’t over.

Not even close.

The enemy was already here, coiled into the cracks of my world, waiting to strike again.

An ache twisted deep in my gut, clawing at me to move—to run after Maalikai, to shield him, to put myself between him and almost certain death.

But I stayed hidden.

I had to.

No one except Maalikai knew I was here. The element of surprise was my secret weapon. From this vantage, I could protect him. I could kill anything that came for him before it even knew I existed.

It was a fragile shield.

But it was all we had.

Laced with bone-deep urgency, I watched as Maalikai crept closer to the door, every line of his body drawn taut with purpose.

I didn’t breathe.

Couldn’t.

He slipped inside, vanishing into the house with a whisper of movement.

And then—the waiting began.

Each second dragged claws through my skin.

It shouldn’t take this long.

It shouldn’t.

Thirty seconds—no more. That’s all it should take to find her.

Less to flee.

Unless—

Unless they were gathering supplies.

Unless something inside was terribly, catastrophically wrong.

Minutes dragged like a whip across raw flesh, tearing me apart. I gripped the bow until my knuckles went bloodless, until my fingers ached with it.

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