Page 22 of When Storms Collide

I easily slid the throwing knife into his chest and he fell to his knees, slumping over. I bent to retrieve the sword he carried and pulled it from his limp grasp. As I stood to full height, I sensed someone behind me. I ducked barely in time to see a blade go sailing over my head.

Once second later and that blade would have separated my head from my shoulders.

I turned quickly on my heel, the sword I had taken from the fallen soldier cutting across the man’s knees. He fell back with a cry as I stood, sliding my other hand with Stormslayer tight in my grip across his throat. I pushed him to the cobbles with my boot and wiped the blade against my jacket.

That was two men down.

I turned to see Puck still fighting Kane, their skills evenly matched. Kenna and Saanvi had each taken down one soldier as they battled another together, and Tess fought at Puck’s back, protecting him. I watched as Kenna sunk her blade deep into the belly of the soldier she and Saanvi fought, pressing against his shoulder with a bloody hand to dislodge him from her blade.

I turned towards Tess to help her dispatch the last soldier, leaving only Kane still standing.

He fell to his knees before Puck, bowing his head in defeat.

“Please, please allow me to live.” His voice was hoarse as his eyes were cast down to the puddle of blood that pooled around his knees. His shoulder wound from my throwing knife was bleeding in earnest now.

“Afraid I can’t let you run back to Donika and reveal you saw us here, mate. You understand.” Puck’s voice was sharp, despite the sarcasm in his words.

“I meant what I said,” Kane said, his eyes meeting mine. “Nikolai wants to see you. He’s been asking about you.”

“How dare you speak his name,” I seethed, stepping forward and pressing Stormslayer to his throat hard enough for blood to trickle down and darken the collar of his shirt.

“He leads the Noctani now. He is more powerful than he has ever been before, and he is searching for you,” Kane replied, his gaze raised to mine. He shrunk back at whatever he found there.

My lips were bared over my teeth and I felt more animal than human as his words found my ears. Nik had been taken from me, and Kane wanted to use him as a bargaining chip to save his own life. Was there truth to the words that he spoke? Was Nikolai leading the Noctani and searching for me? Whatever we did from here, wecouldn’tlet him find me.

Nikolai wasn’t mine anymore. He wasNoctani. He could steal my magic with his fangs and leave me completely mortal.

The sound of Nik’s name in my ears ripped something open within me that I had thought I had sealed shut. Rage simmered, barely contained right beneath the surface.

How dare he speak Nik’s name as if he knew him?

Without another thought, I sliced the blade across Kane’s throat in one fluid motion as my emotions threatened to flood me. The wall I had carefully built between me and myemotions was failing. Tears of anger welled in the back of my eyes, but I blinked them back.

I would not cry again.

What I hadn’t seen in the blindness of my rage, what I had failed to notice, was that Kane had lifted his hand in his last moments. Had that been a blade that had caught the light?

I turned from his limp body against the blood-soaked cobbles, my boots soaking through with his blood as it pooled around me.

Saanvi was behind me, on her knees against the cold, wet street. Her hand was splayed against her stomach as her mouth opened in a gasp.

One of my throwing knives was buried in her chest.

Time slowed down as I turned to face Saanvi, her face stricken with pain as she grabbed the hilt of the throwing knife and pulled it free. Blood bloomed across her tunic immediately and Puck kneeled at her side, pressing his hand to the wound. Kenna ran towards her, falling to her knees and grasping her around the shoulders.

“We need to get her to a medic or a healer, andquickly.” Puck’s voice was strained as the blood pooled around his fingers.

“I didn’t—” The words were swallowed before they could even come out.

I hadn’t even seen Kane pick up my throwing knife where it had been discarded. I should have been paying closer attention. My ears were ringing as I frantically searched up and down the cobblestone street, thinking of anywhere we mightbe able to go for help. We were still deep within The Shadow, far from any of our contacts in the resistance.

“What do we do?” I asked, raking a hand through my hair, my gaze falling back on Saanvi as she slumped against Kenna.

Tears streamed down Kenna’s dirt-stained cheeks as she squeezed Saanvi tight. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t lose another person I loved.

“I’ll run for help,” Tess offered, standing from her squatting position and moving towards the mouth of the alleyway.

She stepped over the dead bodies strewn about the cobblestone, her boots splashing in the darkened puddles of their blood.

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