Page 60 of Shadows and Flames
Including Viktor, their ringleader, who was now meeting his end at the curved blade of my favorite weapon. He staggered, gaze and movements panicked as his body spilled its contents, tissue and organs, from behind the tatters of his now ruined tunic.
Rounding my sword over my head, I twisted my wrist, as fluid as water, and brought it down again, slashing him in another clean, deep cut that crossed over the other.
He fell then, and I let him. Facedown in a filthy alley in a filthy city.
Nogón’s kills were far more simple, quiet, but more than a week on that cramped ship necessitated some exercise. What better than taking out those who’d made the journey insufferable?
“Always the heads with you.”
Elián had two of them at his feet, relieved of their bodies by the dripping short swords he now held relaxed at his sides.
Three humans against two Lylithans, the odds were never going to be in their favor, but time to stew further while restrained in the bowels of the ship during our last day was enough to cloud their last bit of reason.
And the humans, citizens of Vharas who milled by during the men’s ‘attack’ and our correction of the problem, let us be. They did not scream, nor did they help the men whose bodies now lay in various heaps.
“Ah,” I sighed. “Smells like home.”
Elián chortled and shook his head. While he crouched and used one of the dead men’s shirt to wipe off his sword, he teased me right back. “You like to show off.”
To that, I could only agree. I shrugged and commenced cleaning my own sword. Certainly, a far more common dagger to the heart, a quick slash across the throat, would have been sufficient. But it’d been a while since I’d been able to use my favorite weapon properly.
“And decapitation isn’t showboating?”
He shook his head again, but as we left the humans to be found or left to the scavengers, I nudged his shoulder with mine.
My brother had come out of Roza’s womb a grouch, but a good vengeful kill always left him in lighter spirits. Now, I watched him walk with relaxed shoulders, hands swinging lazily.
Our destination probably had something to do with it. “You think your female will be mad at us for stealing the fun?” I’d seen her in action once, when she’d saved my hide in this very city. But, that’d been with steel and our own wits.
When she restrained those blokes that came for her cousin and the Vyrkos, she’d used something far darker than I’d seen before. The same stuff, I’d guess, she used to conjure those black daggers of hers.
“Maybe. But I will handle her.” The lovesick foolsmirkedat the notion. She hadn’t directed those black snakes in my direction, but even walking past them sent every one of my self-preserving senses into an undeniable state of alert.
“Handleher when she could steal your soul if you just glance at her wrong?”
Elián growled as we crossed the street, but it wasn’t threatening. Fire was something one inherently knew the dangers of—don’t touch unless you want to be burned. What in the hell did you do withwhateverDeath flowed through her veins? How was he not dead already?
“She cannot do that. And she would not hurt me.”
“You mean she wouldn’t hurt you again.” The shot left my lips before I’d thought it through—though it was thetruth—Elián certainly didn’t like it.
He stopped us in the middle of the street as drunkards passed. A few paces down, some humans leaned on the facade of a derelict shopfront, scarce clothing showing off their bodies. A quick glance around and I already witnessed two thieves reaching into the pockets of passersby.
Nogón didn’t say anything but communicated just as effectively with one look. We’d sparred often, been around each other for centuries, to the point that I knew him like I knew myself.
The way he squared his shoulders, face closing off, had never been turned on me this way before.
I raised my palms and turned back toward the tavern ahead. “All right. Your message has been received.” We ignored the propositions shouted our way, scowled to deter those who dared to get close, intentions to steal from us clear. Most in Vharas, especially the central city, were armed in some way, so our weapons weren’t the usual deterrent.
“You’ve never acted like this with anyone,” I observed. It was one thing to hear of the hold this female had over him. It was another to see how she… soothed him. He might have been stony on the outside, but that Fire was always threatening to eat him from within.
But, godyx, when he looked at her, I watched the flames cool to a steady glow. They calmed in a way no other had been able to accomplish. Not his various lovers over the centuries, me, Nor, his parents, or even Leandro.
Elián grunted as we came upon the tavern, The Crow’s Nest.
And of course, his queen and her cousin were already waiting for us.
Just to shake his confidence a little, I spoke under my breath at him, “Just let me know the date of the mating celebration. I want to make sure my diary is free.”
