Page 204 of Sins of the Heart

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peeling back to bare those dreadful white teeth.

Reaching for her knife, the reaction honed to instinct

without thought, Roxy tasted the bitter edge of panic

as she came up empty. Her stomach dropped. She’d

been holding both knives. Her sheath was bare.Bare.

She’d lost her blades, dropped them when she fell.

“Looking for this?” The genie held her knife aloft,

and to Roxy’s horror the metal began to glow, then curl

and finally drip, the heat of the genie’s hand enough to

turn it into tungsten carbide soup.

She looked around, desperate. As far as weapons

went, her choices were limited.

Frantic, Roxy clawed at the ground, scratching up

dirt and pebbles. Little treasures. She flung them at the

fire genie’s eyes.

Xaphan’s concubine reared back with a startled cry,

swiping her open palm across her face. Not waiting for

an invitation, Roxy booted her in the chest, rolled and

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planted both palms flat on the ground. She heaved

herself into a crouch, then surged for the tree line.

And got nowhere.

With a cry, she fell hard, her foot still trapped in the

genie’s curled talons.

Damn, that creature could take a shitload of punishment.

Heat flared in her tethered ankle. Roxy bit back a

cry. Her ankle was roasting, seared like chicken on a

grill, the burn of the genie’s grip seeping through her

leather boot, accompanied by a disturbing hiss and sizzle. Pain beyond pain licked at her skin, plunging deep,

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