Page 71 of The Curse of Eternity
Like the weapon between my hands that forced the armored guard back a step. Slashing my blade free, I ducked under the arm of the second guard. They hefted the mace while balancing their shield, but I snuck inside their space. Where they wouldn’t be able to make a clear hit. The back of my neck prickled, andI raised my machete over my head to deflect a blow from the guard’s elbow.
Metal skittered off the edge of my blade, but I was past their attempted barricade. I focused on Drake, tightening my grip on my machete when I glimpsed the spear pinned between his ribs.At least he’d managed to keep them from piercing his heart.The damage would heal. I didn’t have time to think about anything else when I leaped for the now weaponless guard.
My chest collided against the guard’s shoulder, and I held on while strengthening my grip on my machete. I climbed using my free arm, my legs gripping around their armored torso, careening the guard off-balance, and I quickly ripped the helmet off the guard’s head. Stricken deep green eyes greeted mine. Wonder and sickening peace settled over their haggard features, but I couldn’t stop.
My muscles locked into action, and I slit the lycan’s throat straight across, slicing through flesh and arteries. Their eyes rolled back fast, the brain now drained of blood. I scrambled to keep my balance when the body fell from under me. The two guards I’d managed to evade had caught up, both keeping their weapons between us. Neither dared to reach out.
Metal crunched when I awkwardly rolled off the man I’d killed. One of the guards had brought their mace down, right where I’d been on the dead guard’s back. To my right, Drake aimed a well-timed kick for the back of one of his captor’s knees.
That guard fell, landing hard, and I didn’t waste the opportunity. With one of their hands attempting to hold Drake down, the other was clumsy with the sword they’d held to his throat—but I was on the other side. Crouched, I shoved my blade with all my might through the chainmail covering the weak point beneath the shoulder plate. Links of metal burst from the pressure of my thrust, scattering with tiny pings.
Twisting my wrist as I pushed, my machete’s blade skewered right through the guard’s chest.Three down, three to go.Except now, Drake had his right hand back. The chain connecting his shackles stretched taut as he grasped the shaft of the spear. Hoisting it out from him in a fluid motion before he angled the point and shoved it through the eye-hole of the wolf’s head helmet belonging to the guard beside him.
Even if these guards hadn’t been allowed to use lethal force given the Domnitori’s commands, there wasn’t time to risk, or hope that they would defect on our behalf. Only to take advantage of whatever luck we had left.
Then the remaining two guards reached us, and I stood to meet them. Calm settled into my bones, my higher thinking shut down. I breathed slow when I dodged a swing of the broadsword. They wouldn’t beat me here, not at the steps of my disowned ancestor’s throne.
Chest heaving, I bypassed the guard’s defenses by ducking around their raised shield. They tried to spin in time, to keep me in front of them, but that damned armor made them slow. I crouched while the guard kept turning, trying to circle me, and then I dove between their legs to pop back up behind them.
The guard whirled, their weapon with them. Raising my left forearm to block, I winced at the sting of the broadsword’s edge. Teeth gritted against the pain, I deflected the oncoming blade, slicing off several layers of my skin down to the muscle. A burning pulse seared my flesh in its wake. Maybe they weren’t supposed to kill us, but if it was between being maimed or dealing the death blow, I chose the latter.
With a twist of my thrusting hand, the machete’s blade scraped under the chin guard to blindly skewer the guard through the face. A slick sound accompanied the withdrawing of my blade. I lowered my weapon while the guard’s body collapsedin a heap. Silence descended, and an increasingly familiar shiver caressed my spine.
The sensation drew my gaze to where Drake crouched over the guard he’d taken down. Blood coated his lips and chin, hovering over the torn neck of the lycan whose helmet had been ripped off along with their head. Nausea bubbled in the back of my throat, and I staggered a step away as Drake’s figure blurred to reach my side.
Blood coated his fingers, but his steadying hands were gentle. Raven-dark eyes bore into mine, searching for who knew what. Carnage spread out around us. We were the last ones standing.
“Maria?” Drake’s palm caressed my cheek, warmed by blood that wasn’t his, and I jolted. “Are you injured?”
I shook my head, numbly glancing down at his arms, still encased in sigiled iron. My searching gaze flitted over each guard.
“Maria? Your restraints—” Drake’s touch fell away as I retreated to snatch up the keys before shoving them into the mirrored hole.
“They just came apart,” I mumbled, wiggling the key until the lock clicked open. Freed, Drake tossed the circlets of wrought-iron aside. His gaze fixed to my face while I averted my eyes from his. “Come on, we can’t waste time…” I turned, hurrying to the doors framed on either side by the gargoyles. Drake followed me out on silent footfalls, but then caught my arm when I turned left to follow where the Domnitori had gone.
“Where are you going? The exit will be beyond—”
“One of them has the rings!” I hissed, desperately trying to hold it together. “Where did the scarred one go? Do we have a shot at getting him alone?”
Indecision flickered over Drake’s blood-splattered features. “Most likely… Each member of the Domnitori resides in their own turret. To my memory, his wife is in the endless sleep.”
I frowned. “Endless—”
“Some of our kind choose to ‘sleep’ when they are too cowardly to end their terrible existence more permanently,” he hurried to explain. Then his lips pursed momentarily, expression grim. “This does not mean that taking the rings back will be easy. Please, Maria—”
“You can’t stop me.” I glanced down at where his bloodstained hand touched me. Focusing on my deep inhale, I pushed his hand off. “Either you help me, and we both survive this, or we know what happens next.” I refused to save us only to lose him again, not after this—aftereverything.
Tears threatened behind my stinging eyes, but my hope surged when his features softened. Nodding once, the hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, the lycan’s blood already drying on them.
“Have I ever once been able to sway your mind?”
“Nope.”
His fingers wove between mine, and this time, I returned the sentiment. A tender tug pulled me into motion, and I started running on aching limbs to delve deeper into the fortress of death.
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Blood We’ve Shed
