Page 69 of Kill the Beast
Alderic made a sound of frustration and strode past her.
They walked back through the crypt in silence. When they finally emerged, Elena was sitting on one of the temple’s stone benches, her head propped back against the wall, snoring. She started awake when Lyssa closed the door behind them, and got to her feet.
“My lord, I’m sorry, I—”
“I’m the one who should apologize,” Alderic told her, clasping her hands in his. “We’ve intruded upon you long enough, and stolen your precious sleep. You have my thanks. Here. For your trouble.” He pressed a coin pouch into her hands, and she bowed low.
“Thank you, my lord.”
They showed themselves out, climbing down the stone steps to the cemetery grounds just as dawn was breaking. The storm had stopped, and the sky was a violent shade of red. There were mourners gathering not too far from them, despite the early hour.
But as they walked back across the lawn to the stone structure where the Gate had spit them out, Lyssa realized that the members of the small crowd weren’t in mourning clothes. They were in the leather armor of the Hound-wardens.
And at their head stood Honoria, her hair as red as the sky behind her.
“Fuck,” Lyssa spat, sticking out an arm to stop Alderic in his tracks. How had the Hound-wardens found them so easily? How had they even known where to look? She whirled on Alderic. “You drunken idiot! I thought you said you didn’t tell her anything!”
“I didn’t,” he snapped.
“Then how did…”
Magic,Honoria had said. Lyssa supposed she had no choice but to believe it.
The Hound-wardens had spotted them; the archers nocked their bows, and the rest drew swords and knives, preparing for Honoria’s signal to attack.
“Al, get out your pistol,” Lyssa said, drawing her own. He obeyed, the weapon looking out of place in his hand.
Honoria crossed the distance between them. “Have you given my offer any consideration?” she asked Alderic, ignoring Lyssa completely. Not that Lyssa was complaining—she tightened her grip on her pistol and took the opportunity to gauge their options. Whether there was any way out of this that wouldn’t end in their deaths or Alderic’s capture.
But there wasn’t one that she could see. They were surrounded. Even if Lyssa managed to kill Honoria, the bitch had brought too many lackeys for them to get out of this alive. As for getting to a wall that Lyssa could use to draw a Door, the Hound-warden archers had arrows trained on them both. They’d be pincushions after only a few steps.
Fuck.
“I thought I was quite clear that I have made my choice,” Alderic replied curtly.
“And I thoughtIwas quite clear what I think of that choice,” Honoria said.
“That’s the thing about choices,” he told her. “I get to make one regardless of whether or not you approve of it.”
Honoria’s face hardened. “Be that as it may, I cannot allow the Butcher to destroy the Beast of Buxton Fields. I didn’t want to have to do this the hard way, but you’ve forced my hand.”
“Ah. So, you’ll let me pick sides as long as I choose yours,” Alderic said, raising his chin and glaring down his nose at her. “Is that it?”
But Honoria didn’t seem to want to talk anymore. She raised her geas-hand and signaled to her Hound-wardens. “Take him,” she said. “If the Butcher moves, kill her.”
“Don’t do this, Honey,” Lyssa warned, but Honoria only watched impassively as a few of the Hound-wardens stepped forward. One of them was holding a pair of shackles.
They were going to capture Alderic, and there was nothing Lyssa could do about it.
Well, almost nothing.
“When everything goes to shit,” she told him, “I want you to run. Don’t stop until you’re somewhere safe.”
Alderic looked at her in alarm. “What?”
She smiled at him, then turned back to the Hound-wardens and fired her pistol.
The bullet struck Honoria in the shoulder—she spun with the impact, landing hard on the ground with a groan. One of the others shouted a command, and the archers drew back their bowstrings, letting their arrows fly.
