Page 81 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
The creature hissed and clicked, prowling toward me with an ever-quickening pace. I unsheathed another knife from the bandolier around my thigh. I waited, grabbing a blade in each hand, tighter and tighter until my knuckles were white.
“Goddess, help me,” I whispered and then I started to run.
I faintly heard Navin scream my name—and my heart screamed his name back, even as I charged toward the creature. Just as I’d hoped, the beast lifted its massive jaws, ready to grab me head-on. And when it did, I dropped, sliding beneath that giant head and to the creature’s unprotected underbelly. Withmy blades crossed, I swiped, cutting the creature’s neck joint. A nauseating snap sounded, the weight of its head too heavy without that joint holding it together. The midnight black head tumbled, breaking clean from the body, and crashing into the floor, almost crushing me. The wood beneath me splintered as I moved. I only had mere seconds to scramble out from under the beast’s belly before its legs gave way and its torso came crashing down.
When I rose, I quickly took in the carnage—Svenja crumpled over Timon’s shredded body, the other Songkeepers cowering behind Navin, so many bodies slick with blood upon the floor...
And Rasil still propped up in the corner, his face drawn.
I took a step toward him when Navin’s hand landed on my shoulder. I looked up at him as he grabbed a knife from my hand, his own dagger having disappeared in the fighting.
“You can’t allow him to live,” I said, horrified.
“That’s for certain, love,” Navin said, but shook his head. “I have need of your knife.” He lifted my hand and brought my bloodied ring to his lips for a kiss before turning and marching toward Rasil.
The word “please” died on Rasil’s bloodless lips as Navin drove my knife into his neck.
All was silent for a moment before Svenja’s cries cut the air again. I looked around the room, back at the beheaded beast, and then to the thin strip of open doorway between the top of the creature’s shell and the doorframe.
“What is it?” Ora asked, walking over to my side. They dropped their hands back to their knees, trying to catch their breath.
“Well, the good news is we’re safe for now,” I said to them, trying and failing to sound reassuring. “The bad news is we’re trapped.”
Briar
I COWERED BEHIND A CURTAIN IN THE HALLWAY, DUCKINGbeneath the windowsill, trying to make myself as small as possible. I peeked out to the moonlit forest... too far to jump, too steep to climb. My hair was matted with gore and my skin was splattered in dirt and blood. I didn’t know if it was mine. I couldn’t feel anything other than the thump of my heart like a fist bashing into my sternum. I’d lost all control of my muscles. My whole body shook, and my stomach roiled as I heard the zaps of lightning and the bloodcurdling screams. Hot tears burned down my cheeks.
“Maez,” I whispered, my lips trembling. “Please. Please be brave for me. I don’t want to die here.”
Before I could continue my prayer, the curtain was ripped back and a man with silver hair and a lined face sneered down at me.
Recognition alighted both of our expressions at once.
I knew that face. I’d seen him staring up at my window as he commanded his soldiers to disembowel those humans.
“If it isn’t the Crimson Princess,” he said. “I’d hoped we’d meet again.” He snatched a handful of my hair and yanked me to my feet. “Such beauty was wasted on Evres. You need a wiser hand to know what to do with all of you.”
“You,” I spat, raking my nails across his face.
Blood beaded in neat little lines across his cheek as he cursed. He shoved me against the wall and my head cracked against the stone. “You bitch.”
Before I could move, he pinned me with his body, my attempts to shove against his barrel chest all in vain.
“You think you know how to handle me?” I asked, my voice suddenly soft and sweet as I felt my way across the wall and to the loose stone I’d spied nearly falling from it. “You know, I made you a promise that day.”
“Did you now?” he asked, intrigued.
Aroused?
I couldn’t believe this man. That he had the audacity to smile at that, that his eyes hooded with lust. I’d just clawed up his face and now he thought I wanted to fuck him from a single pointed smile? By all the Gods, it was too easy.
“Tell me,” he murmured, his eyes dropping to my mouth.
The seduction was a skill of the old Briar...
What came next was a skill of the new.
Another booming crash from the grand hall had him turning to the sound and the loose stone jostled farther. I gathered it into my grip as I said, “I vowed that I would be the one to end you.”
