Page 55 of Ruthless Fae
Now was the time.
I pounced.
Using my momentum, I knocked her down and pinned her. My hands on her wrists and my knees on her thighs, I held her on the ground. She struggled, but it was clear she was exhausted. Her age, or maybe her confidence in her magical abilities, had indeed made her soft, even if she tried to deny it.
“Surrender now, and I won’t kill you. Tell your men to give me the helmet. You’ll be turned over to the proper authorities to face charges for what you’ve done, but you’ll live to hate another day.”
She laughed through bloody teeth, and her eyes roved around as if she were deranged, but her voice came out clear and strong. “You think I’d let it go down like that?”
One hand twitched, fingers moving in a strange formation, and suddenly, I rose off the ground. I stared down as I floated into the air. My wings hadn’t budged, but Karen had lifted me using magic.
“Where is your honor? We agreed to a fair fight!” I protested.
She got up, using one hand to keep me afloat. “Who said anything about fair?”
Her other hand twisted, and pain blasted me. It felt as if my bones were shattering and knitting back together before starting all over again. My teeth chattered, my eyes rolled back in my head, and my thoughts melted away until only pain and the wish to make it go away remained.
Please make it stop. Please!
When it did, I was half out of my mind and lying on the ground, my body one raw nerve that would shatter into a million pieces if anyone touched me.
Karen crouched, and her face came into focus. She’d cleaned the blood from her teeth and healed her wounds. More magic. She was low, dishonorable. What had possessed me to trust her word? Why did I try taking her on my own? Stupid.
“You see, silly fae. You cannot beat me. None of your kind can. And with my army—Can you see my army?” She wrenched my head around, sending agony through my skull until I could see the poor souls behind the magic barrier. “My army will crush anyone who comes my way.”
“Not... your army,” I mumbled, though it barely made it past my lips.
“What was that?” Karen cocked her head.
“Not your army,” I muttered, but I still couldn’t project.
Karen narrowed her eyes and scooted closer. “What did you say, fae bitch? Last words are important. Make yours count.”
“Not your army,” I said, bringing my fist up as I plunged the screwdriver between her ribs.
The aim was true, the hit exact. The poisoned tip of the screwdriver sunk between her ribs, then the whole blade, right where her cold, black heart should be.
Shocked, Karen stared at the impaled object, but then a smile formed on her lips. “This was your last stand? This was how you thought you’d kill me?A fucking screwdriver?”
Her laugh was insidious as she grabbed the handle and yanked it free. She laughed as she tossed it to the ground and began to weave her healing spell. Suddenly, she stopped laughing. Her eyes went wide, her hands stilled, and she fell into the grass and didn’t get up.
Pulling my injured body toward her, I pressed two fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse, but I felt no movement beneath her skin. Her heart had stopped.
The poison had done its work.
Karen was dead.
A little red frog back in the caves had given me what I needed to defeat her. She had never seen that coming. Her arrogance hadn’t let her.
Behind me, light shimmered and a distant, airy pop sounded. I blinked twice to make sure my eyes didn’t deceive me, but yes, it was clear.
The dome was down. I’d done it.
And yet, there was still an army to deal with.
The guards, the Habermanns, the mutant creatures. They were all still there. Perhaps shocked by the loss of their barrier and not yet attacking, but it was only a matter of time before they advanced. How could I fight them? I was so tired. My eyelids weighed a hundred pounds, and sand filled my limbs. I’d done what I came here to do. There was nothing left in me to do anymore.
Maybe it wouldn’t be enough, but it was all I had.
