Page 83 of Kiss of Death
My sword was still across my back, so I quickly unsheathed it and used it to block his attack before he struck me. I used it as a shield instead of a weapon to protect my armor and skin from his razor-sharp claws. I parried his attack then shoved my shoulder hard into his body, making him stumble back slightly.
I rolled between his legs and came out behind him before I slashed my sword across his bare back, hitting hard rock for skin, making a shiny scratch in the material but drawing no actual blood…or whatever lay beneath the tissue.
But he released an angry growl like it hurt.
Good.
Was it possible to defeat him? Was it possible to kill him?
Let’s find out.
He suddenly changed, turning back into the beautiful man with the gorgeous armor. Then he unsheathed his blade and spun it around his wrist just the way my father did. We were in some kind of parlor with a dark mantel and couches and tables, obstacles that either of us could trip on, but it turned into a battlefield.
“Lily Rothschild, your fight only makes me want you more.”
“And it makes me want to kill you more.” Everything my father had ever taught me came to the forefront of my mind. I’d thought the battle with the Barbarians outside the walls of the castle was the great battle of my life—but it was this.
He launched for me first, swinging his black blade for my chest to knock the wind out of me, but I blocked his hit and returned with my own strike. There wasn’t much room for us to move around, so it made the battle more intense, every strike deadly because it was difficult to evade.
He came at me hard, spinning his blade so quickly that someone without the ability of a god would miss it. We were evenly matched even if he didn’t realize it, so I was able to block and step back, able to match his pace. It took great effort and I was already exhausted battling someone of my caliber, but I still managed to stay in the fight.
A chair was knocked over as we fought, and his blade managed to slice my cheek even though no blood was drawn. We battled in the parlor for what felt like an hour, neither one of us gaining power over the other.
Then he came to a stop, his blade lowered to his side, and stared me down. “No man or woman can match a god. A fuse with a dragon isn’t enough either. You guard a secret—and I will find it.” Then he gave a nod, as if giving orders to someone behind me.
And then I was grabbed by several orc-like creatures, all of them surrounding me so I couldn’t get free. My sword was snatched from my grasp, and my arms were pinned at odd angles so I couldn’t fight back.
I was dragged through the castle, fighting the hold of monsters four times my size all the way, until I was taken to a dank cell and shoved inside. The door was made of iron bars, and it swung closed before it was locked in place. The monsters left, and then Leviathan came into view, his arms relaxing through the gaps in the bars as he watched me, a smile on his lips but malice in his eyes. “I’ll come back for you, Lily Rothschild.”
I sat in the cell for hours, my back to the wall as I stared through the iron bars at the torch on the opposite wall of the room. There were other cells in the room, but they all appeared empty. The torches on the wall flickered endlessly, burning even when they didn’t have wax, the flames eternal because they were bewitched by magic.
I forced myself to keep calm as I stared at the bars that caged me inside.
I had to get out of here.
Leviathan and I were evenly matched in strength and swordsmanship, but that meant I was just as likely to win the battle as I was to lose it. I had to survive until my father and Callum could get to me.
The forest seemed to be the safest place for me, full of worshippers and creatures but free of Leviathan and servants.
I pushed off the wall and walked to the bars as I tried to figure out what to do.
They’d taken my sword, so I didn’t have that to cut through the bars. I grabbed the metal and felt the iron rods before I tuggedand shifted, hoping to find a weak spot. One of the bottom rungs shifted loudly whenever I tugged on the bars, the hole for the iron too big for the metal.
I studied all the bars again before I found the sharpest part of my armor.
My vambraces.
Ordinary vambraces were sharp but weak. But one made of dragon scales…that was different. I admired Khazmuda’s jagged black edges in the torchlight before I looked at the bars again. It felt like a desecration to Khazmuda to sacrifice the scales he had given me, but I knew he cared a lot more about me.
So I started to cut into the bars, applying pressure and force to make the vambraces scratch into the material, slowly cutting through the iron until the surface was chipped away and I moved through the center.
It took me hours to work on it, to slowly grind the iron with the scales, but I eventually cut through one. The door remained locked in place because the loss of a single bar wasn’t enough. I’d have to cut through many more before the door was compromised enough for me to slip by.
I had to work quickly because I didn’t know when Leviathan would be back. He would throw me in another cell or put me in one that had a solid door. This was my only chance to escape, to run off before he could follow me and figure out my whereabouts.
I kept cutting and cutting, until the door finally came free.
I was able to squeeze through the side of it, scuffing up the front of my armor as I made it out. When I was on the other side, Iwas only surrounded by the torches on the wall. I appeared to be alone…until I heard it.
