Page 158 of Beyond the Faerie Gate

I roar, sinking my teeth into her leg.

Must protect Rose.

Praedra screeches and stabs blindly downwards. I lock my jaw and brace myself for the blow.

No matter what she does to me, she’s not getting near my mate.

Neither of them are.

Her aim is off, and thankfully, her blade never hits me. Instead, she catches me in the side of my skull with the heavy pommel. I release her leg without meaning to, shaking off the blow. Before I can attack again, or put my body between her and the stairs, flames burst up across the threshold.

Drystan strolls through them as if they don’t exist, taking stock of our sorry, wounded group in a single, derisive glance. He looks exhausted, but there’s a wariness to his posture that suggests he’s ready for battle, anyway.

“You are hurting Rose.” He delivers the statement nonchalantly, but his hands are in white-knuckled fists by his sides as he turns to face Caed. “Cease this at once, and you can return to the dungeon without further harm.”

“Fat fucking chance,” Praedra hisses, reaching back into her bag.

Before I can process what’s happened, Drystan strikes.

A whip of bone and fire curls around her wrist, making her cry out.

Caed growls and strikes out with a savage blow that should, by rights, take off Drystan’s whip arm.

It never hits.

Caed’s outraged gasp as his iron blade shatters on impact is drowned out by Florian’s furious growl. The shock of what just happened gives Prae enough time to dodge out of Drystan’s hold and she darts back, shaking out her wrist. Her eyes dart towards Caed, then latch onto Florian.

The knight commander is noticeably flagging as he rushes the two Fomorians, sword raised high. Sweat drips from his brow, and I know he won’t be able to continue fighting for much longer. Both of the Fomorians can see that, which is why they’re both looking at him like he has a target painted on his forehead.

Try it.I take a menacing step towards Praedra, my lip curling away from my fangs in warning.

“I was considering allowing you to court my sister,” Florian spits as Caed parries his blow with a hastily summoned ghost sword. “I thought your presence was a boon from the Goddess. A way forward for both our people.”

Caed raises a single brow. “How does it feel to be wrong? I wouldn’t know.”

Florian overextends himself—a rookie mistake likely due to the iron worming its way through his body. He misses Caed, and instead almost takes out Praedra, who parries at the last second. With those two locked in combat, Drystan and I both lunge for Caed, whose ghost swords stand poised to defend him.

Like before, some invisible force diverts me from ever making contact with the damned Fomorian, and Drystan suffers the same issue. Thankfully, Caed doesn’t manage to strike us either, and I growl, abandoning him to the others as I search for someone I can attack.

I locate Praedra just as her sword comes up, parrying Florian’s next strike. Her riposte is telegraphed, but the commander is going to be too slow. I leap, hoping to put myself between the two of them.

I can’t die, but Florian might if she—

“Stop!”

A smaller, softer body leaps into the middle of the two of them before I can with a cry of desperation.

Rose.

Goddess, what is she doing?

I swerve at the last second, snapping my jaws shut and twisting my body to avoid her. My paws scrabble to find purchase on the patio as I turn my head, searching for her.

If I can just find her I can shield—

No.

Rose is splayed across the cracked stone, an iron sword lodged in her throat, rising and falling as she struggles to breathe. A sickening red stain is slowly spreading across the white fur wrapped around her shoulders and her hands flutter upwards, like she’s reaching for the wound but can't bring herself to touch it. Florian is beside her, slumped awkwardly on his knees, cradling her upper body with a kind of fragile horror.

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