Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Fuck!
Rhi leaps over the female’s body, headed for Ridoc, and I continue on, keeping an eye on the one I missed.
The venin swings his arm, and a shape flies toward me.
“Drop, Vi!” Ridoc shouts, throwing his hand out, palm down, and a chill sweeps over the front of my legs as spikes rush at my face.
I hit my knees and slide along a small sheet of ice as the mace whips over my head, slicing through the air with a whistle.
“Not the silver hair!” the dark wielder with the sword bellows, and I scramble to my feet, slipping on the blood-covered stone. “We need her!”
To control Xaden? Fuck that. I’ll never be used against him again.
“Mine, now!” Rhi shouts, and when I glance left, she’s swinging the mace at its previous owner, giving me time to get to the twitching rider on the table.
“Hold on,” I tell him, reaching for his throat to staunch the bleeding, but I pause as his last breath rattles his chest and he falls limp. He’s gone. My heart clenches for all of a beat before I draw two more daggers and turn toward my friends.
The black-haired venin moves in a blur, ducking beneath the mace Rhiannon swings, then appears before me like he’d been standing there all along.
Fast. They’re too damned fast.
My heart jolts as I jerk my dagger to his throat, and he studies me with sickening excitement in his red eyes. Power floods my veins, heating my skin and lifting the hair along my arms.
“Ah, the lightning wielder. You’re a long way from the sky, and we both know you can’t kill me with that knife,” he taunts, and the veins along his temples pulse as Rhi sneaks up behind him, her alloy-hilted dagger poised to strike.
Shadows quake at the edges of the chamber, and a corner of my mouth rises. “I won’t have to.”
His eyes flare in confusion for all of a millisecond before shadows explode around us, immediately devouring every speck of light in a sea of endless black I instantly recognize as home. A band of darkness wraps around my hips and yanks me backward, then brushes my cheek gently, steadying my galloping heartbeat and quieting my power.
Screams fill the chamber, followed by a pair of thuds, and I know without a doubt any threat to my life’s been extinguished.
A heartbeat later, the shadows retreat, revealing the shriveled bodies of the dark wielders on the floor, alloy-hilted daggers embedded in their chests.
I lower my weapons as Xaden strides toward me from the center of the room, the hilts of the two swords he keeps strapped to his back peeking above his shoulders. He’s in thick winter flight leathers, devoid of any markings but his second lieutenant rank, and speckled with tiny dots of water that tell me he’s been out in the snow.
Second lieutenant. The same rank as Barlowe’s guards had been.
The same as Garrick, who’s standing at the base of the steps behind Xaden, and almost every other officer temporarily stationed here to protect Basgiath.
My heart stutters and my gaze rakes over Xaden’s tall, muscled frame, searching for any sign of injury. Gold-flecked onyx eyes meet mine, and my breath stabilizes only when I realize he’s unharmed and there isn’t a single trace of red to be found anywhere near his irises. He may technically be an initiate, but he’s nothing like the venin we just fought.
Gods, I love this man.
“Tell me something, Violence.” A muscle in his square jaw ticks as he stares down at me, rippling the tawny-brown skin of his stubbled cheek. “Why is it always you?”
• • •
An hour later, we’re dismissed from the debrief with the commandant of the Riders Quadrant, Colonel Panchek, and sent on our way.
“He doesn’t even seemed fazed that they were working to rescue Barlowe instead of going for the wardstone.” Garrick shoves his hand through his short dark hair as he descends the staircase of the academic wing ahead of Xaden and me.
“Maybe it’s not the first attempt.” Rhi glances back over her shoulder at Garrick. “It’s not like we’re getting briefed every day.”
We aren’t safe here, not that we ever really were.
“Panchek’ll notify the other leadership, right?” Ridoc asks as we pass the third floor.
“Melgren already knows. There were only two of us down there.” Xaden glances pointedly at Garrick’s hand, where his rebellion relic peeks out from the sleeve of his uniform.
“I’m just grateful for the wards Sorrengail put in place before she left.” Garrick doesn’t bother to clarify that he’s talking about my sister. “Barlowe can’t hear or see a thing outside that chamber unless someone opens the door, so it’s not like he’s gathering new intel. From the look of the stones he’s drained within the cell, he’ll be dead within the week.”
Xaden tenses at my side and I reach for him mentally, but his shields are thicker than the walls of this fortress.