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To Naia’s surprise, Vex’s condescending expression contorted, and he cried out. Both of his hands slapped against the sides of his head. Naia ripped her knee up into his groin. He fell off her, and she crawled up to her feet.

Ronin snagged her by the arm and yanked her into a run. She had no idea what had caused Vex pain, but she was certain Ronin had something to do with it.

Vex recovered quickly and tagged teamed the attacks with Astrid. One after another, they delivered powerful strikes from opposite sides. Transporting in and out. It became a dance to fight them off. Land a punch on Astrid’s ribcage, shatter it to bits, swerve out of Vex’s reach, and continue running.

They managed to make it to the flight of stairs.

Naia had forgotten. Too occupied by what was happening around her to remember.

She should’ve remembered. It wasn’t only Vex and Astrid they were up against.

As Naia descended the last stair, her foot landing with a sharp slap, a deep sense of apprehension filled her insides like tar.

It happened too suddenly for her to react.

A cleaver buried halfway through her abdomen.

Liquid crammed in her lungs, pushing her breath out in gurgles.

She staggered. The heels of her bare feet jammed into the toes of Ronin’s shoes. He caught her by the back of the arms to keep her upright and supported her against his chest. She heard him curse under his breath. His fingers trembled against her elbows.

Ignoring the visceral agony boiling in her gut and shouting through her body, she mustered the mental strength to ignore the warm fluid drenching her pelvis and down her thighs. She clenched her muscles in her shoulders to fight through her lightheadedness, and forced her leg muscles to tense, ensuring her body would stay upright.

The cleaver remained lodged in her intestines. She fumbled for the handle. Gripped it slowly.

You cannot die. It will heal. Do not faint.

In one clean motion, she ripped it free from her stomach. The slick, squishing sound of the blade and the globs of splattering blood across the tops of her feet were almost her undoing. A cry sprang out of her throat, and she slumped forward. Pain burrowed in her bones, causing her limbs to shake. She swayed.

Ronin’s fingers tightened around her arms. “Naia?—”

She shook her head to silence him.

“Stay…” she croaked, “still.”

Malik sauntered down the corridor with a perk in his step. An eagerness she knew all too well. She could recall it in the way his eyes shone at the dinner table, carefully examining the silverware with a disturbing form of awe before using it to flay the skin from his fish.

Another butcher’s knife was in his possession. He twirled it at the handle, resembling a child spinning a stick between their fingers. His silver hair was slicked back, giving full access to the face he shared with Vex and Astrid—cat-like eyes, too much like their mother’s, shone wickedly as a smile lanced across his mouth.

A centuries-old, bottomless fear rose in Naia’s throat like a bubbling cauldron. She couldn’t escape the haunting images of her younger brother, his fingernails meticulously picking apart animal carcasses. The one and only time she ever snuck into his bedchambers to search for any clues for her missing servant, Gianna, to find his walls consumed with nauseating artwork—body parts, layers of skin, and strands of hair glued onto white canvases.

She hurled up her breakfast and avoided him as much as possible after that.

Astrid came into Naia’s field of vision as Malik strolled closer. A moment later, so was Vex, holding up Wren in his hand, wings bent and missing a tassel.

Naia carried her gaze up from her hairpin to Vex. His eyebrow twitched, and he sent her a daring smirk.

She gnashed her teeth so hard, some of her molars cracked. The fresh pain was welcoming. A break from the gaping hole slowly fusing together in her abdomen.

Her tongue felt heavy like cotton in her mouth, and she had to remind herself the extreme fatigue in her body was from the loss of blood.

Hyper aware of the mortal behind her, Naia worked to pinpoint the nearest exit.

A window.

She could bust through the glass and maneuver their fall to where she took the brunt of it. Their only other option was the staircase, but she had little faith in outrunning the triplets.

Escaping was not a rational bet Naia would risk Ronin’s life on.