Page 130 of With Wing And Claw

Fae were hurtling out through the broken windows. And there, in the rearguard … a flash of blood-red wings.

She launched herself into the air.

Bereas noticed her in the same moment, and gods help her, she couldfeelthe grin growing on his face a hundred feet away – that same blinding-white smugness with which he’d intercepted her near her rooms weeks ago.Enjoy that title as long as you manage to keep it, love …

‘Thysandra!’ he hollered, six feet of brawny arrogance as he swivelled around in midair.

He was baiting her. She knew damn well that hewouldbe faster, with his prize-winning wings and his bulging shoulders – that when he ran, he’d do it well, and she would not see him again until the next time he came for her head. It didn’t stop her from soaring towards him even faster. Around him, more and more fae slipped out of the hall and into the open air outside; fury thumped in every vein of her body, blinding her to their names, their faces.

In the distance, Nicanor’s voice was shouting commands.

‘How’s life, Thysandra?’ Bereas yelled, clearly enjoying the chase as he darted away from the reckless burst of power she drew from the black of her own wings. Hardly anyone else was left in the hall, now. ‘Been busy kissing the Alliance’s feet, I hear?’

She flung another crackle of red at him. He somersaulted over it, laughing out loud as he swept out of reach again.

‘Sashka!’ Naxi was crying, far down below. ‘Sashka, let itgo!’

She couldn’t let him go.

Fuck him and his sleazy, cocky face. Fuck him and his warmongering hate. He was going to pay for every drop of blood he’d shed, for every sleepless night he’d caused her, and if she had to fly herself to shreds for it … what the hell did she have left to lose?

Her wings slapped against the air so hard it hurt.

Somehow the bastard wasstillfaster.

‘Not giving up yet?’ he sneered, circling tauntingly towards her and back away from her even as she flew fast enough to turn her stomach inside out. ‘You’ll have to give up on this pathetic show,Sashka. Your demon pet is calling.’

The burst of red exploded from her fingertips with twicethe intended force.

She missed him by mere inches – hitting only the empty air behind him, underestimating his speed again as he pivoted without slowing down. The ray of destruction hit a pair of statues beneath them instead. Stone limbs, crowns, and sceptres burst in all directions at once, and Bereas laughed out loud, whirling around her one last time.

‘Think I’ll be going, love.’ He blew her a kiss as he finally turned away from her, accelerating towards the broken windows. ‘Say hello to the Alliance from me!’

He was still laughing as he flew.

There was no thought as she drew her magic one last time. Just rage.

It wasn’t red, the colour shooting from her fingertips. It wasn’t aimed at him, either. Because she still had her dress, which had paled to the sickly blue of sea algae … and it wasthathue she threw ahead of her with every magical fibre in her body, at the windows his friends had smashed to pieces when they entered.

Blue for healing.

The glass grew back into place inches before Bereas’s face. Too late for him to change course. Too late for him to slow down. A last shriek was all that escaped him before he smacked into the window at his full, dizzying speed – headfirst, with a bang that reverberated all the way through the stone walls themselves.

For a moment he seemed to stick to the glass, as if his body had melted into the small leaded panes.

Then he started sliding.

His wings didn’t so much as twitch on the endless way down. He thudded to the ground like a discarded bag of flour, sprawled out between the remainders of the statue Thysandra had blown to pieces a moment before – a crumbled crown beside his head, like a wry, mocking joke.

The hall was achingly quiet, suddenly. Outside, the battle seemed to have moved ahead with surprising swiftness.

She cautiously descended. Only when she’d landed and approached within a few feet did she see he was still breathing.

Her fingers curled around the hilt of her dagger. ‘Bereas?’

He didn’t move.

Fuck. Perhaps she’d been a littletoosuccessful in stopping him. Breath still gurgled through his throat, but the far side of his face wascrumpled– as if his entire skull had folded in at the impact. Blood was trickling from his nose. From one pointed ear, too. One hazy brown eye blinked open as she tiptoed towards him, and there was no recognition in it.