Page 207 of Brimstone

Gods. I needed to comfort her, but what comfort could I be, with my own tears streaming down my face? I went to her anyway, crouching down behind her and folding her into my arms.

Cold laughter echoed through the Wicker Wood as we grieved.

“That cursed fox. It plagued us day and night while we waited for you, Alchemist,” Belikon croaked. “We thought it nothing more . . . than a feral beast, trying to steal food. It bit three of my men. It took . . . Orious’s finger . . . last night. It harried the camp at all hours, yelping . . . and . . . scratching at . . . the tree.”

The tree.

Thedryadthat had imprisoned me. I’d been carrying Onyx in my arms when I’d entered the shadow gate to leave Cahlish. I had inadvertently brought him here with me . . . and he’d never left me.

Saeris lifted Onyx into her arms, cradling him gently.

Velvet ears tipped with black.

Tiny white eyelashes.

Toe pads, cracked and bleeding, again . . .

He looked so small, curled in on himself like that.

But he wasnotsmall.

In all my years alive and traveling this realm, I hadneverencountered anything so mighty and brave as this little fox with the heart of a wolf.

My mate was breaking right now, but she couldn’t break here. The sun would be coming up soon, and the woods weren’t safe.Osha, we have to go.I spoke for Saeris and Saeris alone; the bastard pinned to the ground back there didn’t deserve to hear another word out of either of us.Bring him. We will honor him.

“There’salwaysa price for this kind of folly,” Belikon called. “Allow weakness into your heart, and itwillbreak you.”

My anger crystallized at those words. I needed to keep myself together for Saeris, but gods alive, was this bastard making it hard. I took my mate’s hand and got her to her feet. I would carry her if she couldn’t walk. But first . . .

I stood before the male who caused my father’s death.

Who had tormented me even from my youth.

Who had murdered my mother.

Who had stolen an entire court and sacrificed its people for sport.

A male I was no longer Oath Bound to.

He regarded me with impassive eyes, as if bored by my presence now. “You know the moment you pull out this iron, you’re doomed, don’t you? Once I have access to my magic again, I’ll call my guards. You can only get so far. I will follow you wherever you go, and Iwillend you both.”

“I guess I’d better do something to improve our chances of escape then, hadn’t I?” I called on a shadow gate, forming itbehind me without looking. The portal pulsed as it snapped open, and my shadows began to spin.

Come on, Osha. Take Solace.I should have worded it differently. There would be no solace for her, given what she carried in her arms, but she needed her god sword. She wept as she pulled it from the king, not even bothering to look at him as he grinned at her loss.

“I hope you’re ready,” Belikon snarled.

“Areyou?”

I’d been afraid of him as a Faeling. I had hidden from him in the palace whenever I could. But over the years, especially after I came out of the quicksilver with silver-rimmed eyes, I began to understand the truth. That even though I was just a child and he was a male who had claimed an entire kingdom, Belikon was actually afraid ofme. And I was about to prove to him that he should be. There was still one place that he couldn’t follow me, and it just so happened that we had to go there anyway. It was the only way, if we were going to stop this rot. I’d refused the plan out of hand at first, but we didn’t have that luxury anymore.

I took hold of Nimerelle and counted down from three.

Two . . .

One . . .

The blade’s edge juddered along bone as I wrenched it free. Belikon moved, instantly free of the iron that deadened his magic, butIhadn’t stopped moving, either. I brought Nimerelle up, sweeping the sword around my head, and then flattened the blade, swinging it around with all my might. She cut clean through Belikon De Barra’s neck and severed his head from his body in one fell swoop. The sheer force of the blow sent his head spinning off into the trees, where it hit the ground and bounced away into the dark.