Page 37

My mind hooked on the idea of trying to commune with the dead so tightly that I almost didn’t notice the warmth spreading over me as I moved deeper into the hidden garden. I exhaled slowly, forcing myself to drop the wormwood and concentrate on my surroundings.

The air here was markedly warmer than in the clearing beyond, some use of fire magic clearly in place to keep this garden at a higher temperature and prolong the longevity of the food they were cultivating. Clever. But then the Flamebringers always had been sneaky.

I reached out with my gifts, sensing three Fae within reach, secreted beyond the jagged rocks to my left.

One of them was horny, his desire for the female who stood close to him feeding my magic while her desire for him to go the fuck away fuelled it further.

I didn’t take too much from them, though the temptation to tug on those wants nagged at me.

But I needed them not to notice me and I couldn’t risk alerting them to my presence by taking too much power from them at once.

I surveyed the sprawling garden in the low light, triumph surging as I spotted a well-worn path between the vegetables, boot prints leading to and from the rock formation, marking out a route for me to follow.

Closer I crept in the darkness, my hood concealing all apart from the steel in my gaze as I closed in on the rocks and found a hidden gap between them. Magic prickled at my senses and I hesitated, feeling the barrier ahead of me reaching out to taste my power.

Well, if fire was what it wanted, I could manage that.

I took my flint from my pocket and struck it firmly with my dagger, igniting a spark which I captured on a dash of air magic.

I fed the flames until they balled in my hand then launched them toward the barrier, snatching my magic away at the last second so that no whisper of air could grace the magical wall before me.

At the taste of the flames, the barrier fell open and I dashed through it before it could close again at my back, triumph surging through my limbs.

A dark passage cut into the rocks before me and I crept inside, a mouse slipping into the lions’ den. Squeak, squeak, motherfuckers.

Unsurprisingly, I’d entered the kitchen. A long table, well-worn and scarred with countless knife wounds filled the middle of the space, two large cooking fires with wide pots hanging over them beyond it.

I headed straight for the pantry, snatching a hessian sack from the edge of a work bench on my way and trying to ignore the demanding growl of my stomach as I found myself looking at months and months’ worth of stores.

Food, clothes for Bastian because I’d had more than enough of looking at his near-naked body all the damn time, an extra bedroll wouldn’t hurt either and a pack for him to carry his share of our supplies too if I could manage it.

Then I’d be gone and the Flamebringers would be left to squabble amongst themselves over who had stolen whose favourite shirt.

With a bit of luck, they’d break out into a fight over it and end up gutting each other in the ensuing chaos and-

Shit .

“Who the fuck are you?” the tall man barked, his hand flying to the hilt of his blade as he stepped into the kitchen.

I hadn’t felt his desires while congratulating myself on my beautifully sleek entry to this dingy slice of shitsville and now here we were, one of us a breath away from death and the other a damn violent little mouse.

Well, I supposed I was out of options now.

I knocked my hood back, his pupils dilating as he caught sight of my face, his grip on his sword slackening. In that moment of hesitation, I closed the distance between us, stole the air from his lungs and sank my dagger into his heart.

The motherfucker swung for me in his dying moments, his fist grazing my chin and causing me to lurch back.

I kicked him solidly in the chest to force him away from me, but that was one hell of a mistake because he went flying straight into the blackened pot which hung over the guttered fire and it crashed to the ground with an almighty racket.

“Infiltrator!” a woman bellowed from the doorway as she burst into the room to investigate the sound, her voice booming out magically and making sure every bastard and their fleas in this place heard it.

My gifts burned beneath my skin as desires struck me like arrows from all around – desires aimed directly at me because every fucker in this place had just been alerted to the presence of an intruder and now they all wanted me dead.

“Oh well, if you insist,” I drawled, snapping my bloodied fingers and forcing the dying Fae to his feet with ether.

He was a moment from death, eyes bulging, blood gurgling from parted lips but he had just enough spark left in him for me to force him to hurl himself at the woman who had interrupted us.

She caught him, then caught my dagger to the throat.

I broke into a run, leaping over them as they crumpled to the ground and severing my tie to the ether too. I yanked on the desires which surrounded me, sending the Fae who were coming for me into a frenzy of bloodlust while simultaneously boosting my magic in a rush that made me dizzy.

I burst into a large hall, two long tables marking it out as the dining space and seven Flamebringers meeting me within it.

Fire billowed from all of them at once and I had no choice but to shield against it, wrapping myself in a cocoon of hardened air while the flames licked hungrily all around it.

I sucked in a deep breath then thrust my hand up, snatching all of the oxygen from the room at once.

The flames guttered instantly and three of the Fae facing me fell into a panic, clawing at their throats and dropping to their knees while they fought for oxygen.

The remaining four were better trained, though I had to wonder whether any of them had endured the breath training I had; minutes spent pinned beneath cold water, seconds dragging like hours as my lungs burned with the need for release.

Stealing air from our enemies was a tactic my people deployed often, and being able to last the longest without breathing only made the employment of it more devastating.

Death burned in their gazes as they ran at me, swords drawn and pointed at me as one.

I’d faced worse odds but not often alone.

I ducked the first strike of a blade then leapt over the second, air propelling me higher than my jump so that I landed at the back of the closest Flamebringer. My remaining dagger pierced her spine before I spun away, the clash of blades which had been aimed for my head ringing through the air.

I had no time to offer myself any oxygen, the effort of keeping it out of the room in its entirety draining me while I was forced to concentrate on the fight. But I was the only one who had known to hold my breath.

The three remaining Flamebringers ran at me as one, a solid wall of muscle and fury, each of them at least twice my size. But that only meant I was faster.

I dropped to my knees as two swords swung for my throat, my dagger deflecting the third which speared downward.

I punched the central warrior in his manhood as I slipped below their guard, making him whoosh out the breath he was holding and smack into the man on his right. My dagger severed the left asshole’s Achilles and I sprang back to my feet as he fell to the ground with a scream.

The bastard on the right rushed me, his weight colliding with me and taking us to the ground but not before I’d swung for him and the wet slice of my blade through his throat came a beat before blood sprayed down on me where I fell.

He stabbed at me with his sword as he died, his blade striking against my side and cutting into my leathers. But the angle was all wrong for such a long blade and though a sting of pain bit at me, I knew my leathers had taken the brunt of the blow.

I rolled him off of me, swiping blood from my face with the back of my hand while my heart hammered a tune of violent delight.

This was the heart of who I was. This was the bloody truth of me at my core.

A monster fit for nothing but bloodshed, a demon set to destroy all that might have been good.

Perhaps it was right that I had lost all I’d loved because a beast such as me hadn’t deserved them.

And now the last ties on my rotten soul were severed, leaving me to revel in the ruin that I’d become.

My magic guttered out and I sucked in a ragged breath at last. The Flamebringers around me coughed and wheezed but I recovered far faster than them, taking my dagger in my palm and sending it flying on a whip of air.

It spun through the room, slicing throats and piercing hearts. More blood stained the floor, the rush of so much death spiking through me as I reached out to claim it with ether, blood magic falling to my command like a faithful pet come to serve its master.

Boots thundered closer as the rest of the Flamebringers came for me and I smiled a grim, bloody leer as I waited for them eagerly.

Then I gave myself to the darkness within me and washed my soul in their screams as they died.

I lost count of the kills I’d claimed in that hidden vault of death but as I stumbled back out into the crisp air at last, I found a piece of me waiting in a clearing surrounded by ancient trees devoid of leaves.

Bastian said nothing as I dropped the bag of supplies at his feet and kicked the sprigs of rosemary aside to release him from their hold.

Blood dripped from my hair, my fingertips, the daggers at my belt.

His eyes met with mine and the silence stretched, one ragged breath leading into another as I blinked the haze of battle from my mind.

“That pain in you will feast on this violence,” he said slowly, taking a step closer to me and smearing the blood from my cheek with one calloused thumb. “But you won’t ever satisfy it.”