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“That’s funny,” I snorted. “Look at them! Can I play? I’ll only kill a couple of them.” I tried to run forward to join in but was yanked back by Mavus’s grip on my arm.

“The Fury,” Mavus spat and I followed his gaze to the rooftops where a dark figure was crouched on the tiles, a hood pulled up to shadow his face, but those eyes, how they gleamed so ruby red.

“At last!” I gasped, unsheathing my blade once more. “He’s here. My nemesis. Let me go, I have blood to spill.”

I tried to jerk out of Mavus’s grip but as those gleaming red eyes turned our way, Mavus bolted, yanking me down an alleyway.

“He’s come for you,” Mavus hissed.

“Good. Let me have my fight. I’ll cut his heart out and eat it raw!”

“Mad woman,” Mavus huffed then tugged me down another alleyway, but there was a shadow above us, flitting from one rooftop to the next. Leaping left and right and following us like a bird of prey.

“I want to play now,” I snapped, leaning down and biting Mavus’s fingers on my arm.

He released me with a curse and I turned my eyes skyward to face my foe, rising up on a pillar of water as I cast magic beneath me.

“Yos sala ki mintil!” I cried. Your death is mine.

I blasted myself skyward, dagger raised as I stepped off of the pillar onto the roof tiles. Kaiser lunged at me. His arm banded around my waist, his eyes locking with mine as my dagger sailed for his kidney.

But the butterflies started screaming, burning up in a blaze of Nightfire. In the haze of the battle stims, I’d somehow forgotten it. My arm came to a juddering halt and Kaiser’s red eyes flared hotter as he consumed me in the totality of the Fearsire magic.

I fell under his spell, controlled like a puppet on his strings as he tugged me against his body and spoke into my ear. Warmth spread between my thighs and a heady sigh left me.

Pretty, pretty, evil Fury, how I’d like to ride your cock while slitting your throat wide.

“I will chase you across the wilds, into the heart of The Crux if I have to, silka la vin. You are mine to wield and mine alone.” He lifted me, making me band my arms and legs around his body like a cuddly arctic fox as he ran for the edge of the roof and leapt across the chasm between the streets.

Vines blasted up from below and I glanced down to find Mavus making a bid to catch us, but Kaiser burned the vines away in a flashfire just as his feet hit the roof beyond.

Then he was off, racing along and jumping from one roof to another, never hesitating for even a moment before taking the leap.

I was helpless to do anything but hold onto him, forced to remain there as the butterflies in my brain enjoyed the ride.

A whoop left me as he took another jump, laughter tumbling from my chest and Kaiser’s eyes slid my way as he tried to work out the meaning of my joy.

Still, he raced on, never faltering until we reached the edge of Wandershire, gazing out over the jagged fence below to where a small ship sat in the water beyond it.

A holler carried from my right and I looked over to find North running across the rooftop there with my bag swinging from his shoulder.

“Let’s take a leap of faith, freyin!” he shouted to Kaiser, a wild look on his face and the wind tussling his brown hair as he launched himself off the edge of the roof, releasing a Wolfish howl as magic shot after him from the streets below.

Chaos. Beautiful, mad chaos. Despite wishing he’d hit the bloody spikes on that fence, I couldn’t help but grin as he landed on the ship’s deck and slammed to his knees, rolling and crashing into a wooden post. He jumped upright, seemingly unfazed and Kaiser took off, leaping after his brother with me clutched tight against him.

“Awoooo!” I echoed North as it had looked pretty fucking fun.

We hit the deck and went rolling across it, smashing into everything while Kaiser’s hand closed tight around the back of my head and my howl turned to a hiss. We came to a halt with me on top. Kaiser’s focus had waned, so I had the power of my limbs back.

I shoved to my feet, abandoning him and running straight for North, dagger unsheathed, ice coating my right hand and a wide smile on my face.

I was the ocean. The roaring tide. The bellowing rain.

North’s eyes bulged as he scrambled to prepare for my attack, but he was still on the floor and I was on top of him in a heartbeat, knife to his heart, a scream of defiance leaving my throat as the butterflies sang my name.

“Stop!” Kaiser bellowed, jarring my arm to an abrupt halt with his possession.

I seethed, glaring at North beneath me, my knee to his chest, death purring in my ear.

“Lucky wolfy,” I whispered.

“Holy shit,” he panted, releasing a nervous laugh. “She’s stimmed up. Look at her eyes, they’re shimmering pink.”

My bag had fallen beside him and Calcifiend crawled out of it with a yawn. I growled at him. “How long have you been in there, little demon?”

“Since you took off across the ocean on Wandershire,” North mocked. “He’s been leading us after you this whole time.”

“Well just for that, I’m going to make ribbons out of both of your guts and wrap your head up in them so I can send them as a gift to your mommy,” I promised North in a purr.

North relaxed beneath me, laying down and cupping his head in his hands with a broad yawn. “Nah, you’re not. Kaiser’s got you on a short leash, pussycat.”

I jerked against Kaiser’s power, but my dagger wouldn’t move, the tip still pressing to North’s chest.

The ship was moving and one glance behind me showed Wandershire shrinking into the distance. This vessel was damn fast. Would Mavus even bother to follow me? We were friends. And I was great. Of course he’d come.

“Up.” Kaiser’s shadow fell over me and my body moved to his call, making me stand beside him.

Damn, he was handsome, it was somehow clearer now that the butterflies were floating in my brain.

His muscles pressed nicely against his clothes and he had a hardened look that spoke of how rough he would be with me should I have the care to let him.

That mouth too…that mouth could paint sins on my skin until I burned.

He jerked his chin at a cabin door and I went that way, feeling Kaiser following close behind me.

The cabin was small, nothing but a few hammocks strung up in there beside small windows. Kaiser circled me, a flame lighting in his hand which he held close to my face as he inspected me. I was used to fire in forges, but a Flamebringer’s magic made me hiss like an alley cat.

“How large was the dose?” Kaiser asked.

“You’ve got stubble today. North is slacking.

Isn’t he the one who tidies you up and keeps you looking pretty?

” I asked, tilting my head as I examined him.

“I like this look on you though. Roughened. I think this would feel nice between my thighs.” I reached up to graze my fingers over the stubble and he snatched my wrist, gripping it tight.

“How large was the dose?” Kaiser repeated, this time capturing my tongue with his possession and forcing the answer from it.

“I don’t know, hollow man, but Mavus said it would last around an hour.

It must have been half that time already.

By the way, you remind me of a tree I once knew.

It was this big bland thing, no leaves on it.

It just sort of, sat there. Kind of dead, but sometimes it grew a bit so you knew it was still alive.

You’re like that tree, Kaiser. It’s so very, very, very, very dull.

” I snored loudly in his face, but his expression didn’t change. “I’m going to stab you.”

“Unlikely.”

“Not today, obviously. The butterflies are singing your name though, Kai. Can I have my hands back now? I’d like to boop you on the nose. I doubt anyone’s booped you before. I think it’s time to be booped.”

Kaiser’s lips tightened.

“See, boring,” I declared. “North would let me boop him. Hey North! North, come in here! North!”

Kaiser glowered as North stepped into the cabin.

“Yeah?” he questioned suspiciously.

“Kaiser said you shat your britches once, is that true?” I asked sweetly.

“What the fuck, Kai? You told her about that?” North hissed and I released a wild laugh.

“I didn’t tell her anything,” Kaiser said calmly. Calm as a bird with no brain.

North’s cheeks turned scarlet and he rounded on me, raising his fist. “You little-”

“Sweetie pie? Sugar tits? Savoury midnight snack?” I cut in as North swung for me, but Kaiser made me lurch aside so he missed.

North rounded on him instead and I felt Kaiser’s possession relax just enough that I could raise a hand to boop North on the nose. “ Boop .”

North stared at me then broke a laugh. “She’s out of her head. Let’s tie her on the flagpole and dangle her there.”

“Yes, let’s!” I agreed excitedly, bouncing on my toes as Kaiser’s possession released me even more. Free rein. Woohoo. Now I could get stabby again. I reached for my dagger but found my sheath empty and my gaze shot to Kaiser accusingly. “Where is it, tree?”

“Hidden,” Kaiser answered simply. “North, get back on deck and check we’re not being pursued. We’ll take the Blackthorn Canal into Pyros soon, Wandershire won’t follow us there; Mavus isn’t permitted to enter until the waning moon.”

“Aye, aye, motherfucker.” North flipped him a mocking salute then bared his teeth at me and exited the cabin.

“The Matriarch awaits our arrival,” Kaiser said darkly.

“Am I supposed to quiver in my little pussycat boots?” I asked lightly.

“When the stims wear off, you’ll do more than quiver, Void,” he growled.

“I thought that was our secret, hollow man. Does North know what I am?”

Kaiser said nothing.

“Silence means no. You’re a bad brother, you are. He looks up to you, doesn’t he? He fawns all over his bestie bro. But you don’t feel anything for him, because you’re just a big, big tree.”

“I’m unsure what you’re trying to achieve with that insult.”

“I’m unsure what you’re trying to achieve with being a tree, but here we are. Anyway, I’m hungry. And I would love to eat your heart raw, but I’ll settle for some fingers.” I gnashed my teeth at him, but his face didn’t change.

“Stay here.” He strode from the cabin as his possession coiled around me, and he glanced back before he left. “Brace yourself for what awaits you when we dock. You are now Pyros’s property, and you will soon be our greatest weapon of war.”