Page 147 of Gilded

This time, she was more prepared.

This time, she remembered what to do.

She curled her legs closer so he would not try to grab her feet, then lifted her arms in front of her face like a shield.

And as soon as he was close enough, she jabbed her hand forward and shoved the stone into his open mouth.

His jaw locked around it, the end of the rock jutting a few inches beyond his bloodied lips. His eyes widened and for a moment his jaw continued to work, his teeth grinding against the stone, as if he meant to try and devour it. But then his body slumped, the energy draining away, and he collapsed onto his back, arms and legs hitting the earth with soft thuds.

Serilda scrambled to her feet. She was covered in sweat. Her pulse was racing, her breaths ragged.

For a long time, she couldn’t bring herself to move, afraid that if she took a single step in any direction, this monster would rear back to life and come at her again.

He looked dead now. A corpse with rotting flesh and a rock stuck in its jaw. But she knew she had only paralyzed him. She knew that the only way to truly kill a nachzehrer was?…?

She shuddered. She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to do it. She didn’t think she could—

A shadow appeared in the corner of her vision. Serilda cried out, as a square-headed shovel swung overhead.

It landed with a sickening thump, the shovel’s edge being driven through the monster’s throat. The figure stepped forward, placed a foot on the shovel’s head for leverage, and shoved, severing the head clean through.

Serilda swayed on her feet. The world darkened around her.

Madam Sauer turned and shot her a disgruntled look. “All those disgusting stories you tell, and you don’t know how to kill a nachzehrer?”

Together, she and Madam Sauer had carried the body to the river, filled his clothes with stones, and let it and the disembodied head sink to the bottom. Serilda felt like she was living in a nightmare, but she hadn’t yet woken up.

“He was my father,” Serilda said despondently, once some of the shock had passed.

“Thatwas not your father.”

“No, I know. I would have done it. I just … needed a moment.”

Madam Sauer snorted.

Serilda’s heart was heavy as one of the rocks that had dragged her father’s body to the bottom of the river. She had known he was gone for months now. She had not expected him to come back. And yet, there had always been a slim hope. A tiny chance that he might still be alive and trying to make his way back to her. She had never given up on him completely.

Yet, somehow, the truth had been even worse than her nightmares. Not only had her father been dead all this time, he’d been a monster. An undead thing, feasting on his own flesh, making his way back to his daughter—not out of love, but hunger. Nachzehrer came back from the dead so they could devour their own family members. To think that her simple, shy, warm-hearted father had been reduced to such a fate made her stomach roil. He hadn’t deserved such a fate. Serilda wished she could have a moment alone. She needed quiet and solitude. She needed a good, long cry.

But as she trudged back to the cottage, Madam Sauer followed stubbornly behind.

Serilda spent a moment looking around and wondering if she should offer food or drink, but she didn’t have anythingtooffer.

“Would you go change?” Madam Sauer snapped, making herself comfortable on Serilda’s cot, which was the only remaining piece of furniture beside the spinning wheel’s stool. “You smell like a slaughterhouse.”

Serilda looked down at her muck-covered dress. “I have nothing to change into. I have one other dress, but it’s in Adalheid. The rest of my clothes were taken to Mondbrück.”

“Ahh, yes. When you tried torun.” Her tone was derisive.

Serilda blinked at her and sat on the other side of the cot. Her legs were still shaky from the ordeal. “How did you know?”

Madam Sauer raised an eyebrow at her. “It’s what you told Pusch-Grohla, isn’t it?”

At Serilda’s perplexed look, Madam Sauer heaved a drawn-out sigh. “Shrub Grandmother did tell you to expect aid, did she not?”

“Yes, but … but you’re …”

The old woman stared at her, waiting.