Page 94 of Monsters Carve Thrones

“Steady,” I said, my voice low. “You’ve got this.”

The lock gave with a hardsnap, and the second my wrists were free, I surged forward and caught her before she fell. I only had time to grip her shoulders before–

Shouts and heavy boots pounded down the hallway.

“Get behind me!” I barked.

Three guards burst into the room, guns half-raised and confusion on their faces. I lunged, slamming into the first one like a freight train, driving him back against the wall. His gun clattered to the floor. I smashed his face into the concrete until blood and bone pulped beneath my fists. His scream cut off in a gurgle.

Laura tossed a blade she’d pulled from the dead guard’s belt to Kieran. He caught it and yanked a guard back, teeth bared, wrists still halfway chained. A second guard tried to shoot, but Nico, now half-free, charged him, slamming his shoulder into the bastard’s chest and sending them both crashing to the ground. Gunfire cracked and screams split the air.

Laura managed to unlock Kieran completely, tossing him a gun from the second guard’s belt. He rose quickly, aiming and firing. Blood sprayed the wall behind the last man.

Silence fell, broken only by our ragged breathing.

The floor was littered with corpses.

I stood in the center of it all, chest heaving, blood dripping from my fingers, my hair stuck to my forehead. The room reeked of copper, gunpowder, and sweat. My body screamed for rest even though I’d been chained for however the fuck long. My arms were numb, my ribs ached, and I hadn’t eaten in nearly two days–but my mind was stable. I was alive.

Alive and fucking furious.

“I’m going to find Waleria,” I said, my voice hoarse, thick. “She’s in this house somewhere.”

Laura turned to me, panting. Her eyes locked on mine.

“You did good, Laur,” I said softly, stepping closer to her. “I’m so proud of you. I mean that.”

Her lower lip trembled. “I was scared.”

“I know. I was, too.” I reached out and pulled her into me, holding her tight. “But you didn’t let it stop you. She’ll be proud of you, too.”

She clutched the front of my shirt, burying her face in my chest for a breath. I felt her shaking against me. I gave her what I could–a moment of stillness. Then I stepped back, wiped blood from my mouth, and nodded.

“Let’s move.”

We crept through the halls of the massive house. Concrete gave way to dark wooden floors and narrow corridors lined with flickering sconces. The structure had an eerie stillness to it, as if it had once been a place of wealth and power that had been slowly eroded from the inside. I moved like a ghost, gun in hand, heart pounding so hard I could barely hear.

If this was the kind of house Waleria kept, it had to be near the woods. Big, secluded. A predator’s den. Which meant Adela was probably somewhere similar. The thought burned through me like acid.

We paused at a corner, checking both directions. Nico and Kieran followed quietly. Laura flanked me, gun in hand, eyes darting. The air was too still. Somewhere in here, Waleria was hiding. Surely, she heard the commotion downstairs and checked the cameras in the hallway.

I was going to gut her.

We climbed the stairs slowly, my breath getting heavier with each step. My body felt like it had been run over by a train. I was starving. Sick. Exhausted. But I didn’t stop. The idea of Adela kept me moving. I’d carve through hell for her. And tonight… hell was precisely what I planned to unleash.

We found her upstairs, hiding like a rat. Waleria gasped the second she saw me. Sweat slicked her brow, eyes wide, already backing into the corner of the room like the velvet wallpaper would somehow swallow her up. I smiled at her–bloody, wild, high on adrenaline and fury.

Her mouth opened to scream, but I crossed the room faster than she could suck in air. I slammed her into the floor. Her head cracked against the hardwood with a sound that would echo in my skull for days, and still, it wasn’t enough. I grabbed her by the ankle when she tried to crawl away and dragged her across the house, down the stairs, through the blood-spattered hall, and into the basement where it all began.

Where she kept me chained like an animal.

Nico and Kieran were at my side, blood on their shirts and blades in their hands, standing over the limp corpses of her guards. The stench of iron and death filled the air like my own fucking vengeance. They moved without hesitation, grabbing her arms while I pried the chains off the wall.

“Your turn,” I growled, yanking her upright by the hair.

She fought. Screamed. Clawed at me like the pathetic bitch she was. But we got her shackled right there, in theexactplace I was chained for days. Arms behind her back, her neck twisting around, trying to pretend she was still in control. But she wasn’t.

Not anymore.