Page 77 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

The woman pulls out a small, round golden object from her side.

And for the first time since I’ve been awake, she tears her gaze away from me.

Flicking open the object’s lid, I get a glimpse of what looks like a compass.

Details etched into the back of it whisper of something foreign.

Something ancient, and ethereal. Whatever she sees in the compass, she snaps it closed and slides it back into her pocket with a grin.

Then she retrieves a dagger and points it at my chin.

Releasing her hold on my shirt, she backs off, holding me hostage with her dagger all the while. “Get up.”

Sliding up off my back and rising to my feet, I hold her stare. Trying not to worry myself with Archie slumped on the ground. The slow rise and fall of his back is the only thing keeping me calm right now.

“What do you know of the god relics?” the woman asks as she taps her blade underneath my chin. She’s only a few inches taller than I am.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you sure about that?” She tips her head to the side, and two guards slink away from the shadows toward Archie.

“I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about?—”

Archie groans and stirs when two masked people lift him off the floorboards. His eyes are half-lidded as he blinks through the haze until his attention settles on me. Those brown eyes flash wide-open, and he tries to slip out of the masked soldiers’ grip.

I shake my head at him to warn him, before looking back at the woman. “Please don’t hurt him. I’m trying to cooperate, but I don’t know what the hells you want from me.”

“I’m losing my patience here. Tell me what I want to know, and we’ll let you go.”

Liar. I clench my fist to still my fidgety hands. Desperate to pull magic to demolish her and all her henchmen.

She continues, “Where can I find the Book of Magic?”

Book of Magic …I’ve heard that once before. Back when Cole and I stole the Breaking Magical Binds journal from Sethan. But that was just it—a quick mention.

“I. Don’t. Know.” I punctuate each word, pleading she won’t hurt Archie.

“I’ve had enough. Kill him,” she orders over her shoulder.

I drop down to a crouch. Shifting my momentum through my leg, I clip her at the ankles.

The two soldiers wrestle Archie as he slams a knee between the legs of one masked person, then headbutts the other.

While it’s not enough to knock either of them unconscious, it’s enough to loosen their grip on him.

He slides out from their grasp. And as the woman drops back on her ass, I lunge.

Throwing my weight entirely on her and snatching her throat in my hands.

With my hands on her, I feel a light pulse of magic.

My eyes light up, and I dig down into the source and begin to pull it.

She gasps, her eyes widening. “Don’t you dare!”

Digging her fingers into my bare forearms, she throws her weight to the left, toppling me off her. We scramble for the upper hand, and I glimpse Archie being detained.

A roar vibrates outside the room. The door bursts open behind her, bits of wood spraying out from the violent contact like an explosion of small arrows.

The door shrieks as it’s torn clear off the hinges.

Light spills in from the outside, stretching a long, dark shadow across the dusty floor.

Cole’s silhouette is stark against the light background, but his honey eyes flash, his broad chest heaving up and down.

Violence beams from his features, his lips pulled back in a scowl as he rakes his gaze across the room.

The entire set of soldiers stiffen. A few of them inch backward.

Cole’s sword, clutched tightly in his veined hand, is stained in crimson dripping generously from the blade. “Where is she!” he roars, two cups on the desk rattling with his thunderous demand.

Everyone freezes. And as mine and Cole’s eyes connect, the rest of the soldiers in the room swarm toward him.

The room explodes into chaos.

The woman springs back on me, wrestling me with my back down to the ground.

I grapple for the upper hand, and she strikes me across the face again before pinning me.

Her legs bracket my waist and hands imprison my wrists.

Bridging my hips and swinging my arms down toward my ankles, I dismantle her balance and throw her up over me.

Before she can recover, I trap her right arm in mine, wrap my leg around her right thigh, and throw her over.

Slamming her onto the ground, I rear up and throw all my anger down through a punch.

My knuckles split as they connect with her face.

When her head smacks back against the wooden floor, I glance up at Archie and at the masked soldier tearing Archie’s arms back behind him, exposing his chest. While the other one rears back his sword. Ready for a clean, killing blow.

Glass explodes from the window, showering Archie and the two soldiers with slivers of it. Daeja snarls and snaps forward, seizing the man with the sword and plucking him out of the room. I shove off the woman and race toward Archie as the soldier holding him hostage backs up against the wall.

“If you don’t leave now, you’re next!” I bark.

The soldier’s eyes meet mine. Wide with paralyzing fear, framed in black metal.

But he doesn’t have long to consider it because Daeja’s head pokes back in.

Blood drips from her maw and trickles down her throat.

She lets out a high-pitched screech before stretching her head across the room.

Archie elbows the soldier and ducks with Daeja snapping forward a second later, snatching the soldier by the shoulder.

She drags him out slowly, only to terrify the rest of the soldiers in the room as he screams. I race toward Archie and help him off the ground, turning to who lies in wait.

The black-haired woman is gone.

A soldier swings their blade at Cole. And Cole jerks back with breakneck speed, the blade nearly grazing his nose.

Each movement is fueled by his wild rage, with each strike and swing something of a dance.

Wrath so palpable it rolls off him in waves filling the entire room. Bodies lie deadly still around him.

Cole hurls himself at the remaining soldiers until they drop to the floor, eyes wide with lifelessness and splattering more pools of blood across the walls.

One soldier is left, and they back up until they bump into the wall.

They hold out a blade in front of them, practically begging for the space between them and Cole.

Cole’s expression is unreadable from this angle, but his red hair swings as he lurches forward and seizes the blade in his hand and squeezes, his own blood dripping down his forearm.

The masked soldier gasps. They release their grip on the sword and raise their hands. A male voice shutters, “I-I surrender! Please!”

Cole throws the man’s sword to the side and devours the space between them. Grabbing the man’s throat, he says in a lethal voice, “You forfeited that right once you took her from me.”

And then he snaps his neck. Tossing the limp body to the side, he turns to face Archie and me. The fury alight in his gaze makes me shiver.

“They’re gathering a group and weapons! Quick! Come out the window!” Daeja’s deep-throated growl warns.

I snag Archie’s hand and pull him to the busted window, trusting Cole will follow. “We need to go! Now, this way!”

Daeja reaches through the window again, and I guide a limping Archie to her first. She plucks him by the collar and pulls him off his feet, then out the window. I spot Marge’s gloves on the desk and grab them, tucking them into my waistband.

Cole grabs the side of my face and turns me to look at him. “Are you hurt?”

“No. You?”

He shakes his head as Daeja reappears and grabs my shirt to lift me out of the room. When she sets me to my feet outside, the sky is growing a darker shade of orange.

“We should have seen where they put my daggers.” Archie pats his sheaths like they might have forgotten one.

“No time.”

Daeja places Cole next to us. The two of them are both caked in blood and grime.

But before I can ask how they both got here, Daeja’s head snaps up to something in the distance.

A black-masked mob turns the corner, their weapons raised and ready for blood.

When I look to Cole, he takes out two daggers from his belt and wordlessly offers them and his sword to me and Archie.

Shaking my head, I motion to Archie. “He’s the best with daggers. But even two won’t help.” I swing my attention to Archie. “Get on Daeja and get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving either of you!”

“If your foot is broken, you won’t be able to run!”

“I don’t give a damn if I can’t run!” Archie snaps.

“Daeja, I need you to get Archie out of here. Cole and I can fend them off until you get Archie a safe distance away.”

“Don’t you dare! I can tell you’re talking to her!” Archie screams at me and shoves at Daeja who stalks toward him.

“As long as you aren’t telling me to stay away,” Daeja responds, then scoops Archie up in her front claws and lifts into the air. “But only far enough for A’nala to pick him up. They’re on their way.”

“Great. Thank you.” I allow myself a quick breath of relief.

“Kat,” Cole mumbles in warning.

The mob splits. A group of at least twenty circle around us, all dressed in black with their weapons drawn, staring intently at the two of us.

“Surrender,” the black-haired woman calls at the lead, slipping out from the throng.

“Fuck you,” Cole growls, pulling me behind his back. He hands me his sword and clenches the two daggers in either hand. Understanding, I turn to press my back to his, staring out at the other side of the group surrounding us.