Page 32

SHOW ME YOUR TEETH

GAVREL

D usk set in, the full moon already bright and shining over the fighting and gore around us.

A shower of arrows poured into the mass of bodies. Draumrs and rebels in the constant motion of combat, battling one another while the city croaked and shuddered beneath our very feet.

Citizens jumped and swung from the treetop homes and stairwells, sturdy ropes and daggers clutched in their hands as they attacked from above.

“Commander!” Rhaegar bellowed from the other side of the square. Several Draumrs looked my way, shock and uncertainty slamming over their visages. I recognized one or two, but ignored them as Seryn and I charged toward him.

Neoma shot a final arrow before setting her bow across her chest and then grabbing a nearby rope.

Before she could swing from the platform, a pair of Akridais appeared, one yanking her by the hair and the other’s oleaginous aura slipping around the enforcer’s form.

I couldn’t reach her, but russet strands caught my attention at the base of the tree.

“Marek! Neoma!” I bellowed, and his eyes snapped up, a look of rage lining his features. He jabbed his quarterstaff into a guard’s face and charged up the stairwell, his halo flaming furiously.

At the sound of my voice, Seryn stumbled. “Keep going! Marek’s got her!” I shouted. A grim expression settled across her face as she stabbed her dagger into an opponent’s thigh.

Already deep in battle, we both knew it was futile to turn back. We wouldn’t make it to her grandmother before her cousin. As we fought our way through the square, blocking blows and metal clashing against metal, I caught glimpses of Neoma as she struggled against the enforcers.

With a roar, Marek clenched his fists, muscles straining. A slithering shadow made of sooty flames burst from him. The dark inferno rolled up the stairs like a nightmare and engulfed the two Akridais. At once, they released Neoma, clutching the sides of their heads and screaming in terror.

As Marek’s feet met the deck, his face was a mask of wrath.

A savage grin sliced across his jaw as he watched his enemies collapse to their knees.

I swore his pupils overtook the whites of his eyes as the Akridais clawed at their cheeks, eyes unseeing and full of horror.

Whatever illusion he’d implanted was tearing their minds apart from the inside.

I deflected a blow and spun, thrusting my sword into another belly.

Tentatively, Neoma placed her hand on her grandson’s shoulder, and he winced. He crushed his eyes closed and shook his head as if clearing away pollution. His ember melted into him while Neoma swung over the length of the square, landing safely on another tree deck.

Marek prowled near the trembling enforcers, who whimpered feebly.

His eyes narrowed before he kicked one off the edge of the platform and whipped his staff into the other.

Both fell limply into the water below. With his face set in a dour expression, Marek swung over to where Neoma had landed, and they joined us below.

“Holy tits, Yaya,” Breena praised the older woman. “You’ve still got that battle fever in you.”

Neoma laughed, charging ahead. Breena tilted her head toward Marek, eyeing him curiously. The male pushed past her, his jaw set in stone.

At last, we reached the bridge to Hallowed End, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Its creaking span vanished into the darkness, too long even for the moon’s grasping tendrils to fully reveal.

We crossed in silence, the weight of something unseen nipping at our heels, pressing down—thick as the smoky air and the groan of timber beneath our feet. Fog curled along the ropes and planks like pale serpents. Beneath us, the swamp pulsed, its black water shifting with sluggish menace.

As the decagon-shaped platform came into view, my heart slammed against my ribs. A droning cacophony bubbled up from the murk, silencing the swamp critters. We froze, staring into the water.

Breena snarled as swollen, ashen bog bodies broke through the surface, bulging eyes and vacuous sockets alike fixating on our group.

We snapped into action, stabbing and kicking away the undead. Again and again, Seryn’s dagger lodged into the undead’s soft bits, instantly returning to her hand. The others swung their weapons and let their embered light slash a path over the bridge.

Sweat coated my brow, and as we rushed onto the platform, cracking fingers and chomping jaws lunged at us. I stabbed one of the beast’s temples. Its one bulging eye rolled back in its head before it slipped into its watery grave.

The Budding Moon hovered above, watchful and steady, its beams spilling across the planks like a quiet blessing—as if Selene herself approved, marking our destination.

Seryn rushed forward, activating her ring and ember simultaneously. She closed her eyes, lashes fluttering, imagining the Stygian Murk as we’d discussed .

A swirling, amber vortex materialized as both Seryn’s and the moon’s light fed the embered gateway, its sparkling edges widening until the center of the misty haze beckoned us.

“Go! I’m not sure how long I can hold it!” Seryn cried.

Rhaegar and Breena leaped into the mist. Frowning, Marek hesitated as he looked at his cousin and grandmother.

“We’ll be right behind you. Go on, boy!” Neoma barked. His jaw tensed, but he walked grudgingly through the threshold.

I stepped forward as Seryn’s eyes met mine, her curls snapping in the portal’s wind.

Neoma whirled, a scowl cutting across her features. My shoulders stiffened at the sound of a familiar voice calling my name like a tinkling chime flitting in a breeze. It slithered over my vertebrae.

Melina .

I drew myself to my full height as I turned, my teeth grinding into one another. Seryn’s hand gripped my waist, her warmth pressing into my back in fear or comfort. Both.

Like a feral cat, Melina grinned as she stalked toward us over the swaying bridge. Her cape snapped behind her, and her gauzy, black dress gripped her curves.

The two Akridais who’d been hunting us since we’d escaped Evergryn flanked her, their greasy, yellow auras licking at her smoke-like energy.

Another female trailed behind them, her pretty, oval face familiar. She wasn’t fazed by the dead bodies groaning and grabbing at her feet.

“Caelora?” Neoma snapped, ignoring Melina and glaring at the woman. “How could you?”

Ah, the traitor.

Seryn’s forehead scrunched and then lifted as Caelora squared her shoulders, and her violet aura surged around her, amethyst eyes glinting like jewels. She tossed Seryn a defiant look—everything about her was defiant—as her honey-colored waves snapped in the breeze.

Although an Akridai rune didn’t brand her throat, perhaps the Elders had recruited her. Her gift hailed from two bloodlines, which was a rarity Melina would covet .

My mouth pinched, sympathy for the traitorous female creeping over my anger.

“Enough chatter. I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to be home again, but I find other things pleasurable nowadays.” She licked her crimson lips and raised one perfectly arched brow at me and then at the Korax leader. “Neoma. It’s been too long.”

Acid boiled up my windpipe. She made me fucking sick. My head lifted, and I raised my sword, eager to impale her. Slice through to the evil core within her.

“Haven’t you missed me, Gavie? You’ve been such a naughty boy. We’ve much to catch up on.” She sighed and then flicked her wrists to either side irritably.

The female Akridai immediately flung her power toward the closest bog bodies, and the creatures froze, their moaning silenced.

As Melina cocked her head, her platinum hair flowed over her shoulder. The male enforcer at her back slashed his energy over the undead, and they collapsed into cloudy depths.

Melina twirled her hands as if conducting a music ensemble and continued, “You’ve done as I asked.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “Found my pet and potential Scions. Well done, Commander. I’ll reward you as usual.”

Seryn’s aura was buzzing against my back as she leaned into me, her voice carrying over the bog bodies’ cacophony. “Touch him, and I’ll tear your pretty face off.”

Melina clapped her hands, tittering. “Ah, my little pet bites. Come closer and show me your teeth. I would love to tame you. As I have Gavie.”

Seryn growled, and—fuck me—if it wasn’t the sexiest noise I’d ever heard. Heat surged to the bottom of my spine. Reaching behind me, I brushed my fingers over her waist. “Go on, I’ll be right behind you.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she snarled.

And she wouldn’t.

Desperately, I flicked my gaze to Neoma behind us. She met my eyes, stiffened her frame, and nodded .

I stepped back, forcing Seryn to do the same. My jaw clenched as I dipped my chin, eyes locked on Melina’s slippers. She savored the taste of submission. “Mistress, I’ve done what you asked. I’m at your disposal.”

She tapped a claw-shaped nail on her chin. “Have you, though? It seems as if you’ve been avoiding me. As if you’re back to choosing her . I think there’s plenty you haven’t told me. That won’t do, Commander.”

A slow smile curled at the corners of Melina’s lips, cold and knowing. A nagging spasm ticked under the scar on my chest, more dread than usual skittering along my nape at her words.

Elder Harrow was a predator savoring the moment before the kill. Her smoggy aura flicked angrily about, and I nudged Seryn closer to the portal.

“Stop. I know what you’re doing,” Seryn hissed.

I didn’t stop. Melina and her enforcers were getting closer, and there wasn’t time to distract them further.

Melina narrowed her eyes. “Ready the nearest pod,” she snapped at the Akridais. “It’s time for a culling.”

“Now!” Neoma screamed as one of the Akridais’ embers shot forward. She threw her weight into me, effectively pushing Seryn and me into the churning haze of the portal as greasy tendrils locked around her waist.

Seryn called out her grandmother’s name, her fingers grasping for Neoma as the woman’s body jerked backward into the moonlight.

And then we fell, mist and firefly-like lights cocooning us.