Page 54 of The Dragon 2

"You must. I like treasure and you are priceless. Kingdoms have burned for less. Even if I wanted to walk away from you, I could not."

What?

Panic clawed at her ribs.

Her pulse thundered.

She raised her hands, power singing in her blood. Ice bloomed at her fingertips. With a cry, she hurled twin bolts of frost toward him.

He moved too fast.

A blur of shadow and heat, dodging the blasts like a phantom.

But then he came for her.

She barely had time to gasp before he struck—hands like brands seizing her arms, heat ripping through her skin like wildfire licking bone. They seared into her arms, devouring her frost with a hiss.

Her magic sizzled.

Heat swallowed cold.

Terror lanced through her.

Just like Korin.

No, no. This isn’t possible.

She screamed and lashed out, a desperate blast of jagged ice erupting from her palms.

The bolt slammed into his chest with a thunderclap. His scream tore through the air—more beast than man, a guttural rupture that split the night and slammed against her ribs like a war drum.

What is he?! How did he make that sound?!

He released her.

She fell to the road hard, rolled, scrambled to her feet, and bolted off the road.

She didn't run toward the Lowly Quarter.

No.

She couldn’t.

Her parents were there. They were powerless. They wouldn't survive a creature like this.

So, she ran into the Wretched Forest.

Thorns tore at her already tattered dress. Roots clawed at her bare feet. The trees seemed to shift and reach, but she didn’t care. She had to get him away, to somewhere she could trap him.

Maybe even kill him.

That thought made her stomach twist. She had never killed before. But if she had to. . .she would.

Behind her, his voice chased like smoke. "Running will not help you. I have your scent now. From now on, you will never be able to hide from me."

She screamed and hurled a blast of ice behind her.

A grunt followed, telling her that she’d gotten him.