Page 48 of The Shard and the Serpent (Shard Daughters #1)

Beautiful Weapon

Rayze

The word drips off my tongue. Us . Then everything ignites.

Warrick falls back, choking as he grasps his head. I move to help him, but Vile cronies jolt from their bowed positions, axes swinging wide. I hurl into the fray, cracking the steel frame of my bow across the nearest helmet. The hit rings like a bell, and he stumbles, folding over.

Perfect.

I slam my knee into his throat and crush him against an ice wall.

Aleksi crashes down beside me, spear drawn, the lenses built into her mask smeared with blood. Her foot hooks a crony’s ankle and rips him flat to the ice, her spear tearing through his chest. Steam hisses with a splatter of red.

Sonya speeds through the cave. Fangs bared, whip cracking through the air, she spins it around a neck and yanks. Bones pop—the crony skids.

Nearby, The Vile Heir retreats into the shadows. His words echo through my mind. He knew we were coming, knew Warrick may be working with us. I make a move to go after him, to knot his mind, but my heart forces me around to my snake at the sound of his pain.

I wet my lips, surveying his threads. They’re different . Strained. It’s obvious he’s smoked Volt, some of my best knots now lying like limp, crumpled limbs around his head.

He groans, his eyes wild, and I grip the fur collar of his coat, dragging him up. His face tilts toward mine, and the Bond shudders.

I want to take care of them, but now really isn’t the time.

Case in point: an axe slams down toward us.

I jerk away from Warrick, and we both fall back. I scramble to my feet, hating I need to command him, but I can’t have him getting himself killed.

I latch to the threads aiding in his confused state and plait them into an efficient set of knots. “ Fight, ” I growl.

His eyes remain unfocused dark steel. A faint ring of Volt pulses there, searing bright for another second before dissipating. Damn it.

“Rayze?” he murmurs.

Then a crony charges toward us.

Cold resolution settles over his features, and he snarls, snatching his blade from the ice. Warrick explodes forward, dragging the blade up the length of their chest. Sparks shoot off the steel, our magic swelling along the Bond.

Another lunges from the shadows, axe arcing toward my snake’s ribs, but Warrick drops low and drives his blade through the crony’s gut.

He grabs her by the shoulders and rams her into a jagged shard of ice.

Her screech echoes through the cavern as she’s pierced through her middle, blood spilling from the tear in her dark garments.

I search the shadows for Deimos and curse. Omen will need to portal him to Shard House or get me into Alodon. We can’t have him knowing anymore than he clearly does.

“Three more,” Aleksi yells, voice ragged, “far wall!”

We push as a unit. Sonya’s whip is a blur of poisonous fangs. It slices a crony’s weapon arm clean off. Aleksi spears another through the mouth and kicks the body off her weapon.

My arrows fly, and my beautiful weapon moves like a man possessed.

Warrick tears through with brute precision, blade gleaming in the flicker of green lanterns. He wrenches an axe from a crony’s grip, then splits their helmet down the center.

We don’t stop. Not until it’s us and the dead. There’s no Skin to save in Alodon. There never is. I don’t know what the fuck they do with all these dead bodies. I’m not even sure Omen knows, and it’s her Bossdom to control.

Boots echo from the tunneled cavern Deimos vanished within, reinforcements shouting orders.

“Run,” Aleksi barks, and we charge from Alodon’s nest.

We all lock hands and sprint from the ice cavern, our heavy breaths bursting out in thick clouds. Blood flings from our bodies with every plunging stride through the snow.

My snake’s eyes sear into my profile.

I glance his way and flash him a smile, but it falters at the darkness in his eyes.

“How long was I knotted?” he demands.

My heart thunders.

“A few weeks,” Aleksi answers for me, shouting over the blizzard.

The piercings along his dimples cave inward, his cheeks hollowing as he gnaws at them from the inside. His brow ticks, his pupils constricting.

“My snake?” I ask.

Warrick rakes in a hard breath, and I tighten my grip on his hand, turning a worried look to Sonya. She jogs around to his other side as his knees give in. The three of us catch him, the crimson wetting the white streaks in his hair freezing over.

Daughters , Omen’s voice pierces through us.

Our heads snap to where The First Daughter stands ahead, a curved figure of black among endless white.

This way. I’ve opened a portal .

We drag Warrick through the snow, an old archway left among ruins swirling dark at Omen’s back.

Stars open their eyes to us before we plunge through and slam into Shard House’s foyer.

My back smashes to marble, and I choke, the breath knocked from my lungs as Warrick plows into me. I think he’s passed out, but he grabs me, his mouth sinking against mine before I can gasp for air.

Heat crashes across the Bond, and I moan against his tongue, his hands tearing at my thicker leathers and fumbling with the ties. He draws back with a frustrated growl.

“What is this shit?” He pulls on strings and belts.

I blink up at him, then past him.

Aleksi and Sonya are frozen behind him.

My eyes narrow. “Plan on watching?”

My sisters lurch out of the foyer without a word.

Warrick finally gets my pants loose and wrenches them off, leather burning down my legs. He releases himself from his own and drives into me with a single, punishing thrust. He braces his palms on either side of my head, my back screeching against marble.

“We never quite make it to a bed, do we?” I ask, a grin touching my lips.

But he grabs my neck with a snarl. “ Three weeks ? You sent me off after a fight for three fucking weeks?”

I cry out in thrill, his hips slamming against my spread thighs. I try to steady my racing heart, finding the courage I need. “I’m sorry. I—I missed you. I care about you.”

But he pulls out with a hiss of pain.

I scramble up as he drops back to his knees, clutching his head. “Warrick?”

I swallow, fixing my clothes and gently brushing his hair out of his face, but he catches my wrist, the faintest flicker of blue crackling through his eyes.

My gut squeezes. “How much Volt did you smoke?”

A low, strangled shout ruptures from his clenched teeth. He releases my wrist and slaps against his temple in frustration.

Then he just—stops. His shoulders relax. His eyes focus.

“Baby,” he mutters and pushes my hair behind my ear. His lips break with an uneasy smile and he glances around. “What is this place?”

I stare at him, dread pulsing to life. “Shard House.”

A dark laugh scrapes out of him. “You’re doing this place a disservice calling it a house.”

My shoulders tighten. “So you’ve said.”

The corners of his eyes crinkle. “What?”

“Warrick, you’ve lived here for months.”

There it is again. That faint flicker of blue crackling across his eyes.

He wets his lips and clears his throat, glancing down at his hard cock. Another fit of laughter shakes his shoulders.

“Fuck,” he says. “Just a little fuzzy, I guess.” He stuffs himself away and taps his temple. “Don’t worry, angel. I’m fine.”

He drags me into him and holds me tight. “I fucking missed you, too, vicious.”

I clutch him, pressing my cheek to his chest and listening to his heartbeat. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m more than okay.” His hands run down over my body, and the Bond twists with desire. “Let’s go find that bed you mentioned.”

I grin. “I wish I could but—”

“But nothing. We’ve got ale to drink,” Aleksi interrupts, materializing beside us as she stalks out of a portal, a giant jug of liquor hefted between her arms. It sloshes as she staggers from its weight, her Alodon attire already replaced with her standard Rathem uniform.

Warrick catches the jug before it falls and shatters, Aleksi pushing up her glasses with an appreciative smile. Then she looks to me.

“You’re not fucking leaving, Sin.” She takes off her tricorne. “Synlon is officially cut off from every Bossdom. We’re celebrating tonight.”

I take a step back from them, peeling off my leathers and furs until I’m left with my dress and trench coat. “I promise to join later, but I’ve one more thing to handle.”

“I’ll come with you,” Warrick says, clutching the jug as Aleksi tries to pry it away from him. He laughs as she fails miserably. “If I give you it, you’ll drop it or guzzle it, and I don’t see either of those things being in your favor, Red.”

“Wrong,” she growls and tugs on the jug. “Give it back.”

He snorts. “Did you portal straight into a tavern to get this? It’s been ten minutes, if that, since we got back.”

I take another step back.

“You know what, asshole, yes. Yes, I did. Okay? I have tavern hookups. It’s the only fucking perk of having to babysit pirates all day. Now give me my ale.”

Warrick balances it on his head, keeping it out of her reach. He laughs, his eyes sparkling as she starts hopping up and down. Then he pins me with a knowing look. “You’re inching away, Rayze.”

I fold my arms. “Am not.”

We stand several feet apart now. I’m practically on the other side of the foyer. A few more inches, and I’ll be in front of the mirrored pillar holding a portal to Synlon.

“You are.” He jerks to the side before Aleksi can land a punch to his ribs. “Aren’t you going to save me?” he asks me, nodding to my drunken, feral sister.

My eyes dip to his mouth, and he smiles wide.

“Stay, angel,” he mutters. “Take the night off.”

“I’ll be quick,” I promise, then nod to Aleksi. “Just keep her out of trouble.”

His smile fades, the sparkle in his eyes dulling. “I’ve barely gotten you back.”

I thrust a hand into the portal.

“Rayze, hang on—”

Shard House disappears.