Page 58 of The Shard and the Serpent (Shard Daughters #1)

Play Dead

Warrick

The Serpent crony hauling our wagon barely has time to release his harness before I crash through the busted lock and slam him into the flooded trench.

Keep him busy , Rayze hisses through the Bond.

Cold, murky water hits like a curse. My chains yank me under, but I thrash through the muck, knees skidding across sludge for purchase.

Then we surface in a snarl of limbs.

The crony bellows and swings wild, steel flashing toward my chest. I lurch back, and the blade catches in the chain across my chest, metal locking against metal.

I grin—and yank back.

The sword rips from his grip and smacks into the water.

He gropes beneath the surface for the hilt, but I lunge. Serpent steel slices into my shin. I grit through the pain and kick the weapon out of his reach.

Rayze clambers inside mine and Aleksi’s cage with shallow breaths. Clear the water. We need a portal. She’s too injured to fight or get home.

The Serpent crony lifts his fists.

I charge, teeth bared. My jaw clamps down around his neck, and I bite. Blood floods my mouth, hot and alive. He thrashes, chokes on the scream lodged in his throat.

But I’m not done. Not even close.

I tear back with a grunt, and part of him comes with me—skin between my teeth, copper down my throat.

Fangs would be proud.

The bastard staggers into an entrance for the Underground, and I prowl out of the water. Mud falls from my drenched pants, rain beating along my swollen face.

Behind me, Rayze drags Aleksi into the trench with a crash. She struggles to hold them both aloft, but she gives me a sharp nod.

I look past the crony, the shrieking rattle of Chrome Guard armor echoing through the tunnel as they circle back to us.

“It’s not working!” Rayze shouts, and I whip around.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t open a portal,” she gasps. Her voice shakes, eyes wild with something close to panic. “It’s like Fate’s refusing us.”

She stumbles through the water, manacles clanking with every drag of her ruined hands. She hooks her forearms under Red’s waist, using what leverage she has to haul her from the rising trench water. I start toward them, not bothering to finish my kill.

He’ll die soon either way. He can’t survive that blood loss.

I trace my gaze over Aleksi’s shut eyes and pale lips.

Neither can she.

“Warrick,” Rayze breathes, close enough to touch.

If only I could move my damn arms.

“Fate wouldn’t close the portals unless she had to,” she says, her lips split and temple swollen. She’s bruised and bloody and tired . “If we can’t retreat to Shard House—”

“Fang’s edge. My apartment.” I try to help her with Aleksi’s weight.

Rayze drops her forehead to Aleksi’s hair. “That’s on the other side of the city. My snake, I—I can’t.”

“Your magic,” I try, “can you use it in another way?”

“I want to.” She leans into my chest. “But we both know I need to conserve my energy. They’re going to take us, Warrick.”

I glance over my shoulder, the crony dead and chrome flashing around a tunnel corner, Vandem at their lead.

We need to set her down in the tunnel next to the crony, make it look like she’s already gone , I tell her softly.

Rayze nods and I take on the brunt of Aleksi’s weight.

“Play dead, Red,” I whisper in Aleksi’s ear.

“Not hard,” she murmurs back, and Rayze presses a quick kiss to her sister’s forehead.

We settle her in the corner, Rayze swaying, trying to stay upright with her multiple wounds.

Then we turn to the incoming soldiers.

My angel’s shoulder leans into mine. I flex my fingers next to hers, desperate to hold her hand but knowing it’s too far gone to feel my touch.

Vandem lifts a bow, arrow already drawn. His lips curl. Then he looses a shot—merciless and sparking blue.

Toward Rayze.

I whip forward, but I’m too slow.

The arrow slams into her thigh, and her pain explodes through the Bond, gutting me. My stomach caves with a violent cramp like being stabbed from the inside out.

Rayze screams. The sound rips through the tunnel before her knees buckle.

We crash down together, chains clattering and gravel biting. She hits the ground beside me, her cheek smearing through the blood of the crony I killed.

Then her eyes roll back, and her agony drags me under.