Page 132 of Elysian

“Lucinda?” I gasped, confused. Egan’s chuckle only served to confuse me more. I held my palms up between them, getting in the way. “This is a friend⁠—”

Egan brushed past me, shoulder smashing into my arm. I staggered, my weaker leg giving out. Lucinda sneered and jabbed her blade at Egan. He easily parried it. His look was mocking, and so different from the face I knew.

I lunged forward and caught Egan’s arm, stopping the blade before it reached Lucinda’s face. With his focus split between us, Lucinda swiped, opening a cut across his arm, and danced out of his reach.

The humor fled from his face.

A roar echoed from the distance. I whipped my head in its direction, seeing Lucinda’s wraithling break through the edge of stalks.

“Run, Amara!” I turned back to Lucinda parrying another swipe from Egan. None of this made sense. “It is Lord—” Egan drove the blade through the middle of her chest.

A roar bellowed, her panther wraithling falling onto the ground mid-sprint, sending dust into the air. I screamed as Lucinda coughed blood, and it dribbled on her lip. Egan pulled the blade from her chest, twisting it as he withdrew. Lucinda jerked and her legs crumpled under her. I crawled toward her with desperate, rushed movements.

I grabbed her face, turning her head toward me.

“I-I do not understand,” I wheezed.

Lucinda coughed more blood.

“Run. Vaner,” she wheezed.

My shoulders drew up and I slowly turned. Egan was busy swiping the surface of the blade onto his black officer tunic.

“Why?” I cried. Nothing made sense. How could Egan . . . Egan would not have.

I eyed the back of his hair. It shimmered under the moonlight as he shook it out of his face.

“Vaner.” My numb lips struggled to form his name.

Lucinda’s wraithling managed to spring. Vaner rammed his boot into the feline with a quick and skilled movement. He landed another hit, and then another until the panther staggered, shaking its head.

He turned with a sigh. “Stupid girl.” He brought his boot down on her shoulder, sending Lucinda onto her back. I threw myself at his legs, but I could not budge him. He whipped his hand out and his palm cracked across my face. The copper taste of my blood filled my mouth as I landed next to Lucinda. Vaner swept her blade from the ground and rammed it in the middle of her chest again, this time, leaving it sticking out of her.

Her arm slapped the ground as she stared at me. “You must not die,” she whispered, blood leaking from the corner of her lips. “Run.” The panther writhed in agony with its ears pinned back.

A sob choked in my throat. I had to get away. Sinking my nails into the dirt for purchase, I rolled onto my knee. I managed to bolt forward, but a boot slammed against my back, making me plant face down into the dirt.

Vaner grabbed my hair and my arm, wrenching me up. My throat screamed from the angle and he forced me toward a horse tethered to one of the thicker stalks.

“Stop struggling, girl,” he hissed and shoved me. I slammed against the saddle. His fist swung at my temple, and my vision blurred.

Seeing such hatred on the face of a man I had grown to care for and trust was a different sort of horror. His blue eyes glinted with familiar avarice. It was a look I had never seen Egan’s face contort into.

I stumbled, scrabbling to grab the strap of the saddle. He yanked me, then my feet were off the ground, my body landing across the saddle.

He brought his fist down across the side of my head again. Vomit rose and exploded onto the ground. I gagged, spitting clear liquid mixed with red blood.

He wrenched my arm nearest him behind my back, keeping me pinned.

The horse settled into a gallop.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Vaner

Icame to consciousness in fragments. The horse’s cries and bucking forced me fully into the present. Just in time to twist my body as I landed on the ground. The treetops swam into focus above me, allowing only faint moonlight through.

As I got to my knees, I gagged.