Page 25 of The Faceless Queen

“Samara,” my mother said, her voice hushed, weakened by pain, “it’s okay. I trust you. I love you. And I need you to live. To survive. So take it. Take as much as you need.”

I imagined two longswords sliding out of my arms, my claws now sharpened steel blades.

Die. Die now, it thought.

“You first,” I snarled. Then I slashed, one blade through the goat’s neck, the other through the lion’s.

They didn’t even have time to roar. Blood spurted, and the beast's body slackened. I started to fall back, and my head hit the wall, my face inches from its venomous snake tail.

Black eyes blinked slowly. Then its jaw unhinged, poison dripping from its fangs.

“Fuck!” I scrambled back, and with one slash, my opponent was defeated. The snake’s head fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

One chimera dead.

I blinked dizzily, the room spinning as my blades vanished, my Samara form restored. Two hands, two arms. Two muscular calves fit for a dancer.

I pushed myself up, trying to catch my breath. I should have been drained by what I’d done. Almost back to the body I’d been born with. But I was only winded. How much of Brennan’s life had I stolen? Usually I could tell, sense the amount, sense whether it was minutes or years. But with him, his energy came to me so quickly, so naturally, I couldn’t tell. I thought I’d taken a year—but I had a sinking certainty that it had been far more.

Most of the men battling the chimera with two wolf heads had fallen or run. Only two remained.

One with black curls.

One with brown.

Kienan.

Brennan.

My stomach lurched. Neither one knew how to fight chimera, and neither was strong enough. Not on their own.

Kienan parried, stabbing the beast’s belly with his blade. But it barely flinched. He was wasting time on the heart. He needed to go for its heads. The chimera’s power lay there, and only when all three heads were killed, could it be defeated.

Until then, it could slaughter them in a dozen ways—injure and antagonize them until they were too tired to fight back. Too cornered. Too scared. Too weak.

Red embers flared in all four of the beast’s nostrils. And with a deadly growl, it let its flames loose.

A scream tore out of Brennan’s throat as he leapt, throwing himself over his friend and pushing him out of harm’s way as they crashed to the floor. Instantly, Brennan was alert, rolling them to the side, just barely missing the chimera’s fire.

“Brennan!” Rowan screamed, racing back for his friends.

The chimera reared back. They needed to get up. Brennan just had to stand, pull Kienan to his feet, and run. But he wasn’t moving. He was still lying on top of him.

“Brennan! What the hell!” Rowan yelled, his eyes wide and frantic. “Get up! Get up! Come on!”

But he couldn’t get up. He wasn’t hurt. He was just drained, feeling that months of his life had been sucked away.

By me.

The beast charged forward, but instead of trampling them, it ran just past them. Its black, venomous snake tail shot out, its body stretching and lengthening, coiling itself around Brennan’s body like a rope.

He cried out as he was dragged off of Kienan, then thrown onto the chimera’s back. In the blink of an eye, the beast tore out of the tavern, out into the night.

“Brennan!” Kienan yelled, his voice hoarse. Rowan had already turned, racing after his friend as Kienan struggled to get back on his feet.

My heart pounded, my stomach twisting. But I knew what I had to do. I sent magic down my legs, thinning them out and lengthening them to run faster than I’d ever run in my life.

Another burst of energy went to my eyes, shifting them to see in the dark as I made my way outside.