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“Won’t he know you’re lying?”
His smile faded. “I’d rather lie than get my neck snapped for letting an enemy roam our camp.”
He didn’t know. Arianna’s gaze wandered over the onlookers faces. Some were fearful, others waited for a show with blades resting in their laps as if they expected her to run. Then she saw Zylah’s tearful expression in the crowd. A female forced to grow up too soon. An innocent who’d seen too much death. Arianna didn’t expect her help, not when it only meant Zylah would die too. Fear gripped Arianna at the prospect of death. Would her family ever find her body?
A single tear rolled down her cheek. The males stalked closer, and one spun his blade through the air, taunting her.
Survive.
I’m sorry, Talon.
Arianna exploded in a ray of light. Her fangs elongated, her ears sharpened, and magic strummed through her veins stronger than ever before. Her senses took in the world around her, pinpointing everything in crystal clear detail. She could see the sweat rolling down their necks, spot the scars along their bodies and the way Lan seemed to favor one leg over the other.
Arianna rallied the water particles hanging in the air and solidified them to encircle her form. The males stopped smiling. They dropped into their stances, dragging their own magic from the earth. Greenery of every variety burst from the ground, leaves unfolding and stems circling those who’d conjured them forth.
Arianna’s heart pounded in her ears and her heart seized when the plant life raced across the ground. She surged her magic forward and drained the water from their stems, robbing the vines of life. They withered before her, but more were coming.
She jumped back, too close to the crowd and another male lunged at her with a dagger. It cut her elbow and she yelped, losing her focus. The vines wrapped around her legs, thorns growing into her flesh as they squeezed tighter and tighter and tighter.
Arianna fell, her chin hit the hard earth, and she tasted the metallic tang of blood.
No. No, this couldn’t be it.
Tears rolled down her face. Tears of fear and frustration. She yanked at her magic again and tore the liquid from every plant around her. The foliage broke easily then, left as nothing more than a dry husk. She shifted the water to ice with a flick of her wrist then growled at the males before charging.
Lan stepped back when she shot her magic toward him and Arianna planted her fist in his jaw, knocking the Fae male into the dirt. Another vine shot from her left and skimmed the skin along her ribs. She stumbled back, grabbing at the area.
“Well, isn’t this interesting?”
The world froze at the sound of his menacing voice. Lan paled and his magic fell limp. He took a step back and his comrades did the same, glancing at Lan as if the male might save them.
Arianna knew she shouldn’t, but she risked looking back and found his emerald eyes glued to her. His nostrils flared as he scented the air and particles of earth and sand floated around his body, dancing as if they were excited for events to come.
She watched his gaze roam over her, taking in her pointed ears, her fangs, and finally the magic floating around her body.
Arianna let the particles fall.
“She was trying to escape,” Lan explained. Arianna’s throat went dry.
The Demon’s lips curved into a feral smile. “Was she now?” He tilted his head as if considering the idea. “In the middle of the day?” His gazed roamed first over Lan, then his two companions. “And just as you happened to pass through. How convenient.”
She couldn’t breathe, not when she saw his magic moving toward her and the others. It shifted the ground, tumbling around them in a large circle like billowing clouds.
She could taste Lan’s fear now.
“Sir she’s—”
“I know exactly what she is,” The Demon snapped. His magic rose around him, towering over his head like a magnificent beast. “I knew the moment I saw her.” He tilted his head. “Curious that her shackles were removed. Did you secretly hope I’d fall for a female from Móirín? Did you believe she’d catch me off guard? Kill me?”
Lan lowered his head and his voice trembled. “Of course not.”
The Demon scoffed, and he glanced toward the spilled tray of food before turning that cold anger back toward them. His magic swirled, lifting like fine mist from a pond. Lan turned to flee, but the particles were faster, wrapping around his ankle and dragging him back. He reached for the grains, trying in vain to free himself.
Arianna couldn’t look away. Lan started screaming and blood coated the bottom of his pant leg. He tore at the fabric, and she saw the sand ripping through his flesh, spiraling around and around until Lan’s foot fell from his leg.
The other males screamed when The Demon’s particles grabbed their bodies. An arm detached. Then another leg. Blood was everywhere, coating the ground that continued to move. Then the males stopped screaming.
Arianna’s heart skipped when those same particles grazed her skin. She clenched her eyes, blood pounding, and prayed her death would be faster than theirs. But the particles didn’t cut into her like they had the males. Instead, they explored her, as if they were teasing the fear from her body. She could smell their blood, along with the blood of others.
