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Rion gritted his teeth. “I should have killed you.” The assassination attempt. They were the ones who’d escaped after Rion killed most of their comrades.
Rion rose onto his elbows, that intimidating, feral growl rumbling deep in his chest. He showed his teeth, summoned his magic, and a few of those stalking toward them paused. Fear leaked from the warriors, and they exchanged uneasy glances.
Then Rion’s magic fell.
The male with the smirk on his face flipped a blade in one hand. “Too bad you didn’t. Don’t quite live up to your reputation, do you?”
Arianna glared at him. “Says the one who ran with his tail between his legs.”
The male growled at her and Rion answered in kind, trying to push his body to a seated position. He didn’t succeed.
“Stupid female. He’d be dead if not for you. I don’t know what’s more sickening. You helping this creature or your willingness to lie with it.” He spat on the ground, then shifted his attention back to Rion. “I hope it hurts. I hope you feel every agonizing second as your organs shut down and you suffocate.” He stepped forward. “And when you can’t move, I’ll make you watch as I do whatever I please with this female before tearing her apart.”
Arianna stood, searing rage coursing through her body. She met the unflinching scrutiny of each warrior who stood before her wanting to kill the male she’d grown to love.
“Arianna.” Her skin crawled with the way he said her name. She looked back and her heart ached at the fear in his gaze. At the longing for a life that might have been.
No, no he couldn’t give up. Not yet.
Sweat rolled down his beautiful face and his soft hair hung over desperate eyes. She knew what he wanted.
“I can’t.”
“Please,” he begged. Please run. Live. But how could she after everything they’d been through? How could she just turn her back on him like everyone else?
Arianna growled, the sound reverberating in her chest. After all the pain this world had caused him. She clenched her fists. Damn the ancient texts, damn Alastríona, and damn this war. She’d live for nothing and no one except Rion.
“The poison will kill him no matter what you do. There’s no antidote.” The male picked at his nails as if bored. “So, run if you can, fight if you want. Either way, I’ll enjoy it.” He smiled, cruel and wicked. “And while you do, you can envision him weak, gasping for breath, suffering as a demon should.”
More warriors emerged from the trees, all lining up behind their new leader. She gaped at them as they drew their weapons, and their bloodlust sent a chill crawling across her skin. Two dozen at least. How was she supposed to fight so many? Her heart stuttered and hot tears rolled down her cheeks. Arianna clenched her fists and turned back to stare into those beautiful green eyes.
This could be it. This could be the last time she saw them open and pleading. Even if she won and killed every warrior standing in her way, she had no way of knowing whether her magic could save him or if she’d even get to it in time.
But she couldn’t leave him either.
Setting her jaw, Arianna dropped into a stance and yanked her magic from the air, surrounding herself and Rion in a thousand tiny droplets. The setting sun reflected from their surface, but it’d fade soon, just like Rion if she didn’t hurry.
The leader smiled and pulled another blade from his belt.
“Get. Out. Of. Here.” Rion’s desperate, ragged voice struck her to the core.
Arianna didn’t turn. “I won’t abandon you.”
The warriors sprinted forward, and Arianna pivoted, yanking the fluid from their rising magic before they even neared. She spun the liquid around her body, solidifying it into sharp spears of ice before launching it back to her opponents.
Three fell, two grabbing at their pierced throats while another held his chest.
Their comrades growled but Arianna returned their aggression, refusing to submit to intimidation. Their lines gathered and the warriors fell upon her like a swarm to a hive. Arianna danced through her opponents, praying someone hadn’t coated the blades in whatever foul concoction had incapacitated Rion.
Her heart seized. He was wheezing now, struggling to keep air moving in and out of his lungs. The more he fought, the faster the poison would spread, and she knew he’d never stop fighting, just like she’d never stop protecting him.
Arianna’s hand grazed two warriors, and she robbed their body’s water supply. She circled it around Rion, hovering her magic as an impenetrable defense then launched another arsenal of frozen blades to incapacitate her opponents. She didn’t have time for mercy, it was them or Rion.
A blade slashed across her right arm, another cut her leg and though the younger version of herself might have succumbed to fear and doubt, the new version, the version Rion had helped build, let her mind clear.
She wasn’t a scared little girl anymore. She’d trained with Talon for years and survived sixteen months of enslavement. Arianna had battled warriors from Brónach and lived to tell the tale. She fought at The Demon’s side. Struggle after struggle and she’d prevailed. Arianna would not falter now.
Consequence and excuse faded. She let her body move, reacting from muscle memory alone. Arianna stole one of the male’s swords and slashed it across his comrade’s torso, ducking to avoid another’s swing. She let out a slow breath and danced to the left, driving her magic forward and backward in a wave that left her enemies scrambling.
