Chapter One
………………………….
Henri
I WASN’T IN CONTROL OF MY actions.
Barely conscious of my body, thoughts, and feelings.
I shut down.
That icy darkness that’d prowled through me when I’d stumbled through the caves returned. The pressure of it. The utter annihilation of it.
I didn’t feel human.
Which was good because what I was about to do was definitely not human.
Spinning in place, I attacked.
I aimed wild.
I slashed with the dagger.
I gasped as blood sprayed.
The heat of crimson, the taste of metal.
Victor roared and backpedalled, holding his bleeding chest. “You mother fucker !”
I smiled.
I went to leap on him—
The closest guard grabbed my throat and shoved me back.
Darkness drowned me as I repaid the favour.
The guard had strangled me; I cut his windpipe.
Blood fountained over me.
The guard gurgled and tripped, his fingers loosening around my neck. His jugular kept pumping blood as his knees buckled.
Victor scrambled farther away, hiding behind a wall of guards. “Disarm him. Immediately!”
For a moment, no one moved.
And then, everyone moved at once.
Loud shouting as I stabbed a different guard.
I only managed a glancing blow before another one crowded me. Shoving him away, I aimed my attack at the closest Master.
I only had minutes before my life was over.
And I intend to take them with me.
I funnelled all my strength into my arm and let loose.
I didn’t know which Master it was with his black mask and cape, but I drove the tip of my dagger right through his gristly throat.
He dropped with a gurgle.
I stabbed another.
The knife twanged with obstruction as the blade struck bone.
I pulled it out of his sternum and aimed for his belly.
It went in easily, smoothly.
He screamed and fell backward, clutching the new hole I’d given him.
The other Masters scattered, trying to get as far away from me as possible.
The monster inside me stalked and slobbered for blood.
So…I fed it.
I hunted them.
Three guards charged me.
I parried and slashed, trying to incapacitate them so I could slaughter every monster in this cave. I didn’t stop to wonder if these men were the guards who Stewart and Ben had been liaising with.
I didn’t care.
I smashed my chains, freed the darkness, and as Ily’s gentle wonderful voice echoed in my head, forgiving me for so many sins, I took my final breath as Henri and became something else.
Barrelling through the wall of guards, I launched myself at Victor. His eyes flared in panic as I managed to get through two of his protectors. But then three more grabbed me, throwing vicious punches and knocking me to the ground.
I didn’t stay down.
Adrenaline fed me.
Fury ignited me.
I lost it.
Springing upright, I threw myself into war.
Just like the fugue that came over me the night of the treasure hunt, everything happened in a blur. I kicked, punched, stabbed, and slashed.
Blood and screams.
Bellows and pain.
The entire chamber erupted with violence.
“ Someone stop him !” Victor snarled.
More arms came at me. A few guns aimed in my direction.
“No, don’t shoot. Just…incapacitate him!” Victor barked, slipping through the crush of cloaked Masters to stand safely by the exit. “Get him shackled. Now .”
Two guards came at me.
I managed to kick one and stab the other. Not a fatal wound but still a decent cut as he cried out and snatched his bicep where blood seeped.
Someone struck me from behind. I whirled on them and threw a wild punch.
Eight guards had entered the Temple with us. One bled out by the altar while the remaining seven swarmed me, tripping over the two dead Masters on the floor.
They corralled me back toward the stone table where Ily lay bound. “Get her out of here, Peter!” I glanced over my shoulder, my stomach freefalling as I noticed he’d already unbuckled her ankles and worked on unhooking her cuffed wrists.
If he could get her out.
If they could swim away.
At least, I would die for something worthwhile.
I snarled and threw myself against the guards crushing me.
Fists pummelled my ribs. Knuckles crunched against my face.
Someone struck my nose, leaving me blind for a moment with excruciating pain. A gush of blood covered my chin and throat.
Staggering to the side, I snatched off my mask and shook my head. Doing my best to stop the flashing lights and light-headedness, I twisted the dagger in my fist. The blade dripped with sweat and scarlet.
Grasping it tighter, I attacked the panting guard who approached me. I sank the knife into his chest just as another whacked the butt of his gun against my temple.
I dropped to one knee.
Another guard punched me for good measure.
Another kicked my calf, trying to topple me.
Pushing upward, I leapt to the side and threw a look at Ily and Peter.
He’d gotten her off the altar, but they stood surrounded by Masters in black velvet robes. “ Run !” I growled before launching at the barricade of guards again.
Peter roared and threw himself into the fight.
Ily screamed and followed.
They were swallowed up by the Masters.
Another element of blackness fell over my eyes.
I let loose a guttural groan and ploughed my way through the guards.
Punching, slashing, choking on cries of pain as they beat me, kicked me, broke me. My heart skipped as fists thumped against my back and shoulders. My vision flickered as two struck me in the head.
Agony swelled like the tide crashing against the cave, making everything sluggish and hard.
But I kept fighting.
Kept pushing.
I had to get to Victor.
If I could kill him, the jewels would be safe.
If I killed him, this all ended.
Peter cried out as a Master grabbed him by the throat, and two others took turns punching him. He dropped to his knees, his arms covering his head as they rained abuse on him.
Ily whimpered as she suffered the same fate. A fist to her belly and a kick to her ankle. She fell, landing heavily on wet cave rock.
“ No !” I lost myself again. I stabbed another guard. He twisted out of my reach just as I went to gut him. Another kicked my wrist. My fingers opened involuntarily; the diamond-hilted dagger went skittering into the gloom.
Fuck!
No matter.
I reached for the weapon holstered on his belt.
I managed to pull it out.
A gun banged .
It reverberated around the cave, making everyone duck and press their hands to their ears.
It wasn’t me who’d shot.
So who…
My gaze skimmed over the sea of cowering people.
Victor.
He stood with the muzzle of his weapon pointing down the stone corridor we’d come in from—just in case the bullet decided to bounce off the cave roof and kill someone unintended.
Grabbing hold of the sudden stillness from his shot, he shouted, “ Enough !” He pointed his gun at me. “Get him under control. Now!”
The stillness shattered.
I lost myself again.
Dropping my shoulder, I ran into a guard.
He toppled like a boulder.
I struck him in the head just as two more fumbled for my arms, trying to yank them back.
Twisting and leaping to my feet, I kicked and punched. I snarled and struck.
The guards renewed their efforts to subdue me.
I renewed mine to return the favour.
I lost track of how many men I hit and how many hits I received in return.
Time lost all meaning as I tried to take on guards and Masters and slowly lost, one by one. Strike by strike, my energy whittled. Punch by punch, pain overwhelmed my violence. I panted and sweated. Blinked and staggered. I kept feeding my flagging body with sheer determination, forcing it not to give up—doing my best to end this before they ended me.
Through blood and sweat, I tried to find Stewart and Ben.
Why weren’t they helping?
We would have better odds if they jumped into this fight, along with the guards who said they were ready to revolt.
It wouldn’t just be me against countless enemies.
We might stand a chance.
A guard shoved me back, sending me wheeling into the one bleeding behind me.
He grabbed me in a neck-lock, throttling me and trying to throw me to the ground.
Scratching at his forearm, I gave in to the final dregs of my violence.
Throwing myself forward, I managed to toss him over my shoulder. Stomping onto his stomach, I flew toward Victor, where he stood by the crack we’d entered. His black suit slashed from my first cut, the material shimmering wetly.
I’d hurt him.
He wasn’t invincible.
He’s killable.
“Henri.” His eyes flashed as I ducked around a guard trying to tackle me, then grunted as another struck my kidneys. “You won’t win.”
I knew that.
I’d known that the moment I’d cut him instead of Ily.
But…I had to try.
Baring my teeth, tasting blood— my blood—I tried one last time to get to him.
His eyes flared as I managed to get close.
His lips parted as I reached for him.
And then every remaining guard in the cave collided with me.
They knocked me down.
Towered over me in a ring of retribution.
And then…
… pain.