Chapter 16 #2
“How about now?” he says.
A faint roar fills the distance.
A sob rushes up my throat, exploding from me in the form of wet, wobbly words. “Yes. I hear him. I hear you.”
“Where? Which direction?”
The roar echoes again. “Right. To my right.”
“And you’re facing the darkest part of the sky?”
“Yes.”
Another roar splits the evening, sharper now. “Is that closer?”
“Yes,” I say on the edge of a gasp.
“Four minutes. Maybe three. Then we’ll be there. He’ll be there. Can you last that long?”
I take in my situation. The trolls’ quarrel has settled. The bleeding one now sits propped against a rock, clutching at its nose, while the other three watch me.
The one with my knife cackles. “Look. The pretty’s talking to itself.”
They laugh.
“Maybe it’s trying to pray,” says another.
That hits me in the solar plexus. Because I am praying, for all intents and purposes.
Just not to my goddess.
“My turn, first,” says the knife-wielder.
“Should it spin?” another asks. “Or stay still?”
A predatory smile. “Spin.”
All my muscles lock up. I think I know what they intend, what the divots in the wood beneath me signify. But I can’t let Amriel find out. Whatever happens, I won’t give him a reason to use his gyre.
Three minutes. I can endure anything for three minutes.
One of the trolls pulls the lever. The wheel begins a slow revolution, first pitching me sideways, then upside down and around.
“Sariah,” Amriel says, his surety wavering. “What’s happening? Why is everything moving?”
I clamp my lips shut, my neck wrenching as I turn to him again. Two and a half minutes. How much damage can these trolls do in so little time?
“Sariah.” Amriel shapes my name into a warning. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“Nothing.” A tiny smile graces my mouth. “I’m spinning. They’re still fighting.”
They’re not. The troll with my blade steps back, hefting the dagger, measuring the distance. That’s all I catch before the wheel smears him to a blur. Blood rushes to my head as my hair lifts and settles and lifts again.
“Two minutes.” Amriel’s voice stretches taut, his calm fraying. “Sariah, look at me. Tell me if you’re all right.”
“I’m all right,” I lie, knowing I might end up stabbed, or dead. But maybe it won’t be so bad if I can stare into Amriel’s eyes while it happens. I just wish… Goddess, I wish…
A whistling sound. A glint of silver, but I can’t track it, can’t see what—
Thunk. The knife buries itself in the wood beside my elbow, cutting off my view of the bracelet. The blade quivers, so close I can see my reflection in the steel.
Acid floods my throat. An inch lower, and I probably would have lost my arm.
“Sariah, what is that?” Amriel’s voice breaks, rage rushing through the cracks. “I… Fuck, I’m coming for you. I’m coming. Just hold on.”
“No,” I choke out. A roar sounds close by, a song of violence and blood and death. “A minute. One more minute, and he’ll be here. Just stay away. Or you’ll both die.”
The wheel jerks to a stop. My chin smacks against my shoulder, pain sloshing inside my head all over again.
When I regain my bearings, the trolls jeer at me.
One swaggers close and jerks the knife from the wood.
His fetid breath blasts hot against my face as he drags his gaze down my body.
A meaty hand gropes at my breast, pinching hard enough to hurt.
I turn my head, struggling to rein in the wave of disgust that batters at my throat. The troll laughs and backs up, further this time.
“The pretty spins?” says the one manning the lever. “Or it holds still?”
The troll licks his teeth. “It holds still. This time, I’ll get it in the belly. Watch it spill.”
“Ooh,” says the one who voted for cutting my clothes off. “More holes.”
I cringe. Amriel must catch their exchange, because he roars. So does the Shadow. Dual howls hit me from two directions at once, merging into a broken war cry, so savage even the trolls pause to peer around. My mate’s fury echoes from the trees, the rocks, the sky.
A hoarse laugh fills my mouth. “Do you hear that? It means he’s coming for me. So if you want to live, you’d better run.”
The trolls exchange glances. Then erupt into laughter, one clutching at its round green belly. “It lies, too! Nice little nasty little lying little pretty!”
“Cut it,” suggests another. “That’ll make it stop.”
The one with the knife grins. He draws back his arm, takes aim.
Oh, goddess. The Shadow can’t be more than thirty seconds away now, but that won’t save me if this throw goes badly.
Time stretches, pulls thin. The knife sails from the troll’s stubby fingers. Metal flashes, end over end, and I know long before it arrives that it will hit me right in the eye.
I turn my head, seeking Amriel. I just want to see him one last time, one last—
But he isn’t there. Light flares, too much of it, blazing from my bracelet, exploding right in front of me.
The air splits with a resounding crack. Magic floods my senses, thick enough to taste, copper and ozone and winter berries, a scent I thought I’d never smell again.
Because Amriel is here. Standing between me and the knife, his whole body a shield.
For one frozen instant, I take him in—the slant of his shoulders, the hair framing his face, the blaze of those golden eyes. His smile. Goddess, his smile, with those dimples on full display.
Then the blade punches into his back with a wet, meaty pop.
And I scream.