Chapter 11
eleven
. . .
Zera
Zera stepped out into the dense forest, the humid air clinging to her skin as her fingers curled tighter around the handle of her hatchet.
She walked with careful steps, each one quiet but firm, her body attuned to every rustle, every shift in the wind. Her eyes flicked from shadow to shadow.
The soulmate bond thrummed in her chest. It felt as if she had tied a pulsing thread to the woman in that cave … the woman she would burn down worlds to protect.
When she arrived in the Rhea Kingdom, she had nothing to lose. Her existence was solely to protect King Vulcan and now Queen Kenna, but everything changed when she learned that Calla was her soulmate. Now she had everything to lose.
No one would harm Calla. Not her. Not her land. Not her kingdom. Not when they’d finally snapped the bond into place. She wouldn't allow her to feel the aching, soul-shattering emptiness of a broken mate bond, not after they had just found each other.
As she reached a cluster of ferns near the treeline, something tugged at her instincts. She paused and squinted.
There in the dirt were footprints. Not hers. And the foliage nearby was slashed through by something sharp.
She knelt, dragging her fingers across the markings. “Someone’s been here,” she murmured, her voice low and grim.
The rush of movement behind her was too fast. Pain exploded in her back as something slammed into her. She hit the ground hard, scraping her shoulder against stone, moss sticking to her skin.
Zera snarled and rolled, just in time to see a man, a Harmonian man with fiery red hair and hatred in his eyes, raising a weapon.
The machete with Calla’s name carved into the handle.
“You’re a dead man,” she spat, swinging her hatchet up to block his strike.
Metal clanged. Zera’s muscles burned as she ducked another blow and slammed her shoulder into his chest, knocking him back but not down.
“I won’t hesitate,” she growled. “You just sealed your fate.”
He roared and charged. Zera spun, but the moss underfoot was slick with morning dew. Her boot slipped. She cursed as she lost her balance and fell.
The hatchet tumbled from her hand.
Shit—
The man was on her in a flash. His fist cracked across her jaw, the force rattling her skull. She grunted, stunned.
Then came the pain.
The machete slashed across her shoulder, hot and deep. Zera cried out, twisting beneath him, blood already seeping down her arm.
Fuck. No. Not like this!
THWACK.
The sound was sickening. Final.
The Harmonian jerked, stiffened.
Zera blinked up at him as the life from his life left instantly.
She watched, wide-eyed, as her own hatchet embedded itself into the side of his skull.