Chapter 32 Prince Sloth
THIRTY-TWO
Prince Sloth
ARE YOU HIT?”
My voice boomed across the woods, startling birds that had been roosting for the night. There was no need for us to be quiet; we’d been found.
I glanced over my shoulder, examining her swiftly.
She shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
I scented the air for any trace of her blood, but there wasn’t any.
It was that small fact that kept some semblance of my sanity in check.
Once I was certain she hadn’t been hit, I tore my attention from her. I wanted to scoop her up and bolt for cover. And that was not the best counterstrike.
If it was one of the horsemen who’d found us, they would pursue us easily.
This needed to end here, now. Even if I was seeing red and could barely think past the snarling beast that had emerged from within me.
My gaze swept over the dense undergrowth and shadows, searching for whoever had hurled the throwing star.
The wall of ice I was familiar with finally answered my call. It descended like an avalanche, calming the raging inferno instantly.
I rested my hand on the hilt of my dagger, my muscles tensed to strike.
When I found whoever was stupid enough to attack Lore in front of me, I would tear them apart piece by piece.
I closed my eyes and reached into the dwindling well of my powers, letting them flow through me like an unseen current.
My heightened senses stretched out, searching, until they brushed against the presence of our attacker.
A soft footfall sounded to my left, and instinct kicked in.
I pivoted, my arm whipping forward as I released my dagger.
It sliced through the air before embedding itself in flesh with a satisfying thwack.
Before he could even gasp in pain, I was on him, my fists pounding hard into his stomach, his ribs. Each hit was harder than the last.
I felt his bones break, but it wasn’t enough.
He doubled over, and I didn’t hesitate.
I jumped back and with a swift, brutal movement, I slammed my boot against the dagger still wedged in his gut, driving it in deeper.
“Fuck!” he shouted.
A dark, savage glee settled over me as he coughed up blood, stumbling backward with a look of fear and fury in his eyes.
He’d been close to hitting Lore.
Too close.
Rage reared up inside me again, far worse than when the dark book had been stoking my emotions in the temple.
I was close to becoming completely unhinged. I felt myself not just slipping but hurtling toward that seething pit of fury that lived inside me now.
Darkness beckoned, and I sank into its unforgiving embrace.
“What the fuck are you?” he rasped.
“Your darkest fucking nightmare.”
I clasped my hands behind my back to keep from tearing his head off his shoulders. I was not in control of my emotions anymore.
I fought against an animalistic need to attack until the threat was not simply obliterated but scattered across the woods in several bloody chunks.
I glanced to Lore. “Is this the formidable War you spoke of?”
His scent wasn’t the one from the tunic. Otherwise, he’d already be dead.
“Yes.” Lore nodded, wincing a little. “That’s him.”
I turned back to the horseman.
“It was foolish to attack my woman after your friends took her.” I stepped closer, my voice low. “You should have come for me first. And you shouldn’t have come alone.”
My hand shot out, grabbing the hilt of my dagger.
I twisted it as I wrenched it free.
For a second, I was reminded of when the Goddess of Night had done the same to me in my nightmare. It was the night Lore had almost died of hypothermia and the goddess had made me think it was her stabbing me.
I was becoming as monstrous as her dark book of power.
And when it came to Lore, I would become far worse to protect her.
In fact, I sensed that terrible power, but I could no longer tell if it heralded the arrival of the Liber Noctem or if it was my own darkness emerging.
“You’re lucky you missed.” I shoved a knuckle into the Fae’s wound, gouging it open further.
“Or else I would have ripped your intestines out and shoved them down your throat. And when the wolves finally found you, broken and weak, I would’ve made sure you were still conscious when they began feasting. ”
Blood spurted out, spilling down the front of his tunic, and splattered onto the mossy earth.
His teeth ground together, but he managed to not yell out as he staggered to the ground, falling to his knees.
His dark gaze burned with hatred.
I doubted it went as deep and dark as mine.
There was an abyss yawning wide, swallowing my sense of reason bit by bit. The Liber Noctem had grown more powerful, and it was urging me on, hungry for depravity. For once, the dark book and I were in perfect alignment.
“Wait. Don’t kill him.”
Lore’s voice leashed me.
I forced myself to take a step back, to not break any more of his bones, to remember why punching a hole through his chest wasn’t necessary.
The wound wouldn’t kill the bastard, but it should slow him down long enough for us to escape. I couldn’t seem to make myself move, though.
I’d incapacitated him, but the beast inside me demanded more. It would be so easy to shove my fist into his gut and eviscerate him.
My tattoo burned at the thought, seeming to crave his blood as much as I did. I drew my arm back, readying the strike that would see his heart wrenched out. I practically felt its dying beat in my palm now.
A gentle hand came down on my shoulder, stilling my movements.
“It’s okay, Blondie. I’m okay. I’m starting to think this test might be about mercy—”
A sudden whoosh caught our attention and in the next instant a volley of arrows rained down from the dense canopy above us.
I didn’t think, I acted.
I lunged toward Lore, wrapping my arms around her tightly, my body forming a protective shield as I knocked us to the ground.
The arrows struck with a sickening thud, piercing my skin as they embedded themselves deeply into my shoulders and the backs of both arms.
Iron points speared into me, and each shaft vibrated with the force of its impact, driving the arrowheads deeper.
A burning sensation spread rapidly from where the arrows struck, followed almost instantly by a cold, tingling numbness creeping through my veins.
Fucking poison.
I’d had enough of all the cursed venom, toxins, and now poison. Each one was slowly eroding my damned power, leaving me closer and closer to a mortal.
I gritted my teeth and waited a beat, listening for any sound of movement in the trees as I tried to banish the fire and ice lashing through me.
War laughed darkly from where he still bled out on the ground, and I regretted not cutting his head off.
“Death’s here and he’s in a pissy mood.”
I ignored the Fae, concentrating on where his friend might launch a strike from next. There was no rustle in the canopy above, no sounds of arrows being notched. Death was toying with us.
I counted off another few seconds, and when no other attack was launched, I shoved myself to my feet and hauled Lore up, placing her behind me.
I had to get the damned arrows out before I lost consciousness, but first we needed a secure location. If I went down, I wanted to know that Lore would have a safe place to wait until I healed.
I didn’t think I’d last long racing through the forest. I already felt the numbness spreading. Nor did I think I’d be able to cover our tracks well enough to avoid being hunted by the ruthless Fae.
Which left only one option.
“Will you try to shift stories?”
I glanced over my shoulder, my brows lifting in surprise.
Lore already had the phoenix tear in her palm, and she looked ready to enact vengeance of her own.
I turned to face her fully, sensing her churning emotions. “Lore? Stay with me. Will you get us out of here?”
“You’re hurt.”
“I’ll be fine, Peaches.”
“They’re coated in poison.”
I wasn’t sure how she knew that. None of the arrows had missed their mark.
“I’ll be fine,” I repeated, my tone soothing. “Let’s shift to a new book. Preferably one without pirates or Fae.”
She didn’t laugh.
Tension radiated from her, and her eyes burned with fury as her attention drifted from one arrow to the next.
I tried not to wince as the poison worked its way into my system.
Lore didn’t miss the slight tightening around my eyes.
I sensed her anger growing more volatile by the second; it was already white-hot and it hadn’t been fully stoked yet.
She inspected each wound, then flicked her attention to some point over my shoulder, and the fine hair on my body lifted. Not from the Fae who’d joined us—but from the forbidding, brutal expression on her face when her focus settled on him.
That look would put the wrath of the gods to shame.
I didn’t have to turn around to know the second horseman had arrived.
“You did this to him.”
Her anger was a blazing inferno, but her voice was cold, unfeeling.
I’d never heard that tone from her.
“If it makes you feel better, I was aiming for you.”
His low drawl didn’t hide the fear I sensed coming from him. He’d realized the same thing I had—the true threat wasn’t him and it certainly wasn’t me.
There was something far worse in these woods tonight.
And I was wholly captivated.
I kept my attention on Lore, sensing a chasm splitting inside her, growing wider the longer her anger simmered without an outlet.
She was a geyser ready to blow.
I released a small hiss as the next wave of ice moved through my veins.
Lore didn’t miss the barely audible sound, as if she was now attuned to the slightest shift in me.
Her gaze darkened, like a shadow passing over the sun.
“You shouldn’t have missed.”
She took a step toward him, attempting to veer around me, but I held my ground. Given the crackling energy pouring off her right now, she was more than capable of leveling him by herself, but I was struggling with my own instincts.
There seemed to be an innate understanding that passed between us—an unspoken acknowledgment of what the other needed.
Lore didn’t try to move past me again, but that didn’t make her less dangerous to our enemies.