Chapter 46 Serena
SERENA
Rage floods through me at the very sight of him.
He charges at me, his fiery hair blending in with the surrounding flames. I have no weapons on me, which means this will be a fight of fists and magic.
Fine by me.
In the split second it takes to scramble off the floor, Mal tackles me back through a wall.
I groan at the impact as he lands on top of me.
He’s strong and heavy, pinning my arms above my head and trapping me between his legs.
Searing pain radiates through my dislocated shoulder as he reaches for the blood ore chains at his side.
“NO!” I screech, writhing against him.
I manage to wedge my knee between us and slam it into his groin.
His reaction gives me all of two seconds to get out from under him and on my feet.
Icy fingers wrap around my ankle, and then I’m flopping onto the ground face-first. Mal ropes my hair around his fist, wrenching me a few inches off the floor.
“You should have stayed dead,” he whispers in my ear.
Then he kicks me in the ribs so hard they crack.
I roll onto my back, gasping through the sharp pain.
He bends toward me as my fingers close around a splintered plank of wood.
I swing with all my strength, whacking him in the face with it.
The rusted nail jutting from the scrap roots in his cheek as gravity takes him down over a busted chair.
I ignore my pain, throwing my leg over his hips to punch his face with my good hand. Once. Twice. Three times as blood sprays from his nose and mouth. Just when I think I’ve got the upper hand, he grips my wrists, yanks me forward, and headbutts me so hard I see stars.
Blackblood! Furi’s shout adds to my already pounding headache.
Mal flips me on my back and slams my head into the floorboards, making me groan. Then he does it again. Crack after sickening crack, my skull thuds against the floor until I’m nauseous.
Everything blurs.
Then Zadyn is there, gripping Mal by the throat and lifting him off the ground.
Mal gives a haunting smile as his lightning shoots out to shock Zadyn.
He falls back, seizing. I scramble toward him, fighting through the intense dizziness.
The heavy smoke adds to the assault, making it hard to breathe, hard to stay awake, let alone put up a fight.
Mal darts for me again, and I flip onto my back, landing a hard kick to his face.
His nose gives a satisfying crunch.
“I thought people could use some help telling you and Max apart,” I goad.
Blood gushes from his nostrils as he straightens. Without flinching, he pops the bone back into alignment. I shudder, throwing myself over Zadyn.
“Wake up,” I beg as he comes to. But not quick enough.
Mal grabs me around the waist and pries me off the ground. I shriek and claw like a wild beast, but his grip is unrelenting.
I can’t be powerless again. I can’t go back there. I can’t.
The panic latches on with razored teeth, but as my adrenaline pumps harder, my fingers start to prickle.
My magic is there, gathering—coiling. I dig my nails into the door frame as Mal tries to get me past the threshold.
The flames around us shrink and grow faint.
The smoke starts to clear. And I realize I’m absorbing the fire.
The flames are bowing.
To me.
I release the door frame to clamp down on Mal’s arm, hurling all the gathered heat into my touch.
He roars, releasing me, and as I turn, he goes up in flames.
But he’s not done with me. And I’m not done with him.
He hurls out a bolt of lightning. My hand comes up to stop it midair and redirect it toward him. He blasts through the gaping doorway and hits the ground, seized by his own power.
I wave a hand, and the flames disappear from his body. He glares up at me, his teeth chattering with the electric shocks. If he could move, I’d be a dead woman. But now he’s got a taste of his own medicine.
“This is for Kai, you piece of shit.” I dig my fingers into the fresh burns on his neck. He cries out, his eyes clenching shut.
That taste of anguish has me hungry for more. I ignore my screaming shoulder as my hands lock around his throat and squeeze, my mind recalling every time he hit Kai, burned him, branded him, every rock that was thrown, every cry, every tear, every scream—
“Serena!” Zadyn tugs at me. “Stop, you’ll kill him.”
“I know,” I growl, some demon taking hold of my body and refusing to let go as Mal’s life slips away. He’s turning the most wonderful shade of purple.
Just as his eyes start to drift closed, Zadyn hauls me off him.
“What are you doing?! I had him! I had him!” I shriek, thrashing against him. He drops me onto the scorched grass a few feet away, beside the little girl’s unconscious father.
“Trust me, revenge doesn’t always taste as sweet as you think it will.”
“Daddy!” The little blonde head bobs toward us, throwing herself on top of her father.
“He deserves to die!” I snarl at Zadyn, still bloodthirsty as hell.
“And I promise you he will. But not like this. Killing him now would be a mercy. One he doesn’t deserve.”
I glower at Mal in his semi-conscious state as Zadyn checks the pulse of the girl’s father. My star buzzes out of the building, popping back into the locket before Zadyn can see.
He turns to me, panting, as I clutch my searing shoulder. With zero warning, he takes hold of my arm and yanks it into place. I scream before the pain dissipates.
“Where else are you hurt?” he rasps.
“My ribs.” I wince, dragging his hand to the tender spot just beneath my breast. He holds me close, warmth emanating through my thin nightgown as he repairs my bones. “And I probably have ten concussions.”
“He’s going to pay for this,” Zadyn promises, his voice quiet. Our eyes link. “But I’m going to make him suffer before he does. And I want to take my sweet time.”
His thumb skims up and down my ribs, barely brushing the underside of my breast.
“Better?”
I nod as we continue to stare at each other. A loud gasp snags our attention as the male beside us springs upright, gasping.
“She’s here!”
Our heads whip toward the cluster of golden soldiers spilling around the corner. Furi lets out a battle cry somewhere behind us. I don’t see where she is before Zadyn grabs my hand, and we sprint into the tall brush.
All I can hear is the sound of rustling reeds and my own pounding heart. Something whizzes past my head. I turn to Zadyn in time to see the arrow rip through his sleeve, taking a slice of flesh with it.
“Fuck,” he curses.
“Are you—” I don’t get to finish my sentence before another arrow lodges itself in my lower back. My knees buckle as I cry out.
“Hold onto me.” Without even pausing, Zadyn scoops me into his arms and rips the arrow out in one smooth motion. He curls himself around me as he runs, shielding me from the onslaught of arrows the best he can.
The pain in my back is intense. I’m not healing.
Furi? I ask in a panic. But her answer doesn’t come.
Blood ore arrows.
A flash of blue fire illuminates the sky, reassuring me that she’s okay.
Zadyn barrels on until we take our final step through the grass and plummet over the cliff’s surprise edge. I cling to him for dear life, burying my face in his neck. He doesn’t let me go as we fall toward the rocky surf below.
If this is how we die, at least it will be to—
Freezing black water sucks us under, and the world bleeds into slow motion.
For a moment, it’s utter calm. Until we break the surface and are hit with a wall of angry waves.
I struggle to stay afloat, blinking up at the massive ship looming beside us, its name sprawled in bold, curving letters between wooden carvings of merfolk and sea creatures.
The Maid of Mercy.
Zadyn grabs me and swims us toward the rope ladder slung over its side. He climbs the worn out fibers with my body wrapped around his until someone reaches out to haul us onto the deck. We fall to the floorboards, panting.
As soon as my head lifts toward our savior, a blunt object connects with my skull, and I hit the deck face first.