Chapter 2
Two
Autumn’s heart accelerated as she desperately searched for an escape. Wind whipped through her hair as an ice storm pelted against her frozen skin. She squinted, trying to better understand her surroundings.
With shattered ribs and diminished energy, she could barely stand. Her eyelids weighed with sickness and exhaustion.
The sunburst tiara gifted to her by the former empress on her wedding day cut against her scalp. Warm blood trickled down her ears. Her teeth chattered in her skull. She’d never been so freezing cold and miserable in her entire life.
As she surveyed the area, weighing her options, Valdez kicked her square between the shoulder blades. She stumbled face-first into the snow, wind knocked from her deflated lungs.
The white-out blizzard poured snow up to her knees, soaking her go-go booted feet to the bone. Armienti struggled to stand. His crimson cape lashed through the elements.
“Please, you don’t have to do this. We can split the realm fifty-fifty like we agreed. We can join forces,” hopefulness flooded through his voice.
Valdez folded her bare toned arms. “Split the realm with a weakling like you? Ha! I think not,” she chuckled, along with her spiky winged entourage. “You’re pathetic and useless. You’ve proved to me you can’t be trusted. You betrayed your own family. Shame, shame.” She waved a long taloned finger in his face accusatorily.
“I can’t believe you betrayed Dante. How selfish and stupid can you be to trust her?” Autumn said in a low gruff voice.
They were going to die.
Valdez cocked her head to the side. Her blue eyes gleamed like two beacons in the storm. Autumn was sure it wasn’t her imagination. Moments ago, Valdez was an entire foot shorter. Suddenly, her jade arms and legs bulked out with pulsating veins.
“You’re wasting your breath,” her voice deepened. “You’re down to four more minutes. I’m counting every second. I can’t wait to decorate the snow with your blood.”
Sheer terror numbed Autumn to the core. As she ran, her heeled boots stuck to the snow and slush. Wind thrashed against her frozen cheeks, and bitter tears streamed from her eyes. She sprinted in slow motion, too weak to take flight.
Armienti zipped by her. She fell to her knees catching her breath. Her fists clutched the snow and ice.
“What on Earth are you doing?” Armienti’s voice echoed through the elements. “We have to get out of here before she transforms. She’ll kill us both.”
“I don’t think I can.”
She laid on her side and stared at the oncoming snow as the flakes buried her alive. Her life had been one big disappointment after the next. It figured she was going to be murdered by a raging alien empress witch on some ice planet she’d never heard of.
It was the story of her life.
A few years ago, she would’ve thought, what are the odds? But now, she knew more than she ever dreamed of. She’d never see her dad or Dante again. It was all Armienti’s fault.
Traitor.
In that moment, Autumn heard a loud whooshing sound as a spinning object flew through the air and landed beside her with an icy thud. She gasped at the pale decapitated head of one of Valdez’s soldiers. The snow became soaked with his thick black blood and sinew. Holy crap.
The ground boomed and shook like an earthquake. When she turned around, a twelve-foot-tall monster with lumpy jade skin and a long slobbering tongue pursued them. Valdez’s eyes grew wide and petrified in her skull. The veins in her neck protruded while her stacked muscles flexed. She closed her eyes and prepared to meet a painful end.
“Come on, Autumn. You’re better than this.”
Armienti grabbed her and took flight, racing against the oncoming storm. Autumn tucked her head against his chest. Behind them, Valdez jumped and soared into the air in hot pursuit.
Armienti glanced over his shoulder. “She’s gaining on us.”
Valdez swiped her long talons and knocked Armienti down from the sky. Autumn screamed as she went flying from his arms. Falling snow tumbled against her body at a rapid pace.
“Freeze,” Valdez’s low deep inhuman voice echoed through the storm.
Autumn froze mid-air, struggling to move. She was far too weak to put up a fight.
Valdez circled her, chuckling, then balled her fist and whaled her in the spine. Autumn’s eyes widened as her bones crunched and ligaments separated. She bit back a scream.
Valdez snickered. “I love the sound of your bones shattering.”
Snow poured from the sky. Autumn could barely see through the whiteout. Every breath she took twisted like a knife through her lungs.
“There’s a certain look people get before they die. A mix of desperation and hopelessness. You’re making that look right now, Autumn Martyne. How I’ve wished for this moment for the longest.”
Valdez choked and her eyes bulged as Armienti came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her throat.
“Why you little—” She thrashed her talons at him. “You just made a fatal error, fallen emperor. Are you ready so soon to join your Empress?”
Fallen emperor, Autumn narrowed her eyes with what little energy she could muster. She couldn’t believe the trouble Armienti had gotten them into.
Armienti cupped his palms against Valdez’s eyes, and she shrieked. Shrill screams echoed through the snow-filled valley.
Valdez spun around in circles. “I’m blind, you blinded me!” she whimpered, body thrashing. When she opened her eyes, they were coated with a thick layer of ice.
Armienti grabbed Autumn and slung her over his shoulder. She faded fast as he took flight.
“Where are we going?” Autumn asked hoarsely, nodding off. He patted her frozen cheek, rousing her.
“You have to stay awake. Don’t fall asleep on me. We need to find somewhere to hide. It’s only a matter of time until her vision returns.”
“But how?”
“I can generate snow and ice in addition to healing. A far less desired ability but occasionally it comes in handy,” he winked.
Armienti flew through the pounding wet snow.
As he descended, he crept into a cavern, peeking over the bank.
She shuddered, closing her eyes. Her heart slowed. A cool relaxation consumed her. Bright lights danced across her vision, before she fell into the darkness.