Chapter 18 #2
Her eyes widened slightly, but her lips remained thin. “She’s not here.”
“Where is she?”
The woman tilted her head to the side, arms folded across her chest. “She’s with the king.”
My stomach dropped to the ground. So the woman we’d encountered with the rotten apples had been correct.
Matthias grimaced, a muscle ticking in his jaw. My chest went tight. “King Sinfonia?” he asked.
I wanted to block my ears. To shut out the words that I feared the woman would say. My heart spluttered in my chest, already dreading her answer.
A short, sharp, cruel laugh rang through the cacophony of sound in the brothel. She shook her head, eyes gleaming. “How do you not know who sits the throne?”
I answered before Matthias could, forcing a shrug, keeping my voice even. “We’re new here.”
“Well,” she leaned forwards, voice dropping low, “the king goes by the name Snake.”
The word hit like a blade sliding between my ribs.
Snake.
Ringing sounded in my ears, and the sides of my vision blurred. The thud of my heart was so vigorous that I instinctively reached for it, my hand splaying across my chest.
How? How was he still alive?
I killed him with an arrow on the battlefield a year ago.
Of all the monsters in Oscuro, why did it have to be him?
Matthias gripped my shoulder, gently tugging me backwards until we stood outside the brothel under the blanket of night. Both of us just stared at each other like we didn't believe what we’d just heard.
I could feel my heart rate rising. Heat washed over me in thick waves as panic set in. “No,” I muttered, shaking my head. “No, that’s not possible. I killed him. I buried an arrow in his chest—watched him fall.” My voice cracked, too loud in the narrow street. “He died, Matthias.”
Matthias’s firm hand clamped around my arm again, hauling me into a shadowed alley, away from the watching eyes and expressionless music that floated out of The Painted Lady. “You have to get it together. Someone could be listening.”
I tried to drag air into my lungs, but it scraped like glass down my throat. Snake. Alive. On the throne. My grip trembled on the hilt of my blade, useless against the memory of a corpse that should have stayed buried.
In the dark, Matthias’s usually calm demeanour rippled with anger.
With fists clenched and jaw tight, he paced the alleyway.
“If that piece of shi—” He stopped himself, eyes flicking towards the street.
“I mean, that piece of work sitting on the throne—what has he done with my father? Not that I truly care about him either.”
“When the rumours spoke of a new king, never did I ever imagine it to be Snake,” I muttered, spitting the words onto the ground like they were poison.
The sound of boots pounding on stone brought my attention to the end of the street.
Five Thorns lined the alley's mouth, their outstretched torches deepening the shadows around their pinched brows and curled lips as they blocked the only way out.
I closed my eyes, taking in a breath. Matthias shifted up beside me.
“Looks like trouble found us,” he said with a scowl.
I shook my head, teeth clenched tight. “Perfect time to let out some of the rage I’ve been harbouring.”
Matthias chuckled, and we both readied ourselves from the onslaught that was about to descend upon us.
The leader stalked down the street, his wispy brown hair falling across his creased forehead. “You two,” he barked. “Word is you seem like you don’t belong here.”
My hand flexed by my thigh. I was itching to reach for the dagger I had concealed there. If things were going to get messy I wouldn’t hesitate to draw blood. I’d promised my sister I’d bring Matthias home . . . and myself.
Matthias took a step forwards, chest puffed and fists clenched. “I suggest you move along before you hurt yourselves.”
The male laughed out loud, ugly and sarcastic. “Watch me put you in the ground.”
I looked at Matthias, and he offered me a grin.
Chaos erupted after that. Steel flashed, wings slammed into stone.
A Thorn flew at me, his chin catching on my elbow, snapping his head backwards.
With a twist, my boot connected with his chest, sending him flying into the side of a building.
His bones crunched against the brick, then he slumped down the wall in a broken heap.
Matthias moved like the fighter he’d trained his whole life to be, fists and elbows breaking noses and ribs. It was all violence and brutal force and it needed to end before more Thorns showed up.
One ran at me from the side. I leaped out the way, his blade skimming the skin at my throat—not deep enough to wound, but sharp enough to sting.
With a grunt, he rounded on me, the silver of his blade catching the scant light of the fallen torches.
I threw out my arm, knocking the side of his face with the hilt of my dagger.
I heard the sickening crack of bones in his jaw, the impact forcing his eyes to the back of his skull.
He fell to the ground with a muted thud just as Matthias dropped the last Thorn.
My chest heaved, dragging in breath. “That was close.”
Matthias stood there, hands on his hips, also finding his breath. We’d barely had a moment before more boots sounded down the street.
“We need to go,” he hissed.
I flicked my gaze to him, a slight smirk dancing on my lips. “What’s a few more?”
Matthias chuckled low. “Adalia would have our hides.”
Before I could answer, his hand clamped hard around my forearm. The world ripped sideways—air tearing, and bones stretching as we winnowed out of Oscuro.