Page 106 of Brutal Birthright

What the fuck? Was someone else here, too?

Goosebumps trickled down the back of Ri’s neck. Her body immediately reacted to the presence of whoever was approaching them through the fog.

Vanya had clutched onto her shoulder, just as much of a trembling mess and barely able to stand. Her body weight sagged against Ri’s, and she saw there was blood pooling on the ground below the shifter’s boot. She must have been badly wounded somewhere on her thigh. The girl was haemorrhaging a river of blood.

The two could only stand there as the footsteps drew closer and closer. A faint outline of a figure moved towards them, and the mist seemed to billow and part as the dark shape of shoulders and a head began to grow clearer.

“Oh, thank the Stars, it’s you.”

Ri blinked once, twice. Unsure whether this was the poison at work or truly… really… could she even trust her own mind right now?

“Why are you here?” She somehow formed words. Looking at the serene face of the witch she’d talked to all those times and never found out her name. “You… you aren’t supposed to be here.”

Panic suddenly took hold. How was Ri supposed to extract all three of them safely? This witch belonged in the library; she wasn’t a fighter. And Vanya looked like she was about to pass out at any moment.

Then, the witch rolled her lips together and a strange expression came over her face.

“It’s always the same. You’re not supposed to be here.” She walked forward and cupped Ri’s face in her hands. “For once, I’m exactly where I am supposed to be.”

And the shift happened in an instant. Instead of the young witch she recognised, the face before her morphed and changed. She still looked the same, but now it was like her hundreds of years of life had suddenly flown into her aura. Power surged through the air around them with a crackling hiss, and an ancient darkness took the place of the gentle eyes of the girl Ri had spoken with.

This was a witch of dark power like she’d never encountered before. It seethed in the air, and the crackling, chattering noise now echoed louder. As if it was part of the very mist they had become surrounded and cloaked within.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ri shoved her hands away, and the witch—or sorceress perhaps—allowed her hands to fall but didn’t step back.

“All in good time… all in good time…” She mused, almost talking to herself as her red-painted lips pursed.

Fuck this. Shoving the limp body of Vanya to the ground, she lunged with her blades outstretched. Maybe this was all part of the test. Maybe…

But in an instant, her body was locked in place. Both blades clattered to the dirt, and excruciating pain lanced straight up her spine. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

The last thing she saw as the witch stepped towards her was a black swirling cloud of dagger-like shards thundering towards them and wrapping both her and the witch inside a violent, frenzied storm.

Then, the world dropped out from beneath her feet.

Chapter 33

Rowan paced a line in the dirt. Over and over.

It had been too fucking long.

The others had all completed the tasks—even the most pathetic weaklings within the class—and exited the forest in half the time that had spanned since Oriana entered the forest. Now it was almost dark and she hadn’t returned and he was about to start swinging a sword.

She was the best of all of them. This didn’t make sense, and as much as he wanted to race in there and go looking for her, there was something holding him back. Because what if she wasn’t in trouble and had just struggled to complete all the required obstacles?

It was quite possible the girl would never forgive him if he tried to swoop in and fix her problems for her.

That feisty, stubborn streak in her was too strong for her own bloody good.

But that was what he…

Rowan rubbed at his chest with the heel of his palm. He didn’t know what it was or what it made him feel. This sensation taking hold of his rib cage with clutching hands and threatening to tear the entire thing straight through his chest was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.

“You’re either going to grind your teeth to dust or wear the tread off those boots.” Finnic eyed him carefully. “Or maybe you’re going to hack at my neck with your sword. I’m not entirely sure, blade-slinger.”

He glared at him with a look that hopefully detailed exactly how he would slice his head from his shoulders if the man didn’t keep quiet.

In that second, a hint of movement caught his eye. The mist had descended low over the forest but still only clung to the edges of the treeline, and a figure moved out from the long shadows of the pines.

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