Page 76 of Lich's Mate

“Don’t!” he spits, tightening his grip on Meera. “This is your final warning.”

“Kavian!” Meera cries, digging her nails into his hands.

Desperation spills out from her expression, mixing with fear in a dreadful concoction that rids her face of the happiness it deserves to wear every day.

“Fuck,” I whisper, my lips trembling with uncertainty.

Meera’s eyes dart sideways, widening as if spotting someone she recognizes.

“Korval!” she calls out. “Help me!”

The next moment slows the passing of time, each second feels like a minute. I shoot my glare to where she looks, confused when I notice Korval is nowhere to be seen. Gorran follows her line of sight too, his eyes vigilant for any sign of movement from the gardens.

That’s when I realize she hasn’t seen Korval at all. She has merely created a distraction, creating the opening I so desperately needed to close the distance between Gorran and myself. I have only a split second before the xaphan catches on.

But a split second is all I need.

My shadow powers propel me forward, I shoot like an arrow from a bow, moving faster than ever before. I hurl a black cloud of shade into the xaphan’s eyes that sends him reeling backward.

The moment Meera is released from his relentless grip, I pounce like a predator claiming his prey. In a heartbeat, I’m on top of him, one hand trying to gouge out an eye, the other trying to choke him.

“Fucker!” he screams, grabbing my wrist.

He pulls me down and uses the momentum of descent to hoist himself over me. Now he’s on top, raining down blow after blow. Most of them miss, but the ones that land hurt like nothing else I’ve ever taken. The xaphan is a strong bastard.

I blindly reach for his neck, pulling him down and butting his head with so much force that we both roll away, stunned and disoriented.

It feels as though someone is shaking my head, my line of sight can’t stay still. In my haziness, I spot a familiar face in Meera, though her outline is blurred.

“Get back to the mansion!” I yell as my vision returns to normal. Glancing over my shoulder, Gorran is getting back to his feet. With reaffirmed desperation, I repeat my order. “Now Meera!”

“But I can help! Let me fight!”

“Get the fuck back to the mansion!”

She spins on her heels and breaks off. I turn around to face my foe.

In the back of my mind, the voice of doubt tells me I could have done it with the extra help.

But I have to fight or die trying. Each of us unsheathes our swords. Twirling the hilt in my hands, I charge, rolling beneath him as he swings like a madman.

He turns in the nick of time, our blades clashing as we do battle. Each attack is precise and deadly, designed to take him out in a single blow. I come close every time, but his defense is unmatched, and his attacks are even fiercer than mine.

I duck as his sword speeds towards me, feeling it graze the tip of my horn. Had it been my head, it’d have been rolling across the ground.

Our swords collide, the battle becoming a test of strength as we push into one another. I’m so close to him that I can smell the reek of his determination to kill me.

“You should never have fucked with me,” he snarls, spitting foamy bubbles onto my face.

“You’ll pay for everything you’ve done to Meera, and for every human you’ve wronged, you conniving?—”

A mighty headbutt sends me back, blood spraying out from my nose like a fountain. I raise my sword but Gorran knocks it out of my grip. He hits me again, this time on the side of my skull with the hilt of his sword.

The overwhelming force of his kick whisks the wind from my lungs. I tumble back, my knees buckling. Another kick sends me rolling backward.

Gorran grips me by the throat, unleashing fist after fist that bloodies my bruised face. I’m on my knees, raising my hands but it’s no use. I can barely see, my vision once again blurred from the cruelty of Gorran’s blows.

He knees my chest. I barely have time to breathe before he continues his rampage.

---