Page 54 of The Serpent’s Shadow

The amber flecks in his eyes turned dark crimson.

And suddenly Grim Kollbjorn was on his hind legs, bellowing with a guttural roar that shook the bones of everyone fighting.

Magnus was flung off his back as Grim went on two legs, the bloodrender rolling to a stop a few feet away. He had to crawl to get away from the stomping bear, who had abruptly become unmanageable. Untethered.

Fuck, I thought, in a still moment of clarity.He’s lost it. Seeing me after so long has made him . . .

Grim’s earth-shattering roar brought all attention to him. A spear came in and thrust into his belly, marring the white fur red.

Grim snapped the spear in half like a twig, then clapped his paws together and flattened the Huscarl’s head and helmet. Swaying, the man dropped.

Another soldier came in, trying to bring down the monolithic bear shifter.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Magnus slicing into his own bicep with a knife. He carved himself up, drew his blood, and then the blue tattoos swirling along his body moved in cyclical motions and shimmered silver. He had suddenly become a coruscating devil, more than half his body lighting up like a bright ornament.

The bloodrender Shaped and coagulated his dripping blood into a swirling maelstrom. The red gore spun around him as he screamed, and when he charged at the Huscarls attacking Grim, he was wielding a sword made from blood itself.

Magnus swung the bloodsword and decapitated a Huscarl before she could get to Grim.

The bear swung, nearly colliding with a swerving Sven in his wolf form, and nailed another Huscarl.

Corym barged into the soldiers attacking our flank and moved like the wind itself, his silver blade a blur as he ruined his human foes.

Arne picked up a spear fallen on the ground, spun it, and moved to the crackling ice wall he’d created. With a flick of his wrist, a circle the size of a fist melted from the block, showing a grimacing face on the other side.

Arne stabbed the spear through the hole, through the man’s mouth and out the back of his neck. When he pulled the spear back through the wall, he Shaped again and reinforced the melted hole like it was a fucking pipe patch, leaving the other three Huscarls beating at the wall on the other side.

Grim moved in a flurry toward me.

Hesitating, awestruck, I watched as the giant bear charged, fighting off countless Huscarls and taking bloody hits at the same time, but ignoring all of them.

I saw a soldier coming in to skewer Grim from the side, unbeknownst to the bear.

I led the man with my eyes. Cocking back my arm, I launched my hatchet at the last second.

The axe flew through the air end-over-end and planted into the Huscarl’s shoulder, sending him flying onto his back with a grunt.

Magnus was over him a second later, dragging his bloodsword through the man’s body and displacing his torso from his legs.

I was gobsmacked at Magnus’ shimmering strength, as if he’d reinforced his blood into steel, crafting it into a formidable weapon of pure magic and life-force.

Grim shifted into his human form and didn’t get much smaller. Naked now, bleeding from half a dozen points across his skin, he bared his teeth at anyone next to him.

A Huscarl came in swinging an axe overhead.

Grim caught the smaller man’s blow by the wrist with flexing, veiny muscles, stopping the soldier cold. With the Huscarl’s eyes widening in fear, Grim lunged and tore into the man’s neck with his teeth—hishumanteeth.

He ripped out veins and a geyser of blood splashed across his face. He stole the man’s axe and kicked him away, then swung wildly with the huge two-handed weapon.

Arms, legs, and cock flailing, Grim created a wide berth of emptiness around him. No one wanted to get close to the maniacal berserker, lost for the first time I’d witnessed in his pure battle-rage.

All because of seeing me.

Magnus got near and Grim swung at him too, sending the bloodrender skittering back. Bloodsword or not, Grim was too fucking imposing to stand toe-to-toe with.

“Allies, bear!” Magnus shouted in a hoarse voice. “We’re allies!”

Grim heard nothing. I could imagine the only thing in his mind was the rampaging pulse of blood in his ears and a red curtain of death.

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