Page 167 of Bloodguard

“Tut, go on. My job is easy.”

He grunts and stomps toward Aurora’s cage, kicking up dirt and ash with every step, his fingers gripping the handle of his double-headed axe the size of my torso.

I untie the replacement sword and slip out of my skirt, revealing the breeches I wear underneath. Stars, it’s wretched in here. I hoped losing a layer would help, but Aurora is far too powerful, her body generating heat like a burning star. At least if my fears are realized and Tut is not true, I won’t be hindered by heavy fabric as I make my escape.

I strike out again when Tut is far enough ahead of me. Aurora isn’t out, but her nest has grown in the days since I was down here last. I can already see it, and I’m not yet to the top of the incline.

Thankfully, the nest is still. Good. My biggest fear was that we’d find her preening herself and then she’d pelt us with fireballs and swallow us whole.

I’m not exaggerating, based on our last encounter.

Tut, being Tut, is making a lot of noise as he scurries from side to side, trying to locate an unlocking mechanism. I look up at the stalactites stained to a dark, dull purple. Mercifully, they’re not currently dripping blood onto the composite of ashen soil and long-decaying bones upon which I stand.

But the same won’t be said tomorrow.

“There’s no lock,” Tut grunts. He glares at me accusingly, as if I’m somehow responsible. “There’s only one way to get her through.”

I feel my body tense as Tut bellows a cloud of steam from his nose, speckling his face with condensation. He looks at the heap of ash covering Aurora, far out of his reach beyond the bars, and then back to me, eyes narrowing. Oh, and he lookspissedabout it.

Chills race down my spine despite the heat. “You plan to kill her, don’t you?”

Tut straightens, his full attention on me now—just how a murderer might look at his next victim. The moment he does, I leap onto Queen Avianna of Iamond, and I climb.

I pretend not to notice Tut pushing away from the gate, trying to keep my voice light so he does not suspectmeof suspectinghim. “It’d be easier to get her out, and yes, she’ll be more portable, but that won’t make you any better than my grandmother.”

My full attention stays on Tut as I swap out the swords. But Tut is a general—stronger than me—without a speck of reason left behind those beady black eyes. I was right. He never planned to set her free.

He was a sniveling traitor all along.

“You’re the one who’s no better than your damn grandmother,” he says.

Ah. It’s going to be like that…

Tut marches toward me, raising his axe. “Like her, you ruin everything for everyone.”

Fuck this.

I hold my grandfather’s sword in my right hand, snatch my grandmother’s in my left, and flip, landing in a crouch with both blades out.

Tut stops dead.

As he should.

Slowly, his leathery features tighten, and his eyes latch onto mine and stay there. “I’m getting her out tonight. Whatever it takes, I’m doing it.”

“You said you were only coming down here to prepare for Aurora’s release. You never said anything about taking her tonight,” I say to keep him talking until I can come up with a way out of this.

“Killing her is the only way,” he snarls, his thick tongue sliding over his tusks. “But I need fresh meat to call her forth.”

Fresh meatmeaning me. That’s why he agreed to bring me here.

The damn nerve.

I twirl my swords to loosen my wrists. “Then I suggest you cut off a leg and toss it into her nest, because you willnotbe touching me.”

The bottom lip of his protruding mouth slaps up and down like he’s tasting me on Aurora’s behalf. I don’t know what it is about this bird, but it seems like everyone obsessed with her eventually goes mad.

“Say you succeed in killing me.” I narrow my eyes. “Not that you will, as I will kindly feed you your right testicle the moment you think to try.”

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