Page 120 of Bloodguard

Knight barrels through the brush, kicking the guard’s falling body furiously away. There are burned patches on his skin that I’ll need to fix. But there’s no time to see to my friend.

My head pounds with what I need to do.

Make them bleed. Make them pay.

I grab Knight’s mane and swing my leg over his back. He takes off like a shooting star. We break from the dark forest, riding uphill and into the full sun.

Make them bleed. Make them pay.

I lift my sword and sever the head from the body of the first guard we encounter. He drops an armful of jewelry that belonged to my grandmother.

He was trying to hide it from the others.

But it’s not his to hide.

Make them bleed.

Knight races to the rear of the manor. I choke out a cry when I see estrellas lying dead.

They were scared. Why didn’t they run?

I think about how loyal estrellas are to those they consider family.

We’re their family. We’re their home. They didn’t want to leave us.

Ahead, a guard is stabbing Toso. I scream with heartache and hatred.

Toso hisses and snaps his sharp teeth, fighting back until his wounded body collapses.

The guard looks up, his eyes widening as he sees my blood-soaked sword. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he tells me.The feeling isn’t mutual.

No. He wants me alive so Soro can do it himself.

His hesitation costs him. I punch my sword through his skull.

Toso, my dearest Toso—so dedicated to protecting us, he took on an elf four times his size.

“Maeve!” Neela calls to me from the roof, a cast iron pan clutched tight in her hands. She doesn’t care about the raging fire eating through the house. She only cares about us.

“Maeve, they’re after you.” She looks the opposite way. “They’re coming, child.Run!”

She’s bleeding and covered in soot. Her anguish is thick in every word. I guide Knight with my knees to cut to the left, trying to make my way to the front, where I can help.

My stomach lurches as we pass the stables, the smell from a slew of tiny burning bodies curling me inward. All these babies, all these estrellas, hiding in the stables only to be burned alive.

Grief overwhelms me. I don’t see the cluster of guards rushing me from behind.

Father does.

I barely have time to lift my sword.

Swish.

Swish.

Swish.

Swish.

---