Page 129 of A Trial of the Heart

A rumbling sound echoed along another opening leading to the den.

“I don’t think you have much time left to recover.” My mate reached into his pocket and withdrew two black handkerchiefs, wrapping one around my head before securing his own.

“Stay alive,” he whispered, kissing my brow before turning around to combat the approaching threat.

“Dax! Don’t!” I couldn’t get the words out fast enough as silver flashed from the bottom of my blindfold, followed by hissing sounds from the basilisk and the clang of Daxton’s sword. The handkerchief he tied allowed me to see only portions of shadow along the ground but nothing higher than our ankles.

“That fucking stubborn male!” I cursed, hearing him engaging with the basilisk without me. I slung mybow over my shoulder and withdrew my long twin daggers in both hands. The commotion of their fight was only a few lengths ahead of me. I swallowed the aches in my bones and pushed myself to stand, racing into the fight.

Gods. I didn’t know where one part of the basilisk’s form ended and where the other began. From the vision Nyssa shared with me, I knew the main body resembled a ground-bound dragon, but it held a longer whip-like tail and a stretched neck that could turn around on itself and devour you in one savage gulp. I used my keen sense of smell and reached out through the mate bond to try and search for Daxton’s magic, feeling the chill of his ice to my left.

“Daxton!”I called out to him.

Immediately, his back was flush against mine as we readied ourselves to fight as one.

How sswweeet. I will have two tasssty treatssss.

We refused to answer as the serpent king slowly coiled around us, a predator stalking its prey. This prey, however, would not go down without a fight. The sound of its body slithering across the rocks gave me a good sense of this creature’s size and where best to strike.

“You hear the clicks?” Daxton whispered.

“Yes.” I knew those were the sounds of its talons clanking against the volcanic stone.

“Strike there first.”

I nodded, tilting my head back so he could feel my response. I sheathed one of my daggers in my belt and withdrew a slender short sword. Perfect for slicing flesh and bone.

“When it starts speaking again,” I told Daxton under my breath, “that’s when we attack.”

“How do you know it will?”

I smiled. “It’s a king all alone with no one to boast to about its greatness. He’ll start talking again before he strikes.”

Can you feel death looming? Can you hear the echo of riverssss from the great crosssssing where the Mother and Father are waiting? I’ll gladly help you reach them.

I moved first, with Daxton following my lead. We leaped away from the sound of its voice, attacking the beast’s hind legs, intending to slice them from the serpent king’s body.

Daxton teleported over the torso, and I could hear his sword, Valencia, slice through flesh and bone. The basilisk’s roar of pain shook the ground. I stumbled forward, managing to keep my balance with my sword drawn and ready to do my part. Black talons as long as my arm crunched into the jagged stone, and its body shifted, its attention drawn to Daxton’s side. I raised my sword and brought it down with as much force as I could muster, but my blade was not magical like Daxton’s.

Shit.

I managed to sever the tendons and muscles of the creature, black blood spraying all around me, but I couldn’t detach the limb completely.

Before the basilisk could turn its attention to me, it roared with pain once more, and I knew Daxton was on the attack, intentionally drawing its focus. Its body pivoted, and being blindfolded, I didn’t see the strike coming, but I sure as hell felt it.

Whack. The tail of the serpent king slammed into me, sending me flying across the den and colliding with the far wall on the other side. My armor took the brunt of the hit.

“Skylar!” Daxton yelled.

I lost one of my daggers along with the short sword, rolling down the jagged wall and collapsing onto my front. I tried pushing myself up and even contemplated crawling on my hands and knees to rejoin Daxton in our fight. Thankfully, one dagger was still strapped to me with my bow and quiver remaining in one piece.

I was disorientated. Having the wind knocked out of me after flying fifty feet across a cavern would easily do that to a person.Fuck, that hurt.The all too familiar taste of blood trickled from my mouth. I cringed as I moved my right leg, realizing I had a large gash slicing through my thigh. Thankfully, the wound was not from the basilisk. It was a gash from the jagged volcanic rock it threw me against.

The clang of Daxton’s sword echoed from across the way, and my heart dropped when I heard him scream. “Gahhh!”

Without thinking, I jumped to my feet and raced across the distance between us. The pain in my leg fell to a distant memory at my mate’s bellow of distress.

“Daxton!” I roared, charging ahead. I could make out the shadows of Daxton facing off against the head of the basilisk. “Watch out for its—” I tried to warn him, but I was too late.

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