Page 34 of A Dawn Of Blood

I step away from the soldiers and watch the Elevator start slowly rising from the ground.

This is what I’ve been waiting for. This is the reason I’m here in the first place, not in the capital, not in Nasgard, not anywhere else. My body tenses, my eyes narrowing.

It will be interesting to see her.

But when the Elevator finally stops and she steps out of it, she only pauses for one brief moment. Then, seemingly losing her composure at the sight of the army before her, she starts running.

How disappointing.

I calculate for a second, then signal to Koenig that I’ll be going after her on my own.

It’s into the forest that she darts. I go after her, kicking off the ground and spreading my wings, all my attention on her movements down below.

She’s fast, but I’m faster.

It doesn’t take me long to catch her, landing with her body under my arm.

It’s as soon as I do that my eyebrows pull down. There’s something odd about her.

I turn her around, my eyes widening.

It’s not her. It’s just some magical decoy. Sophisticated, but a decoy nevertheless.

I keep standing for a second longer, then turn around and kick off the ground again with the decoy still under my arm.

As soon as I land back in camp, I go straight over to Fritz, my main informant. I pin him in place with my eyes and throw the decoy before his feet. I’m no less calm than I normally am, but when I say, “I’ve been led to believe the Resistance didn’t have this kind of magic.”

Realizing what’s happened, he shits his pants. For a moment, he just keeps looking at me, cogs visibly turning frantically in his head. “Yes, well,” he starts muttering, “apparently they do, I—”

I let out a sigh. Then I take my sword out and swing it at him, killing him with a single stroke.

It’s the worst thing to be in this world. Weak, useless.

My attention gets drawn by another sound coming from the Elevator.

I turn to see it rising again.

What they send out this time is a doll with black wings, its chest bare and the skin branded with the Aurora’s symbol.

Is that supposed to beme?

Is it supposed to insult me?

I let out a scoff, but then I just keep looking at it, unable to tear my eyes away, my breathing turning shallow, my teeth gritting and my fingers twitching around the hilt of the sword.

“Do you want us to breach the walls, General?” Koenig’s voice snaps me out of it.

Quickly, I collect myself. “No. She’s set a trap, so we’ll be waiting, right where we are.”

Chapter 24

Iwouldn’t even be able to recall the first time I heard about Nasgard. That’s how long ago it must have been.

Ever since it was built, hundreds of years ago, it’s been used to scare little Originals into obedience.

The inescapable prison, the one that served as inspiration to Dante as he wrote about the nine circles of hell.

And now I’m staring straight at it, waiting for Nuala’s signal, the goal being infiltrating the prison without alerting the guards of our presence.

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