Page 76 of Savage Crown

A knife.

The world narrows to survival.

I lunge for the nearest weapon, fingers closing around the edge of a candleholder on the nightstand.

The attacker moves first. Fast. Precise.

I duck, twisting, but the blade slices into my arm.

A hot, wet bloom of pain.

I bite back a cry.

No time. No hesitation.

I swing the candleholder.

Crack.

It collides with bone, and the attacker stumbles back, snarling.

A voice—low, sharp, male. Not Lartina.

But hers. Lartina is the one that sent this assassin. I’m sure of it.

This is her hand. Her reach. Her plan.

I bolt for the door.

Another figure emerges from the shadows.

Two of them.

One grabs me by the waist, yanking me back.

I slam my head backward, hitting something solid.

A grunt. A stagger.

I twist, kicking wildly, viciously.

I don’t fight to win.

I fight to survive.

One of them grabs my wrist, twisting it behind my back.

A sharp flare of pain.

His breath is hot against my ear.

“You’re coming with us. Alive.”

Alive.

Lartina knows.

She knows I’m the key.

---