Page 71 of New World

His voice took on a feverish edge, his words flowing like poetry.

“Then your legs. I could simply break them, but that would be too kind.” His forked tongue flicked out. “No, I will carve away the flesh first, slowly, methodically, until all that remains is raw bone.” His breath hitched. “I wonder, will you crawl to him? Even with nothing left?”

He let the silence stretch, basking in the image of her broken body reaching for the lifeless shell of Dorane.

Zoak smiled wider.

“And then—ah, your face.” His eyes gleamed as he tilted his head in the other direction. “It is almost a shame, but I find that people look so much more honest when their skin is peeled away.” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “I will make sure you see it, every inch, before I take your eyes last.”

His fingers drummed against the table, a slow, expectant rhythm. Mei stared back at him, her lips twitching, her expression mocking and bored. She exhaled through her nose, slow, even. Then she tilted her head slightly, as if… thinking.

A beat passed and Zoak’s smile faltered.

Mei waved a dismissive hand, her lips pursed in mild irritation as she gave a slight shake of her head.

“You should really work on your delivery. It is very long-winded and boring.”

Zoak blinked at her response. A frown darkened his face. Mei decided seeing emotions on a lizard was more fascinating than his droning about the demise of herself and her friends.

Tiv and Yi are insectoid creatures and they are very expressive once you get to know them, she reminded herself. Still, they are insectoids, not lizards.

Mei shook her head again as she pulled back from her musing. Now was not the time to debate alien emotional responses. She let out a long, exaggerated sigh, shifting slightly in her seat.

“I understand what you were going for. The whole ‘I will tear you apart’ speech.” She gestured vaguely. “It was very dramatic. Very… drawn out. Somewhat creatively detailed, though a little repetitive and would be very time-consuming, not to mention messy.”

Zoak’s jaw twitched. She needed to know what would shake him to the point he would lose control. She needed to see how he fought. If given a chance, she would prefer not to do it in a crowded bar where innocent bystanders could be hurt. Hopefully, if he wanted to fight, they could take it outside.

Sitting back in her chair, she pressed what she hoped would be a button that would trigger the response she wanted—his loss of control.

Let’s see how an insult to his ego works.

“If you’re going to monologue, at least try to make it short and interesting. You’re just not that original and are trying way too hard,” she murmured, her eyes glinting with amusement.

Almost there, she thought when his nostrils flared.

“Do you always talk this much? Or are you just lonely? You should just get to the point,” she recommended. “It would save us both time.”

The corner of Zoak’s eye twitched. Mei was ready when he moved. She had reached his breaking point.

The flash of steel was fast—a knife flying straight for her chest.

Mei tilted back in her chair, the blade whistling past her, impaling into the wooden support beam behind her.

Zoak snarled and went for another.

Mei twisted the chair, shifting her weight with a smooth pivot, and he slammed his second knife into the leg of her chair instead of her body. Before he could react, she angled the chair, spinning the embedded blade out of his grip.

A hush fell over the bar.

Zoak’s sudden burst of violence had drawn unwanted attention. A few of the patrons began subtly shifting toward the exits.

Zoak’s lip curled. Mei could see that he wanted to kill her now. His gaze swept over the crowd. He didn’t understand why she was so confident. If this could be a trap.

Instead, he flipped the table.

Mei moved. She flowed like water; her cloak swirling as she twisted in an elegant dancer’s move, avoiding the crashing wood with ease. It was obvious Zoak was infuriated beyond rational thought by now. The colors of his skin were changing in a hue of reds and darker tans. He lunged, but she was faster.

She snapped her cloak outward and the flick of the material hit his face, forcing him to recoil just enough for her to slide out of reach.

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