Page 127 of Monsters in Love

While his men screamed in pain in the square below, while they fell beneath claws and flames, the Captain of Windhaven’s Guard simply shrugged his golden-clad shoulders. “Why should I care, when I got what I wanted?”

“Not any more,” she spat. “You’re finished. Talos will—”

“Your beast won’t win, Belle,” Jaston said. “It took me one battle in the badlands—one!—to realize nothing can stand against the spreading dark. Nothing can defeat the bishop. The mandemaggael is a fearsome creature. But if you work with it? Ah, Belle. That’s where the true rewards are to be found.”

She stared at him in horror.

“You killed my father,” she gasped. “All those people. Formoney?”

“And power.” He shrugged again and paced slowly toward her. “They challenged me. They got what they deserved.”

He feels nothing.

Gods.

She was going to be sick all over the ledge.

The bishop might be a monster in his true form, but Jaston, for all he remained human, might be worse. He’d willingly consigned his men and all the people of Windhaven—all the people who trusted him—to this hell.

Her lip curled with disgust.

If anyone deserved to feel the sharp sting of justice, it was him. “You deserve to burn in—”

“Rawrrrrr.” Talos roared from above.

She spun around in time to see her lover and the bishop tumble through the sky above. They turned in the air, locked in a vicious struggle. A mass of leathery wings and teeth and claws. Her heart lurched, but they were out of sight before she could so much as cry out.

“See, Belle.” Jaston closed the distance. “It’s only a matter of time until your creature falls.”

“No.” She retreated to the far side of the ledge.

Back flat against the stone column that ran from the side of the front doors all the way to the top of the belfry, she searched for a weapon. A way out. Anything to stay safe until Talos could come back for her.

Gods damn it, there was nothing here.

But if she could get around the column to the next portion of the tower, she might be able to find something—or at least keep herself away from Jaston. Her gaze latched onto the carved ridge jutting out from the column. If she held tight to the dragon scales, she could climb around to the next ledge.

No time to hesitate.

With a final, panicked look at Jaston, she jumped up and took hold of the stone protrusions shaped like a dragon’s spines. Her slippered toes barely fit on the ridge, but she made it work.

“Don’t be stupid, Belle!” Jaston yelled. “You’ll never make it.”

She scrambled around the curve.

The sound of armor scraping across stone told her Jaston was pursuing her. She tried to move faster, yet fingers tugged on her skirts. Her feet slipped on the narrow ridge.

“Ah!” She lost purchase, and her legs dangled over the square as she gripped the carved dragons for dear life. “Talos!”

“Belle!” Talos dove for her from above. “Hold on—”

A wail sliced the air, and the bishop slammed into him, driving him away from her. Sending them both spiraling toward the square. Talos roared, but he couldn’t break away and she lost sight of them past the stone before her nose.

Her love wasn’t going to catch her.

Not this time.

Kicking off her slippers, she held tight to the carving and used her bare feet to find purchase. With her toes able to grip the shallow pattern of the stone tower, she managed to scramble back onto the ridge.

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