Page 90 of A Promise of Peridot

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More power, more lighte, billowed from my palms, my forearms, and filtered out into the clearing.

Rain slammed against my face—

My power slashing, cutting, suffocating.

My dagger sliding into man after man, artery after artery, limb after limb—

Arwen, heaving with the force of her sword, backing up behind me for protection.

More lighte.

More blood—

Until—

At least three dozen men, two groaning in agony, lay at my feet on the wet forest floor. It was still drizzling through the trees above, and I wiped my brow of both rain and sweat. One last bandit circled Arwen, his bow outstretched toward her.

I prowled forward, ready to end this foul night.

“I can handle him myself,” she bit out, eyes still on the bandit.

“Clearly,” I said, gesturing to the men that littered the ground. “But I’d be honored to take care of it for you.” I shot a feral glare at the bandit, who backed up a single step.

Arwen raised her sword, and I sighed.

The rustle in the bushes sent all three of us whirling.

Relief sang in my veins. Mari, in her nightgown, dusted with thelight rain, and Griffin close behind her, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

Arwen sighed. “Thank the Stones—”

The whistle of an arrow flashed through the clearing—

And struck Mari in the chest.

No—

My heart seized as she fell to the ground like a stone through water.

27

arwen

I didn’t recognize the noise that bleated from me.

A howl? A sob?

Panic had turned my voice to acrid ash.

Not Mari, please, no—

Not after Mother.

I tore for her, slumped and inert in the mud and leaves—

Feathers unfurled above me, and a lionlike snarl told me Griffin was shifting overhead, his limbs snapping and stretching, legs becoming the great, muscled hinds of a lion and ending in gnarled talons. The mighty beating of a plumed wingspan that nearly touched the trees on either side of the glade was only silenced by thatroar—

The roar of a punishing predator.

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