Page 139 of A Reign of Roses
I called to him, scrambling for a discarded sword dusted in debris and nabbing it just in time to lodge it between the wide-open jaws of a hydra. The sword chipped into the enamel of its upper fangs. I fought to extricate the weapon, panting until we sprang apart. It lunged, and I swung the sword through the air once more.
This time my blade sliced clean through one writhing, hissing reptilian head, just as another carved the air toward my neck.
My lighte bloomed—
Sunfire engulfed the creature, sending agonized shrieks into the already deafening cacophony of violence around us.
Griffin landed beside me, and together—rippling steel and beastly claws—we shredded through the remaining four heads of the mercenary. Warm Fae blood splattered across my face and the fabric of my dress.
“Where’s Leigh? Where’s Mari?”
My power flowed from my limbs, halting creatures in traps and cages of shimmering white light long enough for swarms of Onyx soldiers to cut them down. Griffin shifted back into his human form, breathing labored, and unleashed a flash of glossy emerald energy that cut through something snarling behind me.
“Barney got the witch out,” he grunted, a sprawling translucent shield blocking a claw from my face. “I haven’t seen Leigh.”
I meant to tell him to go find her, but any words were lost in my throat as I beheld a snarling, cackling figure—
Octavia slithered in like an adder in tall grass. Blood soaked her leather corset and the dark blouse beneath it. Wiry gray hair twisted around her head.
She prowled toward a cowering girl, hidden beneath a pew.
Beth. It wasBeth—
Octavia’s mouth split in a reptilian smile. “So you’re the little seer…” she cooed. “If I rid you of those eyes, will you thank me?”
Hurtling over pews, I ran for her—
Only to see Leigh sprint from the opposite side of the temple. My lungs ceased to breathe as she barreled right toward a slithering scaled mercenary, oily green sheen, pink-hued teeth from all the viscera. The creature reared up on its hind legs and Leigh—
Plowed into him, deftly maneuvering her sword and slicing the thing clean through its heart. She leapt over its gurgling body and scrambled in front of Beth, bloodied sword outstretched at Octavia.
I moved faster, unable to think around the fear swelling in my heart. And the pride.
Octavia stalked forward, despite Leigh’s mighty slashes with her small blade. Her strides forced the two girls back against a wall already painted in gore.
And I was jumping over wood, dodging blows—
But not fast enough.
I wouldn’t get there in time. The witch unleashed a wretched cackle, lunging toward them, her white teeth sharper than razors as she grinned, magic spinning around her hands—
“NO!”
I threw myself toward them, my sister, her sword quivering—
In an instant, Griffin and I were both slammed backward by some tail, some wing, into the ancient temple organ, keys and wood and pipes bowing beneath us in a discordant, pained exhale. Agony exploded in my leg and side.
No, no, no, Leigh—
Scrambling to right myself, I could only see Griffin out of the corner of my eye as he took the feathered creature down in a mess ofjade lighte and bloody claws, but I was already up, ignoring some agony in my calf—
Be alive be alive be alive—
When my eyes found the wall Leigh and Beth had just been glued to—I didn’t see them.
Instead, I foundRyder.
Curled atop both girls.
