Page 75 of A Sky of Storms
Their numbers were dwindling, and though we’d lost a few people, we had the advantage. “Press the attack,” I shouted to the others. “Force them back!”
Kayden boomed a laugh, cracking his knuckles and rolling his neck as he strolled forward, smiling like this was the best day ever. The guy really needed a better hobby.
Ace jogged forward and lunged mid-air, embedding two knives into a dude’s chest and slamming his back into the ground. He really was a brutal bastard. I swallowed, eyeing off the tattoos on his arms as his muscles flexed as well as the ass that jumpsuit fit like a glove.
“Eyes on the prize, Starfish,” Zane said with a shit-eating-grin. I snarled, ducking a swipe at my neck and thrusting my sword into a Potential’s chest.
The other enemy Potentials yelped and I smiled at them, letting my inner bitch come to the surface as we approached. “Yield, or become part of the furniture,” I said, nodding to the deadly wall of spears behind them. “It’s your choice.”
They dropped their weapons quickly, holding their hands in the air. Zane and Kayden walked forward, kicking the backs of their knees so they fell to the ground with a thud.
I looked ahead to find the fighting was nearly over, and the knots in my stomach eased as I saw Kendra barking orders at the others and rounding up prisoners. She saw me and jogged over.
“We won,” I breathed, running a hand through my braid.
“Of course we did, Starfish,” Zane said triumphantly. “We snared them in our net and filleted those foolish fish.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as he pressed a quick kiss to my lips then whooped loudly, running along the hill to the cheers of other Potentials. It wouldn’t surprise me if he stripped and decide to run naked again, not that I’d complain. The last time had given me much to ponder over.
I bit my lip, shoving that enticing image away as I scanned the grounds. Zane might be ready to celebrate, but a sick feeling in my gut told me something wasn’t right. I looked over the heads of both our people and prisoners alike as I stormed across the grass, beginning to fear the worst.
“What’s up your ass, Princess?” Ace said from where he leaned against the stone arch.
“Not that you give a shit, but Victoria isn’t here.” I sheathed my sword, putting my hands on my hips and trying not to let him see how worried I was. “Why would she send her army and not join the fight?”
He shrugged, his grey eyes raking over me, making me feel naked. “Isn’t that what you Augers do? Make everyone else do the hard work while you watch from on high?”
“You’re right, I had a great time watching everyone else defend our camp just now,” I scoffed. “Clearly you don’t know the first thing about Victoria. She wouldn’t miss this. She revels in a fight and enjoys watching people suffer. Something’s not right.”
Zane caught my eye, his brow bunching as he trotted over, dragging Kayden along with him. “What is it, Starfish?”
“Victoria isn’t here.” I frowned. “Did we lose many people?”
“A few,” Kendra replied. “But they lost more.”
“Where’s Noah?” Ace asked suddenly, pushing off the wall. “Have you seen him?”
Dread pooled in my stomach as I realised what was wrong. “She took him. Godsdammit, she fucking took him while we were fighting. We played right into her trap.”
Kayden folded his arms, his brown eyes sharpening. “What would she want with Noah?”
“She knows,” Kendra said, her lips twisting. “She must know he’s been spying on her. Maybe the guy she was meeting got in contact with her, or maybe Noah wasn’t as stealthy as he’d thought.”
“Oh gods.” I looked between the three guys and Kendra as guilt speared through my chest. “We need to get him back. Victoria is ruthless, there’s no telling what she’ll do to get information out of him.”
Kayden huffed. “If that psycho woman has him, he’s as good as dead.”
My heart sank as I thought of my sister sinking her claws into Noah. She would torture him for pleasure, and then she would have her cronies dump his body and she’d wipe her hands of him. This was so much worse than I’d realised. Rigging the trials and smuggling in goods was one thing, but whatever Victoria was up to was clearly much bigger than the Terrulian Trials if she felt the need to silence anyone on her trail.
I couldn’t let my sister get away with it. I felt responsible for the actions of my family and I wouldn’t let them hurt Noah.
“Well, good luck with that,” Ace muttered, his face carefully blank as he turned to walk away.
“Are you kidding me?” I gaped after him. “You’re not helping? I thought you two were friends.”
He shrugged. “Noah’s a good guy, but I’m not about to go making friendship bracelets with him. This is a competition, Princess. There are no friends, only enemies. The sooner you realise that the better off you’ll be.”
“You fucking—”
