Page 67 of A Kiss of Embers
She reached for her necklace and felt the warmth burn against her skin as she called to her brother.Eben, I need a distraction. Now!
We are still trying to subdue Zephyr and his men.
She clenched her fist around the necklace.This is not a request from your sister but an order from your queen.
A pause. And then,Consider it done.
Seraphina stood upright and stepped out of the foliage behind the tree. She spread her wings wide to draw attention to herself. Across the distance between her and Bastien, his eyes shot open when he caught a glimpse of her, and he rapidly shook his head just as the hangman stepped up to the platform and placed his hand on the lever.
The next few moments happened quickly, but they also felt like a lifetime.
Seraphina lifted her blow gun to her mouth and shot a hallucinogen toward the hangman. The dart embedded in his throat. The man screamed and dropped to the ground, writhing as he faced whatever nightmares lay within his mind. Another man rushed up the stairs faster than she could reload her weapon and pulled the lever.
The trapdoor beneath Bastien’s feet gave way. His body dropped. But a half second before the rope could snap his neck, it was severed by a well-aimed arrow.
Bastien disappeared beneath the scaffolding as he fell. Screams erupted around her as heads whirred in her direction. But she only managed a smirk as her hands lit up in flames. The fire climbed up her arms, her shoulders, and bathed her wings in a magnificent, magical blaze.
At best, Seraphina had hoped for a negotiation. At worst? To be fighting every member of the village. Luckily for her, half the village ran. The other half trained their weapons on her.
No woman or child would die today if she had a say in the matter. But she also had herself and Bastien to think of. These people had betrayed him. They had thrown his meaty carcass to the dogs without stopping to consider the consequences of their actions.
Arrows whizzed in her direction faster than she could blink. But not quite fast enough.
She snapped her wings closed and dodged two arrows, drawing upon the ancient magic coursing through her blood. Her senses sharpened until she heard every rustle, noticed even the smallest movement, and tasted the very tension in the air.
She heard thetwangof an arrow before it whistled toward her, giving her just enough time to twist to the side and dodge the attack. It lodged into the tree behind her.
With her wings still blazing at her back, she rushed forward with nearly inhuman speed, pulled her knife out of the sheath filled with hallucinogen poison, and stabbed the archer in a barely inconsequential place in the gut.
Leaning close to his ear, she whispered, “Sweet dreams,” before she pulled her knife back out and pushed him by the shoulders. He stumbled backward, and before he crashed to the ground, the nightmares hit him as his eyes glazed over with terror.
More than anything, she wanted to utilize her deadlier poisons. But she had no idea who these people were nor their relationship with Bastien. If she could spare him pain, she would.
Despite the power flooding through her, there were still too many opponents circling her, drawing in closer with their bows and their spears and their daggers. Short of blasting each of them with a wall of fire, she was thoroughly trapped.
And she loved it.
She laughed at their audacity to face the Ember Queen in combat as she dove in and out of thrusting spears like a ritual dance to welcome in the blood moon at the start of each new year. There were spears then, too, but the ends were blunted rather than sharp and dangerous. Still, it would be no different than dressing in her blood moon outfit and dancing without a care in the world.
One of the spears thrust toward her, and she grabbed it by the handle and lit it on fire. The man on the other end screamed as his sleeves caught fire. He dropped and rolled across the ground to put them out.
She ducked beneath the swipe of a blade, moved in closer, and stabbed the woman in the leg. Immediately, the woman screamed and fell to the ground as she held her hands above her head to ward off an unseen threat.
Two down. Twelve dozen more to go.
But she didn’t need to defeat all of them. She only needed to fight long enough to save Bastien.
Tree roots shot out of the ground, taking her by surprise as they attempted to grab her. But one blast of her fire had them retreating like a well-trained dog fleeing at the sight of a predator.
As she twirled and fought and felled her opponents, she caught sight of Bastien beneath the scaffolding, desperately trying to cut his rope restraints with a nail jutting out from the structure. Her heart soared when Ashryn leaped from the boughs above and landed gracefully before him. With one slash of her knife, the woman freed his wrists, and next, his gag.
Seraphina stabbed another man in the shoulder, sending him into a wheezing panic attack as he curled into a fetal position. Between the distance separating her and Bastien, they locked eyes. Horror filled his expression. But she only grinned.
Run, she mouthed.
Never,he mouthed back just as she heard a blade whizzing toward her from behind. She ducked beneath the attack, and the man in front of her ended up getting slashed across the face.
Unexpectedly, Ashryn and Bastien took up positions behind the group. Instead of abandoning her to fight on her own, they fought beside her against their own people.
