Page 11 of The Princesses of Ruin
She glances over. “Plotting?”
“Yes.”
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t scare me.”
“You have no idea what hells you have unleashed,” I murmur, turning back to my books.
I’m going to get that old woman good.
Chapter five
Alastair
Red clouds my vision as I tear over the dark rooftops after my prey. My wings beat heavily, promising pain with every snap of the leather against the frigid air. I smell his fear, following it like a hunting hound.
“He’s close,” Lily shouts from my back to overcome the whistling wind. “Left.”
I bank hard and feel her weight shift between my shoulder blades as she accommodates, leaning into the turn. He’s in my sight now, the putrid worm, running down the lane toward the old Bull’s gambling house-turned-refuge for the displaced.
Lily’s thighs grasp my sides harder as she lets go of my neck. I feel the magic coursing through her, a powerful surge of heat across my back. One of the stones in front of the fleeing fool juts out, tripping him.
I descend fast, slamming to the ground behind him. He screams and tries to scramble away on hands and knees. I grab his ankle and pull him from the ground with a deep snarl. He pulls a dagger from his waistband and slashes my thigh, but the blade can’t penetrate my scales.
I grab his wrist and squeeze until it pops. The quiet of early morning is shattered by his screams, and the blade clatters to the stones. His pants turn a darker shade at the crotch.
Lily hops off my back and circles around to the bandit.
“What did the princess say to the thief?” she asks with a broad grin.
I don’t much care for the way she plays with the fools we hunt, but it always brings a smile to her face. A smile I’ve sorely missed for weeks. A little play is worth a glimpse of that devious gleam in her eyes.
“I swear I didn’t do nothin’!” he screams, piss trailing up his chest and dripping off his greasy hair.
Lily twists her fingers and his body goes rigid. She grabs his right arm and turns his hand, revealing the brand of her discharged rune-ward on his palm in blazing green light.
She tsks. “And you didn’t even try to answer my riddle. No fun.”
“Please, Princess Liliana, I would never,” he grunts out through clenched teeth. “I swear I didn’t.”
“Youdidn’t? Or didn’t know you’d be caught?” she asks as she riffles through his dropped bag. “How did you even get into the Nest?”
“I didn’t!” he screams.
I give his ankle a solid shake, breaking the hold of Lily’s petrification. “Answer your princess with honesty and we might spare your life.”
He devolves into deep sobs but says nothing as Lily roots for the pilfered goods.
“Found it!” she exclaims, holding up the book. The hellish rune scribed on the front of it makes my scalp itch, so I look away, staring instead at the thief.
“Ashai, save me!” he screams at the tome like the dark goddess might hear him through it. Maybe she can.
“Plop him on his head; just a quick bonk to knock him unconscious for Zane,” Lily says.
I drop my arm and his scream is cut short by his skull hitting the stones. She picks up the thief’s bag and puts the book back in it before looping the strap over her shoulder. She turns to me, her face flushed and eyes lusty.
She shimmies her shoulders. “Good work, monster co—”
“Lily,” I growl, my demonic voice making her shiver.
