Page 51 of Touch the Stars
The lights floated closer to her point of contact, and a sense of relief and welcome washed over her, as if all those little sparks of light were glad to see her.A breath later, they went berserk, darting in all directions, pinging off the inside of the crystal.She lowered her hand and gave them a puzzled frown.What had set them off?
Something large and hard closed around the back of her neck, then jerked her upward until she hung midair.A strangledeepescaped her.
“I will bathe the Empire’s Heart with your blood,my heir.”Rocky snarled the words next to her ear.
Oh, fuck.
She’d let herself get distracted and now he’d caught up with her.His blunt fingers dug into her neck muscles harder, sending spikes of pain into her head, shoulders, and back.Then he turned her far enough to see him sidelong from her left eye.His borehole-like nostrils were inches from her cheek.
“Living blood is so much sweeter than dead, anyway.”He grinned, and snapped his sharp teeth together with a clack.
A small whimper slipped out of her.This was it.She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening.A dark gray fluttering in her peripheral vision drew her gaze to the emperor’s armpit.Baatar wasn’t kidding.Ragatiansdidhave their hearts under their arms.
How unfair that the gross-looking organ would go on beating after he killed her.Like she’d never mattered.Thrown away and forgotten, the way she and Kris had been by anyone who had ever tossed them back into the system.
What?Am I giving up, too?
Determination grounded her in the moment as the hiss of each of her breaths through her teeth filled the clearing.As long as she was breathing, there was a chance.
“Go.To.Fucking.Hell.”
A growl rumbled from his chest, and his red eyes glowed with what looked like lust.Had to be bloodlust, because there was no way he’d be into her likethat.
What was he focusing on now?Her neck?Rocky wiped his black tongue over his lips, then bared his teeth.Shit, was he going to rip her throat open from her birthmark?
She slipped her right hand into her pocket and closed her fingers around the slim shadak.It was now or never.She raised her left hand, gripped Rocky’s upper arm for leverage, then swung the shadak upward into his armpit with all the force she could muster.The utensil sank into the emperor’s underarm.
Squelch!
Fuck, that sounded gross.
A roar of anguish and fury filled the air, then she was falling.The impact of her ass on the ground jarred her spine.Thatworked?How?She ran her tongue over her teeth.All of them seemed to still be in their sockets.
Rocky staggered back a few steps and tucked his secondary hand under his top right arm.Gray, chalky fluid dribbled in a thin ribbon down his side.His blood, maybe?
He yanked the shadak free, then flung it into the bushes.“I will rip your throat open.”
Well, fuck.As if this day didn’t suck enough, now the asshole was refusing to die.She scrabbled backward but he followed her, lurching like Frankenstein’s monster.Then he stumbled to his knees and grabbed her ankle.
She raised her other foot and slammed it into his face—once, twice, three times.His grip slipped just enough for her to scramble to her feet.
Fuck this shit.
She grasped the crystal between her hands, hefted it over her head, then swung it down onto his head with all her strength.
BOOM!
The stone splintered into a cloud of glittering shards and dust.Firefly-bright lights swirled free, then buzzed like angry bees around the emperor’s head.
“Kaitlyn!”Baatar burst into the clearing, looking every bit the crazy alien barbarian she knew and loved.
Another man followed right behind him—tall, like Baatar, but blond with golden skin.Then both of them froze, their expressions horrorstricken.
“No.”The blond man whispered the word as he fell to his knees.
Some of the fairy lights zoomed into Rocky’s mouth, nose and ears, while the others left little black subcutaneous burn marks over his face and skull.
“Kill…her.”The emperor reached for her ankle again, apparently still determined to end her.
