Page 64 of Cage of Darkness
Odar threw his knife. It narrowlymissed the assassin, bouncing off the wall behind him. Allyssatried running away, but Soma grabbed her shirt, yanking herbackward. She flew to the ground, pain rippling through her body,the wind knocked out of her. Odar dove for the assassin, the two ofthem grappling on the ground. Sucking in a gulp of air, she rolledover, getting to her hands and knees, noticing the hilt of theknife gleaming in the moonlight only a few feet away. Neither manlooked her way as she reached forward and seized theweapon.
The assassin let out a low growl,pinning Odar to the ground. Odar bucked his body, trying to throwhim off. Allyssa came up behind the assassin and slashed his backto get his attention.
“Whore!” he screamed as herotated to face her.
She lunged forward, plunging the knifeinto his stomach and twisting it for maximum damage. Odar grabbedSoma’s arms so he couldn’t remove the weapon. The assassin holleredin fury, blood coating the front of him.
“Hold him down,” she saidto Odar.
He shimmied out from under theassassin. “That was a fatal stab. We can go.”
“No. Not yet.” She kneltnext to Soma. “How many have you tortured? Killed? And forwhat?”
“You’ll get what’s comingto you.” Blood trickled out of the corner of Soma’smouth.
“You deserve to suffer foryour crimes.” She grabbed his arm, flattening his hand on thefloor.
“What are you doing?” Odarasked. “We need to go.”
She picked up her dropped knife. “Youdeserve to pay for what you did to Grevik.” She placed the knifeover his fingers.
“Allyssa,” Odarsaid.
Ignoring him, she lifted the weaponand brought it down, slicing off three of Soma’s fingers. Hescreamed, and she reveled in his pain. She brought the knife up inthe air again, her arm shaking.
“Someone must have heardthat,” Odar insisted. “Let’s go.” He wrapped his arms around her,pulling her away from the dying man.
“No!” she cried out. “Hedeserves to pay!”
“I know he does,” Odarsaid, his voice soothing, placating.
“Now who’s the assassin,Princess?” Soma said, blood gurgling from his mouth. His head fellto the side, the life draining from him. His chest heaved up anddown, then stopped.
“Is he dead?”
Odar placed two fingers on Soma’sneck. “Yes, he’s dead.”
Utter relief filled her, and shedropped the knife, her entire body shaking. She’d killedhim.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, unable tospeak.
“For a moment there, Ithought I was going to lose you. I’ve never been so scared.” Hekissed her cheek.
“He’s dead,” she confirmed,not wanting to look at his body.
“Yes.”
“He can’t hurt meagain.”
“He can’t hurt anyone everagain, thanks to you. Now, we need to get moving.”
She kept her focus on Odar, notwanting to see Shelene’s dead body sprawled on the bed. Thankfully,none of the sentries had stormed into the room when Somayelled.
“Can you walk on yourown?”
“Yes.” Her body felt likedeath, but the fear of discovery gave her strength to persevere.They entered the servants’ passageways again, heading back towardJana’s bedchamber. Shouts rang out, followed by the sound ofpounding footsteps.
