Page 117 of Vengeance Becomes Her

“Why am I alive?” She spat. Rage pulsed through her like liquid fire in her veins.

“Because you cannot die. I cannot die. And now, youbelong to me.”

“Fuck!” she screamed into the hollow air around her. It echoed back to her, distorted like someone had slashed a thousand knives through her throat.

“How disappointing. But you’ll learn in time. You’ll have to or I’ll find someone else who will.” The Volskruga threatened.

Rhiannon stood on shaky legs. She checked her arms, only dried blood and long bruise-like marks remained. She shuddered at the sight. Rhiannon was still trying to convince herself she wasn’t alive when she saw her friends in a crumpled heap in the snow.

Tristain was on his knees, arms tucked around Kyra and Samara. They all gaped at her. Fear. Shock. Anguish. Confusion. All those emotions and more flashed across their faces within seconds. Angersettled there.

“How could you!” Tristain yelled through choked sobs. He yelled at her for the first time, and she couldn’t blame him.

It was selfish of her to take comfortin that sound.

“For your first sacrifice, you will kill him.”

Her heart cracked in half at the Volskruga’s words. She shook her head unable to speak through her fear.

“I won’t.”

“You will,” it hissed. “You will or you will know suffering like you cannot even imagine.”

“This isn’t how this is supposed to work. This isn’t what we agreed to.” She dug her heels in.

“Our agreement broke when you tried to destroy everything.”

Rhiannon’s hand reached for her dagger without her permission. Panic flared to life within her. Her skin no longer fit. Her body wasn’t her own. Her mind spun out in disarray as she lost control.

One foot moved forward then the next.

“Rhiannon, what’s happening?” Kyra shouted in confusion. They couldn’t hear their internal struggle. They were only witnessing her erratic movements and grunts of exhaustion as she fought for control.

No. No. No. Her screams were useless, it swallowed them whole.

She grunted and struggled, using all of her willpower to stop what was happening to her, to them. She managed to force herself down to her knees as she fought for control againstthe Volskruga.

Her wolf whined, drawing her attention. Glowing green eyes had replaced its black ones.“Rhiannon, you can fight this.”The familiar tone of Delphine’s voice entered her mind.“Use the power it has relinquished against it. You share that power now. Do something about it.”

Rhiannon scrambled to make sense of the words, but she forced herself to focus. Her body jerking violently as she and the Volskruga fought for physical control of her form. She distanced herself for a moment, trying to find a thread of power to pull at. When she reached out, she found something much stronger.

She pushed herself to the limit to wrestle control away from the Volskruga. A scream tore from her throat that felt as if it had shattered her. The force of it should have turned her insides out.

Instead, thousands of drops of blood emerged from her body, hovering and gathering in the air. They pulled and pulled from her in a never-ending stream until they’d culminated in a thick red mist that blanketed the silent woods as far as theeye could see.

“Rhiannon?” Tristain’s voice was tense. “What is this?” His fingers ran through it. It remained undisturbed.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The Volskruga growled at her.

“I might not be able to get rid of you. But you underestimated me if you thought I was going to submit to you.”

“You’re no match for me.” Black shadows thrust from her in a violent cloud, meeting the red blood mist that had come from her moments ago.

But it didn’t overtake it. That gave her courage. She pulled for the power again and it responded much more violently this time. Her armor shattered from her chest in thousands of shards piercing the air and chasing away the Volskruga’sblack shadows.

She laughed. But she’d assumed victory too soon. Those shards flew back at her at a speed she couldn’t outrun. They burrowed deep within her skin, leaving jagged edges poking out like thorns. They pierced her arms from shoulder to fingertips, the blood trickled from all the points of entry, coating her in a thick film.

She watched in terror as it moved over her skin, up her arms, over her chest, then down her body. Her mouth opened in disbelief as her clothing faded away to nothingness and a dress of blood clung to her in its place.

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