He stabbed at one of the remaining male soldiers repeatedly but didn’t kill him. He knelt close, arms and torso painted red, as the man writhed and screamed beneath him.
He didn’t stop.
I watched him mutilate the man with disinterest.
We were unraveling.
Being separated from Arabella was like taking a bullet to the skull. After a lifetime we’d spent searching for her, she wasn’t allowed to leave us.
If we didn’t find her soon, the ungodly would seem tame in comparison to what we’d do, because the sun god himself couldn’t save the realms from us.
“We’ve checked the entire room. We don’t know where the fuck she can be!” Corvus bellowed with frustration to the twins.
All five of us looked around desperately as we fought.
Even with her clad in black from head to toe, we would recognize Arabella because her long legs and lean muscle definition were uniquely hers. No other woman compared.
She was our Revered.
Our soul.
We’d recognize her with our eyes closed and ears covered.
One of the twins pointed at the hole in the wall. “Is she out in the hall?”
I shook my head. “We looked and didn’t see her.” I stomped on the exoskeleton of an ungodly and wished this stupid compound didn’t have so many hidden rooms and corridors.
Scorpius abruptly stood up straight and buried his dagger in the heart of his victim. He didn’t bother to kill the ungodly that sprang from the corpse; instead, he whirled around and stalked toward the far corner of the room.
I killed the ungodly as the four of us followed him.
When he got to the corner of the room, Scorpius pushed his ear up against the brick wall beside the broken paintings.
We waited.
“I can hear her breathing!” he yelled over the fighting. “There must be a different corridor along the perimeter of this side of the room. I think we should—”
Corvus slammed his fists through the bricks, and debris fell from the ceiling as he pummeled through the wall with nothing but brute strength and rage. He slammed his body forward.
The wall exploded, and he stumbled into a dimly lit hall.
We followed.
Scorpius shoved past him and stilled with his mask-covered head cocked to the side as he listened.
We all heard a scream.
Corvus exploded with unbelievable speed, and the rest of us followed close behind.
Up ahead, he turned into a room.
A few seconds later, we followed him inside.
A dozen infected clustered in the corner, hiding, and an enchanted sword pointed toward us, dripping red.
I stilled.
Inhaled.
The copper scent was underlaid with something familiar, an icy scent tinged with power and death. It tasted like adrenaline on my tongue.
It was Arabella’s blood.
I opened my mouth to scream as cherry blossoms floated in the air around me. Before I could unleash my voice, the room’s inhabitants exploded in red flames.
If I weren’t shaking with fear and rage, I would have been amazed that Corvus had unleashed so much fire outside of our powers being activated.
There wasn’t time to think.
Ungodly shrieked as they ripped from the flaming corpses, and we launched forward as a group, slaughtering them.
There was movement in my peripheral vision, and my heart stopped beating.
I ran toward the figure.
Crouching low, I screamed as I applied pressure to Arabella’s sliced-open abdomen.
No. No. No.
The original plan was not to leave the compound until the last ungodly was slaughtered.
My Ignis lifted Arabella in his arms and sprinted down the halls, faster than he’d ever moved, as if death himself chased us.
We broke protocol and followed behind him.
The battle was almost won anyway.
Our footsteps were thunderous as we sprinted as a group.
Our Revered was our priority.
Finally, we stumbled out of the compound, back into the darkness of the night, and we were in the courtyard.
Fairy lights twinkled in the trees.
Corvus passed Arabella’s limp form into my arms, then he gently pulled off her hood.
I pressed a kiss to her icy forehead and cradled her against my chest as I prayed to the sun god.
The others surrounded us.
Blood and gore stained the dusting of snow beneath our feet, then melted into a mess.
Bells tinkled.
Snowflakes drifted softly around us and kissed Arabella’s unnaturally pale cheeks.
Corvus ripped off his hood, and his eyes were on fire.
He leaned close so his harsh bronze features were inches from hers, then he snarled harshly, “I’m going to kill you for this.”