Page 26 of Crown of Flame

“I can’t be thinking about this monster like this,” I whisper. “I just needed him for his warmth.”

Cinis doesn’t stir. I do not think even the souls of the dead, which litter Prazh’s air, could wake him.

“You shouldn’t be feeling this way about a… a monster!”

I’m angry that he invaded my thoughts. That’s how I should be feeling. I don’t know why I allowed him to violate me like that.

It is still quiet outside, although when I open the door, a rush of burning cold air forces its way into the little dwelling.

Goosebumps flicker up across my skin and my eyes start watering from the cold immediately.

I know that there are dangerous creatures just beyond the walls of this dwelling.

I also know that I have a duty. I need to bury my friends so that I can keep taking the towers. Because in all those towers, there’s a good chance more of those unnatural experiments are being conducted.

I don’t know how I’m going to manage it, but I know that I’m not going to enlist the help of a monster to do it. Especially not one willing for the first opportunity to drop my guard so that he can have my way with me.

I only allow myself to let out a pained gasp when I have fully stepped out of the dwelling and wedged shut the stone door behind me.

A cloud of sparkling white air escapes my mouth, and I know then that I am way too underdressed for this weather.

I hope Arcanis never has a moment’s rest in his afterlife.

I grit my teeth as I struggle through the cold air. And it is not just cold. It is freezing in a way that reaches down one’s throat and crystalizes your lungs. It is the kind of cold that can freeze your fingers and make them fall off.

It is the kind of cold that kills.

I am tempted to turn back to the warmth of the dwelling. I almost want to run back to the unholy heat of Cinis’s body.

I make it to the edge of the forest, just a hair out from the towers, when I hear the rustle of something moving through the trees and undergrowth.

It isn’t loud, so I try to reassure myself that what I am hearing is the hustle and bustle of the small forest creatures that live on Prazh. I specifically avoided taking the same path so that I wouldn’t face the horrors of last night.

I try to keep my movements light and soft anyway because even the small forest creatures of Prazh can be deadly.

And then, in a moment, everything changes.

Not again.

The creature comes at me from the left, and knocks me to the ground, leaving me breathless. I lower my head to see its face and immediately regret it.

This time, I’m staring down at a human head with inhumanly large fangs, whose neck is contorted unnaturally onto a taura’s torso.

My head spins and my teeth chatter from the shock and the cold. Pain travels throughout my chest, as the beast’s sharp fangs clamp down around both my ankles and I am dragged through the forest.

I let out a shriek of pain and terror, as I reach for anything, a branch or bush, that I can hold onto.

But even if I could, the creature dragging me to my definite doom is much stronger than my thin arms. And I’m not able to pry the rusted, stained dagger from my belt, even if I could get close enough to hurt it.

I am not willing to give up though.

I have spent years training as a warrior and a liberator of prisoners, and I know I have the skills to survive.

If you’re very lucky.

Finally finding a strong and sturdy branch as pain radiates through my leg, I wield it against my foe, stunning it momentarily.

The creature’s eyes are wild and it looks almost bewildered. It has spent its entire life in a lab, and now it has escaped into the wilds of Prazh, where it will only survive if it becomes as bloodthirsty as the rest of the beings on this continent.