Page 88 of Blood of Dragons
“Yes?” A howl of wind rushed through and blew the smoke away for a moment…and I saw it. The endless line of enormous orcs fighting elves a foot shorter. Their black armor was like the night, their eyes like drops of oil, their teeth ragged and sharp.
“Stay at my side. I’ll protect you.”
I pulled my gaze from the horror and looked at her.
“Aim for the neck—that’s where their armor is weak.”
“Okay.”
At that moment, an orc barreled down on us both—and Queen Eldinar moved like the wind. She sliced one blade across his throat then tripped him, slicing the other blade straight through his neck as he fell forward.
Another came at her a second later, and she made another flurry of blows, moving with a speed that a bulky orc couldn’t replicate. His body dropped to the ground on top of the first.
I watched her, utterly mesmerized.
“Calista!”
I ducked just in time, an orc swinging his blade at my head. “Shit.”
Queen Eldinar threw her sword and impaled him right in the face.
He staggered before he fell sideways and collapsed.
The queen placed her boot against his helmet then yanked the blade free.
Chaos and fire surrounded us, and I sputtered out the first words that came to mind. “I hope Ezra is okay.”
“He’s a mighty warrior, Calista. I know he lives.”
“You do?”
“Yes—I feel his soul.”
“What does that mean?”
She didn’t answer because another orc came down upon her. She spun both of her blades and struck him down, felling a beast far taller and bigger than her. Black blood squirted across her pretty face, and she wiped it away with her forearm.
I turned at the right time, seeing an orc rush me.
I screamed before my sword moved on its own, the brief training Talon had given me kicking in. I sliced my sword across his neck before I ducked, missing his blade by inches, and then ducking before his massive arm could strike me.
I wasn’t fast enough and took a hard hit to the head.
My body hit the ground, and for a brief second, the world went black. Terror rushed me an instant later, and I forced myself up, but a massive leg pushed down on me, keeping me stuck to the ground. He applied more weight, like he was trying to make my spine shatter in half.
I screamed as the pain broke me, and he laughed at my misery.
“No.” A voice I’d recognize anywhere came to me through the smoke and the screams. “Not this one.”
I felt the foot leave my back, and I immediately turned over, needing to know that I hadn’t just heard what I’d thought I heard, that my mind had never been more wrong. Propped up on my elbows, I looked at the gray armor that covered the muscular physique—and then I looked up to see his face.
His blue eyes locked on mine for a second that felt like a lifetime. They were still possessive and cruel, unhinged and corrupt. The intensity in his gaze faded as the sneer moved across his lips—the most disgusting one I’d ever seen. “I’ve missed you, sweetheart.”
Flashbacks flooded my mind, all those horrible nights, the chains around my wrists, the bruises on my face that the other slaves never asked about because they already knew, the times when he didn’t feed me because I refused to cooperate. It’d been the worst year of my life, and now he wanted to take me back. “No…”
“Yes.” His smile widened, like he thoroughly enjoyed this, my terror as well as the sound of the dying as they screamed around me, as the forest shrieked in agony as it was assaulted with fire. It was a nightmare, but to him, it was a fucking dream.
I crawled backward, trying to get away from him, looking for Queen Eldinar because she was the only one who had the strength to defeat him, but she was nowhere to be found.