Page 79 of Wicked Enemy
“And now, we’re making a new one.” His blue eyes were cold as ice as he held my stare. “You killed three of my best fighters, including my cousin. In exchange, you will hand over three of your top people for me to kill.Thenwe will be even.”
The faces of Shinji, Tyler, and Chris flashed before my eyes, and I blurted out, “No.”
“Either give me your three best fighters, or I will continue to slaughter your people indiscriminately.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Come now, Arden, don’t be stupid. You must understand the situation you’re in, right?” His gaze hardened. “If you go with option one, only three of your people will die. But if you choose option two, I will hunt down and kill every single person who works for you. Including those three that I asked for. The outcome for those three people won’t change. Everyone else will just be dead too.”
Fury roared through my head, along with panic and fear. And with it, the insanity inside me stirred. I could feel it cracking an eye open. A beast waiting to swallow me and hide me in its dark depth while it raged across the land.
Grinding my teeth, I shifted my hands a little closer together.
The moment I moved, White did too. His body blinked out of existence, and a second later, he reappeared behind me. I had only turned halfway around when I felt the sharp edge of a blade against my throat.
“Careful now, dark mage king of Malgrave,” White growled in my ear. “I already have my healer, which means that the information you possessed has now become useless to me.” He pushed his knife harder against my throat. “And that means that only my honor is stopping me from killing you right here.”
“Honor?” I spat. “You have no fucking honor.”
He shoved the flat of the blade up against my chin, trying to tilt my head back. I refused to let him. So instead, he drew the edge of the blade lightly along my throat. A drop of blood trickled down my neck.
“Bring your three top people to this house the day after tomorrow,” he said, his voice low and dark. “Or I start slaughtering everyone. Your choice.”
Before I could curse him to hell, he yanked the blade away and then worldwalked out.
Slamming my palms together, I summoned a sheet of metal and hurled it at the discarded table by the wall. The metal crashed into it with a bang that reverberated through the air. Splinters and broken pieces exploded across the room as the metal cut through it.
“FUCK!” I screamed at the empty walls.
The rage whirling inside me begged me to summon another sheet of metal and hurl it at the windows just so that I could hear them shatter. But I desperately needed to save my strength, now more than ever, so I furiously raked my fingers through my hair instead. Tilting my head back, I stared up at the oil lamp in the ceiling and forced out a long breath.
Anger and panic and fear and desperation and sheer utter fucking exhaustion crashed into me with the force of a tidal wave. Staggering backwards, I hit the wall and then just slid down until I was sitting on the floor.
Bracing my elbows on my knees, I rested my forehead in my palms and stared down at the dirty floor beneath me.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t fight attacks on three fronts at the same time. Just surviving an attack from all three Houses was almost impossible. Doing that while also being hunted by the white boots wasactuallyimpossible. And add a worldwalker to that? Someone who could just assassinate every one of my people without breaking a sweat?
Curling my fingers in my hair, I pressed out a long breath. I could feel myself slipping farther into the madness, but I couldn’t afford to lose myself now. I needed a plan. I needed to somehow find a way out of this death trap.
A thud rang out as I raised my head and instead tipped it back so that I was resting it against the wooden wall behind me.
Outside, the rain kept pelting the windows. Winds howled around the edges of the building like a pack of starving wolves.
Sitting there on the floor with my back against the wall, I tried to sift through the impossible choices I now had before me.
I couldn’t send Chris, Tyler, and Shinji to this fucking house and let White slit their throats. I didn’twant to.
But if I didn’t do it,allof my people would be slaughtered.
Chapter34
Captain Wright had only been in charge for two days, but he was already running the show like a bloody dictator. We were reprimanded if we returned one minute late from lunch or if we used more paper than necessary when writing a report. He also made us stay extra late to prepare everything for the coming attack on the south side. Me in particular. In order to make up for all the times I had been tardy before, he said. So it was almost midnight by the time I trudged through the pouring rain and back to my home.
The house was dark and silent when I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Brushing my palms together, I summoned some fire magic and sent it across the space to light the oil lamps. With a warm glow now making the house feel less desolate, I bent down and pulled off my boots.
Water dripped from the jacket of my white leather armor, so I pulled it off and hung it on the hook above the small carpet after I was done with my boots. Rolling my shoulders back, I yawned and then started towards the kitchen. After the day I’d had, I needed a glass of wine before I went to bed.
I rounded the corner and walked into the kitchen.