Page 96 of Heartless Enemy

Air exploded from my lungs.

The force of the blow sent me flying sideways and crashing down on the ground. While trying to gasp in a breath, I rolled across the grass, purely on instinct, right before something slammed into the ground where I had been only seconds before.

Scrambling to my feet, I stared at the weapon in Christian White’s hands.

A hammer. A massive fucking hammer.

Dread washed through me like cold water.

Oh fuck.

His grin looked more like a snarl as he taunted, “Told you I owed you a beating.”

I spun around and slashed my sword through the air at the same time as he worldwalked. He appeared close to where I had aimed my strike, and was thankfully forced to stop his own blow and instead worldwalk again.

Aclangsplit the air as his hammer hit me in the back, connecting with my armor. I stumbled forward, losing my footing. The whooshing sound of a weapon being swung came from behind me, and I barely managed to twist in the air to avoid another strike. I hit the grass hard, losing the grip on my sword.

White swung again, and I had to roll away instead of retrieving my blade. The hammer smacked into the cold grass, leaving a small crater in its wake.

Pain speared through the back of my ribcage as I shoved myself up to my knees. Fuck, I was pretty sure some of my ribs were cracked.

Before I could push myself to my feet, White materialized right in front of me and swung again.

I could see the hammer coming, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.

My head snapped to the side, and I crashed down on the ground as the blow struck the side of my head.

I heard it connect with my helmet more than I felt it. Or maybe that was because the blow and the terrible metallic clanging it produced inside my helmet dazed me so much that I couldn’t even try to get my bearings again.

Lying on my back, I stared up at the gray sky through the visor of my helmet while I tried to get my ears to stop ringing and my skull to stop feeling like it was vibrating.

Christian White appeared above me, his hammer raised high for a blow that would probably make my head cave in even despite the metal protecting it.

All around us, constables were shooting magic and raising shields. But none of them moved to help me. I could barely get a coherent thought through my dazed mind, but I could taste the bitterness on my tongue.

I had helped them protect themselves when White was targeting them. Hell, I had even been one of them for years. Up until last week, for Current’s sake! But not one of them was brave enough to intervene and stop Christian White from cracking my skull. So much for north side loyalty.

The hammer sped towards me.

I tried to lift my arms, but it was as if my entire body had stopped obeying my mind now that it was only vibrating with the aftershocks of the previous blow.

What a shitty way to die.

Shock pulsed through me as the hammer liquefied halfway towards my head.

A second later, a massive wind blast crashed past right above me where I was still lying flat on the ground.

Then lightning zapped through the air, leaving a taste of ozone in its wake.

My mind was still spinning, but my limbs at last obeyed me again. Pushing myself up on one elbow, I caught a glimpse of Christian White flying through the air like a ragdoll from that wind blast. His hammer was now a puddle of metal on the grass next to me. I pressed a hand to my head to steady it as I blinked at the tumbling worldwalker.

The lightning bolt had almost reached him when he managed to get his hands together and vanish into thin air.

“Eve.”

Relief and gratitude washed over me as that dark and wonderful voice wrapped around me like a warm blanket.

Raising my head, I met Levi’s steel gray eyes. Both terrible worry and world-ending fury burned in his eyes as he looked me over.