Lilac growled, seeing red, her joints throbbing, and leaped onto him. She wiped her hands, snatched her vibrating dagger from her belt, and slashed it across the front of his throat. Hywell gurgled, blood soaking her hands and her new garment. She lifted the blade again and drove it into his heart.
Once. Twice.
That was for trying to kill her and ruining the clothes Garin had gotten her.
Sheathing the blade, she stood and stumbled away from his body as he sputtered, blood soaking the floor,pooling into the ends of her kirtle and into his hair. She darted toward the door, wanting to vomit, needing to heave—to feel the cold air of Brocéliande. But she looked up and metGarin’s stern gaze. He wouldn’t move, his broad shoulders blocking the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
She struggled to swallow. “Garin, it’s not funny. Get out of my way.”
His hand gently clamped onto hers, as if he noticed them inching up to claw at him. “The more assailants who act against a revenant who are not its intended target, the stronger and faster it gets.Youhave to be the one who kills it.”
Lilac almost laughed. “Did you not see me slit its throat and stab it in the heart?”
“But he didn’t die, did he?”
She turned in time to see Hywell righting himself in the pool of blood. Did her blade doanything? Terror tore through her as the monster slowly stabilized on his feet; some of the mysterious smoke surrounding him had shrouded the wounds at his neck and chest.
Healinghim.
“So how do I kill him?” she spat, shrill.
Garin eyed Hywell. “How do you deal with corpses who don’t want to stay down?”
He was slow but strong, and seemingly unstoppable. Lilac glanced around, panicked, hating feeling so helpless in a room of her friends anxiously watching her. Glower as she did, if their interference would make Hywell stronger and faster, she would rather them stand by.
When he started to shuffle toward her, she bolted for the stairs, but Garin was in front of her before she could dart past Bastion. “Think again.”
At the sound of Hywell’s grunting and shuffling behind her, she whimpered and ran toward the bar door instead, and again, Garin was there. Lorietta’s hands were over her mouth as she watched. Meriam looked equally angry and horrified as Hywell shifted closer, swordless.
“Garin,” Lilac growled, her fingernails digging into him, willing him to budge, tohelpher. “I just want time to think, to gain the advantage?—”
“You don’t have that time when stronger, faster enemies are after you.” He was much too cool, too logical.
“Why are you so calm?” she shrieked, sinking back against the wall where the revenant’s sword had first struck.
“Trust me, there would be little left of him if I put my hands on him. But he would regenerate, even from tiny pieces, and then he’d come back stronger, lighter on his feet. Even if we ran, he’d hunt you down. I don’t think you’d like it very much if this revenant suddenly learned how to run and jump, would you?”
“At least let me kill him outside?” she snarled, stumbling back, barely skirting another swipe of Hywell’s grime-covered fingers. Jagged, broken nails had sprouted in place of his short, stubby ones.
“I’m the only thing allowed to chase you through these woods.”
Lilac only uttered a sound of protest, a wave of fear cresting over her bravado.
“Focus. He’s momentarily forgotten his blade. You’ve discovered yours does nothing.” Garin’s brow rose expectantly. “What do you do when your blade falls to the wayside?”
Against that terrifyingthing? The way it moved toward her—the way it chased no one else in the tavern, spared no one else a glance.Run, her very bones urged, every muscle in her body burning, her lungs gasping for air, exhaustion threatening to consume her.
“It would chase you across the entire continent until your heart gave out.”
She glared up at Garin. He was enjoying this. She opened her mouth to snap at him when her dagger vibrated at her waistline. She spun in time to see Hywell lurching toward her with his hands outstretched to wring her neck. Lilac scrambled out of the way, but not fast enough. He caught her by the hair, and although his fingers were brittle, they were surprisingly powerful. By the hair, he yanked her to him and she lost her balance, her body falling against his, nearly toppling them both.
Scalp throbbing, Lilac let out a shriek that promptly cut off when those bony fingers wrapped around her throat. They clamped down on her windpipe, and she thanked the gods when she was able to lodge her fingers underneath his. She gasped for air, trying to force his grip to loosen with one hand while the other clawed and scratched at his face until there was blood on her fingers. None of it seemed to affect Hywell.
The smile had fallen from Garin’s face when she wrenched away, stumbled, and found her footing. She raised one hand to him, one obscene finger, and caught a glimpse of a fanged laugh before she rockedbackinto Hywell with all her might and toppled the both of them into the nearesttable and chairs. They fell onto the table, sending tankards and bowls of pottage flying. An inhuman roar pierced her ears. Terrified, Lilac peeled herself off him and noticed he wassmoking. He turned, spinning frantically, but all she could see was the already cold, spilled bowl of soup that had soaked through his shirt.
With no time to ask about what had burned her foe, she swiped one of the tankards at her feet and cracked it against his skull. He stumbled back, but this time, his hand shot out and caught her, much faster this time, by the arm. She barely dodged his swipe for her throat as his fingers dug bruisingly into her flesh, and she used his grip to yank him close before trying to knee him. He grunted, but rammed his head against hers, his forehead slamming into her cheek. Blood filled her mouth, and before she could think, she kicked out. This time, her foot landed on the middle of his chest, and he skidded, landing another table away.
