Rage boiled within me. I didn’t care who said it; I would never allow anyone to make me feel useless again. “Enso has been training me. I can fight!”
“He’s been training you fora monthin solo combat, not against an army of trained vampires,” Sorin corrected. “Again, you will be killed immediately.”
I screamed again and stomped my foot, not caring how childish I appeared. I yanked the dagger from my thigh, planted my foot in the red sand, and twisted forward, rotating my hips just as Enso had taught me. The tip of my blade barely grazed Sorin’s shirtsleeve before he danced out of the way and caught my arm, pulling me against his chest.
“You fucking tried to stabme!” he barked incredulously, wrapping his arms around mine and pinning them to my sides.
“I would’ve thought Roman warned you about that,” I retorted, his amused snort igniting my fury. I’d like to see him laugh if I had aimed for his chest instead of his arm.
“Is this the plan, Sorin? Just physically restrain me until the battle is over?”
He shifted his weight, reaching for the blade still gripped in my hand. I pulled it away from him. “If that’s what it takes to ensure Roman doesn’t fall apart over losing another person, then yes, that’s the fucking plan.”
I grimaced at the low blow. Part of me knew he was right, but I couldn’t sit by while others died for a cause I had created. While Roman risked himself again, I couldn’t play the helpless damsel. “You could just have my back in there. I’d be fine.”
“No.”
“Why not? I saw you fight when you helped rescue me. You’rereally good—better than any Javali or Bursuc soldier.”
“I see what you’re trying to do, Estrella, and it isn’t going to work.”
I twisted in his grip to stare at him, wriggling so my fists separated our fronts. It would’ve been intimate if he wasn’t looking at me with utter disdain and frustration. “Oh, what am I trying to do,General?”
“You’re trying to butter me up so I’ll let go of you.”
I batted my eyes, reaching into the darkest depths of my soul to pull forth that sweet, seductive look I had learned at the academy. He had flirted with me before; it was worth a shot, even if it made my insides curl. “Is it working?”
“Absolutely fucking not. You can try to be cute, but you smell like my brother.”
My mask shattered, and I screamed again, driving my heel into his foot. “If either of them gets hurt, I will never forgive you, Sorin! Never! And I know you won’t forgive yourself, because instead of helping them, you’re standing out here with me!”
It was a cruel comment, like digging my nails into his throat just to watch him bleed, but I was desperate. Sorin recoiled more at my words than he had at my blade. He bared his teeth, glaring down at me, his greenish aura radiating off him in sloughs and nearly choking me. Finally, he released me. “Fuck! Fine!”
He yanked his daggers from hidden sheaths at his sides and pointed one at me with a snarl that twisted his features. “If you die, Roman will kill me, then himself. Just keep that in mind before you do something stupid.”
“Thank you, Sorin,” I murmured. Then I turned toward the looming walls, just as barren as this wretched landscape. Smoke curled from within, bringing with it the screams of warriors and the clash of metal. We ran toward the gates, now torn open by our army, with Sorin slowing his pace so I could keep up. Then the world devolvedinto chaos.
All around us, a whirlwind of rabid vampires tore each other apart, destroying the city in the process. Some fought with weapons, their blades cutting through enemies with deadly precision. Others devolved into the primal nature of their beast forms.
I ducked just in time to avoid a Fjällräv soldier tearing spikes from the shoulders of a Javali, using them to spear through his eye sockets. The dying soldier’s screams were drowned out by the fox’s savage snarls of victory as she bounded off to her next victim.
Then Sorin shoved me out of the way just in time to avoid being taken out by a soldier wearing the blue and silver tsar’s emblem, right before the vampire collided with the white brick wall of the building beside us. The structure collapsed on top of him just as a Bursuc rebel prowled after him, a brutal gleam in his hellish eyes as he tore the vampire from the rubble. The two devolved into a pile of snapping fangs.
“We’re here to find Catina and Roman, period. Stay right next to me; the Javali House is on the far side of the city,” Sorin barked. I nodded. Though I wanted to be helpful, I was also realistic. There was little I could do against these beasts.
Sticking close to Sorin’s side, we marched past the rubble of once-beautiful buildings, the flames turning the baked earth black. The smell of burning wood and charred flesh filled the air, the screams and clash of battle ringing in my ears. I had lied when I said I had seen Sorin fight during my rescue, but what I said was true—he fought with the grace of a dancer, cutting down his opponents with ease.
A Bursuc soldier charged at us, talons bigger than my palms and spikes poised on his shoulders. Sorin sidestepped him and wrapped his arms around the man to restrain him. Just then, another Bursuc plowed into Sorin’s side, throwing him off balance and slamming allthree into the last remaining pillar of the far building. Sorin’s snarl turned into a high-pitched yelp as the second attacker sank his fangs into his shoulder, unable to protect himself without releasing the other vampire.
My fingers trembled around the hilt of my blade and hesitation swept over me. There was no time to wait, so I sprang into action. I jumped onto the pile of snarling maws and snapping teeth, grabbing one of the Bursuc’s shoulder spikes to steady myself. Just like Enso taught me—aim for the head and don’t hesitate. I hurled my blade into the base of his skull before he had time to react.
It was harder than I had imagined, each inch a gruesome fight of crunching and slurping that had my stomach twisting. I forced the blade past his bone, summoning every ounce of strength I had to thrust it into the brain—the only way to kill a vampire. He thrashed violently, but that only helped me dig in deeper until I broke through the hard shell of his skull and into the soft tissue of his brain, killing him on impact. Sorin threw me and the now lifeless weight off, and I scrambled to avoid being impaled by the dead vampire’s beastly spikes. He quickly dispatched the other vampire with his blade, tossing the body aside like a discarded rag.
When he stood, he was covered in blood and red dirt that smeared across his black linen shirt in a gaudy pattern. He looked at me, his normally narrow eyes wide. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” I gasped back.
Without another word, we pressed onward, sticking close through the chaos surrounding us. My mind had quieted during those moments when I had taken a life. My first, but likely not my last. Even the sharp clash of metal and screeches of pain and victory blurred to a soft hum. It wasn’t that our surroundings had calmed, but I managed to ignore the bloodshed and destruction. The only thing that mattered wasreaching my tsar.
