Page 114 of The Blade in the Ashes
That momentary exchange had been too much of a distraction. Thea didn’t notice the creature behind her until it had already closed its mouth around her forearm. She threw her head back and screamed as its jaw clamped down so forcefully that her skin split on contact. Blood poured from the wound, dripping onto the cold ground.
“Run!” she ordered, ripping her arm free and taking a few desperate, staggering steps before she found her balance and took off.
“No, wait!” I called, following them.
I couldn’t see where we were through all the damn trees.
The monsters followed us, hunger giving them even more of that unnatural speed.
“Thea!” her lady panted. “What do we do?”
Thea’s eyes were wide. She shook her head. Her steps faltered for a brief second.
“I don’t know. Just run.”
And so they did.
And somehow, I knew instantly that it was the wrong decision.
“No,” I whispered, the eerie feeling falling over me. “No, turn back. Go back!”
They couldn’t hear me. I screamed. I shouted her name over and over, begging her to stop because I didn’t knowhowI knew, but I did.
I knew that death awaited her in that direction.
Still, they ran.
They ran until the trees thinned, and the brick houses of a village came into view.
They ran right into the arms of seven armed men.
My stomach heaved, the vision fading as quickly as it had come on—so fast, in fact, that the world spun around me as dizziness threatened to send me tumbling forward.
Elaina sat in front of me, tears streaming down her perfect face as her hands gripped either side of my cheeks. She stroked my hair, whispering my name over and over in a desperate plea. Her concerned eyes scanned over every inch of my features.
The room came back into focus slowly, until the trees had faded completely, replaced by the wallpapered walls of Nikolai’s home. Thea’s screams faded, replaced by the music of a piano in the distance.
“Thea,” I whispered her name almost involuntarily.
“Camilla, what is it? What happened?” Elaina sobbed my name, thumb swiping against my cheek. Her touch brought on a sting, and I flinched, reaching up to find the dampness of blood on my fingers.
Blood from where the tree branches had scraped across my face as I ran.
Lifting my head, I stared back at Elaina, completely unable to answer her question. I had no godsdamned idea what had just happened, and I didn’t have the time to ponder potential explanations.
I only knew that Thea needed us, and she needed us right fucking now.
And there was only one person in the entire realm that I would trust to save her.
“Clay!” I screamed his name, my throat raw as if those cries in the woods had completely ripped through my vocal cords. “Clay!”
A crowd had gathered around where I had fallen in the hall. People of all ranks and designations stared down at me with their eyes pinched and lips turned down into disappointed, judgmental frowns.
Even through the chaos of my own sobs, I heard the exact moment when a woman I had nursed back to health only days ago turned to the man at her side and whispered, “She’s gone mad again.”
Elaina’s head snapped back, and she barked at everyone to back off, but their stares still lingered.
Maybe that’s what this was. Maybe I was just losing my mind again.
