Page 10 of Bonded By Stone & Blood

Vorgrym's expression doesn't change. Mine doesn't either.

"How many warriors?" I ask.

He laughs. "You'll find out when?—"

I break two of his fingers against the stone floor. The laugh stops.

We continue.

By the time I have what I need—numbers, approach routes, the timeline of Tharros's advance through the eastern passes—the arrogance has finally drained out of all three of them

I straighten up.

"Wait—" the second one starts.

I don't wait.

The first goes down under my elbow, one strike, temple to floor. The second and third get their warning cut short when I close my hand around their throats and drive him into the wall hard enough to spider the stone.

It is over in the space of three breaths. Not clean—I am not in the mood for clean—but instantaneous. The chamber goes quiet. Vorgrym doesn't flinch. He has watched me work before.

What I am not expecting is the heartbeat behind me.

I smell her before I turn. Her heart is hammering so hard I can feel it from six feet away, a small frantic percussion against her ribcage.

I turn slowly.

Sabine stands at the opening of the tunnel leading back into the main chamber, one hand braced against the rock wall. The torchlight catches her face—pale, wide-eyed, the color completely drained from her olive skin. She is staring at the floor of the chamber. Then at me.

I am covered in their blood.

She has clearly been standing there long enough to have seen everything.

For a moment neither of us speaks. Slowly, Vorgrym removes himself from the room.

"Those were—" Sabine stops. Swallows. Starts again, and I watch her force her voice steady through sheer stubbornness. "They weren't hunting the valley, were they? They were hunting me."

My silence is answer enough.

She stares at the bodies on the floor. I watch her process it—the horror, the revulsion, and then underneath both, the sharp cold intelligence that is never very far behind her eyes. She is piecing it together in real time. I can almost see it happen.

"Because of the bond," she says quietly. "Because I woke you up, and now every rival clan in the territory knows your attention is split."

"They believe it is split." I move to the basin against the far wall and begin washing my hands. The water runs dark. "To another Alpha, a bonded male is a compromised male. They will always go for the mate first. It is faster than a direct challenge."

"Faster." She repeats the word like it’s foul. "So I am a tactical liability."

"You are a structural weakness."

"That makes me feel so much better, thank you."

I glance at her over my shoulder. The sarcasm is back, I think.

"Let me go."

She says it without preamble, stepping fully into the chamber now, arms crossed like she is trying to hold herself together by force of will alone.

"Release me. Whatever you did, whatever this bond is—undo it. Send me back to the village. If I'm not here, they have no reason to come for me. You remove the weakness. Your war gets simpler."