Page 281 of Vasmora

I stroked a hand down her hair and kissed her forehead, drawing her into me. “I promise you he is at peace now.”

She gripped my forearms, her head shaking against me. “How can you know that?”

“Because he told me.”

She stilled, then lifted her head from my shoulder. “You saw him?”

I nodded.

Breath stuttered out of her, and she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Was he in pain?”

I wanted to tell her no, because describing the state in which he’d left our world would’ve torn her apart, but the lie burned in my mouth before I could speak the word. “He felt sunlight for the first time,” I said instead.

Her face crinkled as if she might cry again, but she cleared her throat and nodded. “Good. No one deserves to die alone in darkness.” After another shaky breath, she swept her gaze beyond me. “Where’s Zevander?”

“He went into the nest after Cadavros.” I glanced over my shoulder, to where Torryn, Fennyx, Kazhimyr and Verena stood, and my brow tightened. “Where’s Gavroche?” I asked them.

“The kid?” Torryn cast a quick look around. “He was just here.”

“Rho is also missing,” I said, gaze darting wildly around for him.

“Damn things never stay put.” Kazhimyr growled, shouldering past cocoons as he strode off, presumably in search of them.

I pushed to my feet, peering through the mass of warriors who remained knelt, as if awaiting the next command. “Gavroche! Rho!”

The cocoon in front of me twitched, and I stepped back as a protrusion moved along its surface. A low hum of growls came next, reminding me of bees in a nest, and I looked around, frowning as the cocoons twitched and swung from their strands.

“Oh, no.” I edged myself toward the wall. If they hatched at the same time, we’d be fighting an entire village of the infected.

“Fuck,” Torryn said, backing away from another cocoon that twitched beside him. “Draw your weapons!”

A clawed hand tore through the thick webs, its skin covered in black veins beneath that white coating I’d seen earlier.

Fennyx and Verena backed themselves closer together, urging the one remaining razorwolf behind them.

“Form a circle!” Torryn shouted, and as the mutation nearest to him broke through its web with a growl, he slammed his blade into its neck, severing the head.

A few meters away, a humanoid mutation bolted toward one of the warriors, who remained knelt, and opening its mouth, it spat a clear substance over the unmoving Hollowyn.

The soldier didn’t so much as twitch, not even when his skin slackened, peeling away from the flesh and falling to the ground in a wet lump.

“Give the command to fight, Maevyth! We’re about to be outnumbered!” Kazhimyr sprinted back from wherever he’d wandered off to and shot an icy spear toward the mutation that’d attacked the warrior.

The sharp tip of ice split through its neck like a blade through silk.

As the growls heightened, I looked around, exhaling a sharp breath as villagers sliced themselves out of the cocoons with a sickening squelch, pouring white fluid onto the floor. Long, segmented legs stuck out from their spines, the gleaming chitin crackling when they stepped out of the torn webbing.

I threw forth my hands, just as before. “Rise!” I commanded.

In one unified motion, the warriors all jumped to their feet with a weighty thud that echoed through the cavern.

More mutations emerged from their cocoons.

“Maevyth!” Rykaia called out, just before a force crashed into my side.

The ground slammed into my shoulder, claws scraping over my legs, and I twisted to find a humanoid scrambling up my body. I rolled onto my back and smashed my palm against its throat, narrowly avoiding its snapping, gnashing teeth. My arms trembled with holding it away from my face.

The creature’s saliva oozed onto my throat, before it recoiled, wrenching itself from my grip, then it snarled and lunged at me again.