Page 131 of A Touch of Poison
Then the Horror moved.
It didn’t collapse as Ella had, overcome by my poison.
It rose on its back legs, turning.
I looked up and up and up.
And found its void eyes looking back.
49
Bastian
Strange looks followed me to my office that morning. But did it really matter after last night? I could still feel her skin against mine, her hair tickling my face—could still smell her if I inhaled deeply enough.
Fuck, she was intoxicating.
Even better was the fact that, at last, I truly felt like she’d forgiven me. Maybe I’d even gone a small way towards earning that forgiveness.
There was more I could do. And I would.
“What’s put the spring in your step?” Brynan looked up from his desk, eyebrows raised as I entered his office.
Ah. That explained the odd looks.
I smothered a smile and shrugged before disappearing into my office. Not even the stack of reports on my desk could sour my good mood.
That didn’t happen until Brynan appeared at my door, ashen-faced.
An attack.
Horrors.
Here in the city.
On the busiest day of the year when folk had gathered from nearby towns and performers filled every theatre and square to celebrate the Winter Solstice.
When Kat was out in the city with our friends.
I was moving before I fully took it all in. I didn’t need to know more than that.
Sword. Leather armour. Gauntlets. With those in place, I gathered guards outside the palace. None questioned my orders, even though the sun was high and half their number was Dawn rather than Dusk. There wasn’t even a whisper of “oathbreaker.”
The swiftest I sent out on foot to gather intelligence from the rooftops. How many Horrors? Where were they? Their orders were not to engage but to keep eyes on the monsters.
And to watch out for any sign of Kat. I shouldn’t have mentioned her, but… I couldn’tnot.
The others I led towards our stables.
Emerging from Dawn’s stable yard came Cyrus on a huge golden stag, followed by his elite guard on marginally less impressive steeds.
“Don’t worry: I’ll kill them all.” As his stag reared, he raised the Brightblade, Dawn Court’s ancestral sword. He tilted it to catch the sun’s rays and set its magic ablaze. “On me!”
Cerulean blue cloaks streaming, he and his guards charged away.
The Dawn folk around me faltered, glancing back after their prince. But he had no plan and no interest in leading. He wanted only glory.I’llkill them all. Notwe.
I continued into Dusk’s stable yard and left them to decide whether or not to follow.
