CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Ice water replaces the blood in my veins, filling me with a crystal-cold certainty.

I will die before I allow these ogres to lay a single finger upon my bride. Rage fills me at the thought of how the one directly in front of me already dared touch her, back at the standing stone.

My gaze arrows in on him. He is the cause of this ambush—I can feel it in my bones. And coward that he is, he dare not confront me alone.

Echoes of the past ricochet through me as I face a full war party of my greatest foe, yet I am not the youngling of all those years ago, easily defeated.

My sword sings through the air as I lunge forward, a war cry stretching my lips.

The ogre from the standing stone leaps backward, wearing a taunting smile.

I’m going to cut it off his face.

Two of his companions surge in from the sides, blocking me.

My sword hits one of their maces in a clang of metal. Then I spin, blocking the other’s strike.

Dash gives an angry whinny behind me, and I know without looking he’s entered the fight, a true friend. If we’d left him behind and taken the dragon ride, we would have avoided this fight, but only for today. I know in my bones this ogre will never let my bride go. He will plot and scheme and attack until he has her.

That’s never going to happen. For I will end him here and now.

The ogres surround us, and there’s nowhere safe for Selena to stand. I need to draw them away from her before the circle tightens, and the unicorn and I are forced so close together we could accidentally trample her.

“Selena, is any part of your magic defensive?” I yell.

“I don’t think so!” she says. “Unless…”

In a blink, the crude animal-pelt clothing of the ogres around us disappears, leaving them with nothing but their axes and maces. Their cocks and breasts don’t phase me, but unfortunately, being stripped naked does nothing to slow down the ogres, either.

“Sorry! I was hoping that would get rid of their weapons!”

My sword whips through the air, slicing a black diagonal of blood across one of my opponent’s torsos. He bellows and steps backward, allowing me to spin and bury my sword in the belly of the second. One sharp jerk of the moon steel blade, and he falls to his knees, his hands trying to hold himself together. Black pours from the wound, and he topples forward to lie still.

“Don’t touch him!” I shout as Selena skitters backward out of the way of his falling form. “Your power might heal him.”

“Yeah, fuck. Good plan.”

A fresh opponent lunges from the right, scoring my side in a flash of pain.

I spin, the movement so quick, black blood flies from my sword.

As the female ogre backs out of reach, I turn to my first enemy. The cut on his chest didn’t slow him down for long. My side burns as I counter a brutal swing of his mace, the spiked ball stopping only a couple of inches short of my face.

A touch ghosts down my back, and my bride’s magic pours into me, warm and wonderful and immediately healing my side.

A feral grin splits my lips, the bloodlust raging within me now. With my amazing moon bound healing my every injury, the uneven odds no longer seem so dire.

I will do everything I can to win, to save her. I will die to protect her.

Darting forward, I strike the ogre’s thigh, opening a deep gash that bleeds profusely. It starts to weaken him, and I move in for the kill, my blade slicing into his chest and spearing him through the heart.

Triumph roars through my veins as I set a boot on his chest and kick him from my sword.

Until I hear it. A soft thud followed by a pained gasp.

I spin, and before me, my nightmare comes to life.

Selena lies on the ground, the ogre from the standing stone looming over her, his axe raised to strike.

It’s as if someone tore open my psyche and ripped my nightmare out into the daylight and made it manifest, the newer one, where Selena replaces Bruna on the ground.

It’s every bit as horrible as I feared, far worse than any memory of that fateful day from so long ago. The shock of it freezes my muscles.

Terror clutches my heart in wicked claws and squeezes until the entire world narrows to that axe, falling, falling, falling toward my bride.