A hard yank on my ankle dumped me on the ground. A rootlet was hauling me within killing range.
Gathering my will, I pushed power from my core into the wand then struck the hairy root with its tip.
Smoke sizzled down its length, gaining speed as it ran up the trunk like reverse lightning, cooking the old limbs and charring the dead leaves.
A scream rang out as a pale blur was expelled from the tree. The creature sat up, blinked her wide green eyes, then hooked her fingers into claws and charged me. The dress she wore glittered hot with embers.
Blinking away gold spots in my vision, I readied my wand, prepped a spell, and hoped it wouldn’t kill me.
“Oh, shit.”
That was Clay. Definitely Clay. But I couldn’t see him.
Probably because my body gave up and fell sideways like a sack of potatoes.
One more spell was all I needed, but nope. I was out of juice and out of luck.
A bestial roar vibrated through the ground under my cheek, but whatever made it could take a number.
The line to eviscerate me was forming behind the rabid dryad.
A creature taller than Clay, from this perspective, stepped over me to stand between me and the dryad.
I don’t know what compelled me to inch a hand forward until I could brush a fingertip down the back of its nearest ankle. A head injury, maybe. The skin was dark red, feverish to the touch, but black rosettes made stunning patterns over its heel. The creature tensed under my touch, torquing its muscular upper body to inspect what I was doing and whether or not I meant it harm.
The bones of its face had shifted when he did, widening his cheeks and forehead, but it was Asa.
Thick black horns curled from his temples back over his head, and his hair had come undone. There were miles of it. Black silk. I would have reached for that too if I had the strength, but I couldn’t get my fingers to twitch, let alone my arm to rise.
He was still staring down at me with those burnt-crimson eyes when the dryad smacked into him. A low growl of annoyance curled his lip, revealing thick fangs, and he returned his focus to subduing her. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind the dryad was beyond saving. Even if she were salvageable, the director would put her down for the death of a Black Hat agent.
Knowing both those things, I gasped when Asa punched his fist into her chest and ripped out her heart.
And I recoiled when he offered it to me on his wide palm like a gift…or a snack.
“Eat,” he rumbled, blood dripping through his fingers. “Heal.”
“Ace,” Clay warned, his speech much improved, “that’s not how she rolls anymore.”
“Eat,” Asa insisted. “Heal.”
“No,” I whispered as my eyelids lowered. “No.”
I had come too far to fall back on old habits now.