King of Battle and Blood (Adrian X Isolde #1)(49)

The bodies in the street were dressed warmly and contorted in a way that made me think they’d been fleeing from whatever had attacked. I paused, staring down at the form of a young woman. Her hair was dark like mine, and her hand was curled beneath her head as if she had merely fallen asleep. I wondered what her name was, if her mother and father lived, or were they here among the dead?

My gaze shifted to my left, and I saw someone staring back from inside a home. A woman with long, ginger-colored hair and sharp eyes.

A survivor, I thought, but I blinked, and she was gone. Confused, I approached and looked through a dirty window into a kitchen, but I did not see the woman, only the bodies of a mother and two children. I backed away from the house, an eerie feeling crept along my spine.

As I did, I noticed movement in the corner of my eye and caught sight of a bare, dirty foot as someone fled down an adjoining alleyway.

“Wait!” I called and began to follow.

I turned the corner and saw a small girl ahead. She turned to stare with wide, blue eyes. Her face was dirty, her hair a pale yellow. She was dressed in a pair of leggings, a tunic, and a thick woolen scarf.

“I can help you,” I said, but she took off once more.

This time, when I came around the next curve, I saw no sign of where she’d gone, but I continued, thinking that perhaps I could draw her out of hiding.

“Hello?” I called. “I know you are here. Please, let me help you.”

I passed several quiet homes and shops, all of which had been built side by side. There were a few people in the road, all skinless, all dead. I drew my cloak tighter around me as I passed them. If I had not seen this in Lara, I would have assumed some kind of plague had taken them, but for so many to die at once? It was like their entire town had been blanketed by death.

A creak drew my attention, and I twisted to find the door of an apothecary shop ajar. Pushing it open, I discovered the girl cowering in the corner, shaking.

“Hi,” I said quietly as I stepped into the shop. “My name is Isolde.”

The girl continued to shiver.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, standing in the doorway. “Are you hurt?”

The girl shook her head.

“Can you talk?”

The girl said nothing, just remained silent.

“Did you see what attacked your village?”

The girl nodded, and I inched toward her.

“Can you tell me what it was?”

She shook her head. I did not know if that was because she did not want to talk or because she truly did not know. It would make sense, considering she seemed to be the only one who was alive.

“And…are you parents…do you know where they are?”

I did not want to ask if they were dead. She shook her head.

“It’s not safe here,” I told the girl. Now I stood in front of her. “Will you not come with me?”

I bent and held out my hand, hoping she would take it. She stared at me for a long moment before reaching out, her small hand touching mine—and then gripping. I was shocked by her strength, and when my gaze returned to hers, her eyes had become red, her lips had peeled back to show jagged teeth, and she gave a horrible cry.

I wrenched my hand away and stumbled back into shelves of glass jars. The smell of pine and mint filled the air as they cracked and shattered beneath my weight. The girl bellowed and charged at me on all fours. I barely had time to draw my knife, but before she could reach me, something caught her in midjump and flung her across the room. She landed as I had—against a wall of jars. The crash of shattering glass couldn’t overpower her angry screams as she rose from the rubble and glared, body heaving with anger as she faced Daroc, who now stood in front of me.

She hissed, baring teeth that did not resemble a human’s, and charged once again. Daroc moved quickly, and it was as if he were teleporting—one moment, he was in front of the creature, the next behind, his hands on either side of her head. A quick snap and she was dead, her wide eyes meeting mine as she fell to her knees, no longer the monster she was moments ago but a girl again.

Daroc lowered her to the ground and then looked at me.

“Are you all right, my queen?” he asked.

I could not answer because I could not say. My body hurt, my arm burned where the girl had reached for me, and I had just watched Daroc kill a creature that looked like a girl. He rose to his feet and yanked a curtain panel from the window, using it to cover her.

“What happened to her?” I asked. I couldn’t take my eyes off her limp body.

“Hard to say,” he said. “We will have to take her to the Red Palace for an autopsy.”

Daroc approached, helping me to my feet, though my legs were shaking.

“You’re injured,” he said, eyes falling to my hand. I looked too, finding that there was a burn on my skin in the shape of a hand.

“Oh,” I said and swallowed. “It doesn’t hurt…not really.”

He frowned. “Come.”

I followed Daroc out of the apothecary and through the maze of buildings. As we emerged, Adrian turned toward me and frowned, his strange eyes brilliant against the gloom of the day. He started toward us, and when he came upon me, his hands cupped my face.

“You’re pale. What happened?”

“She found…something,” Daroc said. “A human…possessed by some kind of magic.”