Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart, #1)(79)

I swung at Blood Spatter in a wide and frantic arc, hoping my crazed attack would take him aback, force him to step away. But he was a Da Via, and they were the second Family for a reason. He stepped inside my arc. The pommel of his sword smashed against my solar plexus like a blow from a hammer. The air in my lungs rushed out of me with a cough.

Diamond Mask kicked the sword from my hand. It crashed against the cobblestone bridge.

A loud snap filled the air, followed by a booming twang. I turned. The stone bludgeon on the rope smashed into my right cheek. My head snapped back. Half of my mask shattered. Bone shards rained across me as I fell to the ground.

Everything faded to black. A smell like rotten fish wafted across me. Blurry shapes returned. Muted, dull sounds settled over me like raw wool. I blinked. Blood filled my mouth and I spat it out.

Someone leaned over me. Nik. I reached for him. He grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet, twisting my arms behind me. In front of me a quick scuffle ended with Les in the same position, Grape Leaves securing Les’s arms behind him.

Les and I were too winded and injured to speak. My face swelled. Was my jaw broken?

Val paced between us, his anger apparent with every pounded boot step against the bridge.

He stood in front of Les and jerked the hood off his head.

Behind me, Nik yanked the remains of my mask from my face. He dropped it to the ground and drove his heel through what was left of it. The tiger-striped bone shattered beneath his boot.

“You’ve been poisoned again,” I said to Nik. My voice sounded slurred from the hit I’d taken. He paused, then looked to his arm.

“Huh. Well, knowing you, I’m sure you have an antidote somewhere in this pouch of yours.” He tapped the pouch on my hip.

“Let us go, and I’ll give you the antidote.”

Nik laughed. “No deal. In a few minutes all your antidotes will belong to me. I haven’t dropped dead yet, so I think I’ll take my chances finding the right one in time.”

Val slid his mask to the top of his head. His eyes flashed rage and hurt and betrayal, his brow dripped sweat. He pointed his sword at Les. “This is why you wouldn’t come with me?”

Les thrashed against Grape Leaves, and Diamond Mask kneed him in the stomach. His breath escaped in a whoosh. He tried to double over but Grape Leaves held him too tightly. Diamond Mask wrapped his long hair around her fist. She jerked his head back and exposed his neck. The bruising he’d acquired from the rope stood stark and plain, even in the dark. His throat bobbed as he swallowed.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Val,” I said.

“I saw you together on that roof, Lea. Kissing. I saw you! He doesn’t even have a mask! He’s a nothing! A fraud!”

“Let him go. He doesn’t have anything to do with this. You’re right. He’s nothing. Only a fake clipper, living in Yvain.”

Val scowled and shook his head. “You’ve always been a shit liar, Lea. Even now.”

“What do you want, Val?” I asked. “I will give it to you. You want my pride? You can have it.” Warm tears rolled down my cheeks to my lips. They tasted of blood. “Please let him go. Please. I’m begging you.”

He blinked. “Yeah, that’s clear,” he said, his voice empty. “It’s not very attractive.”

His mockery pierced me like a needle to the heart, and I inhaled sharply. Nik leaned closer to me, his mask pressed against my ear.

“Watch this now, Lea Saldana,” he whispered. “Because you’ll be next, just as I promised before.” He tapped my spine with the edge of a knife.

Val stepped before Les, sword in hand. His fingers tightened around the hilt until his leather gloves creaked.

Les twisted his head toward me. I stared at him, and grief and terror and loneliness and every dark emotion I was capable of feeling filled my chest until it seemed I would burst from it all.

Les winked at me.

Val drove his sword through Les’s chest. He buried it to the cross guard, until the Da Vias restraining Les had to move aside or face the end of Val’s sword.

Anguish erupted through me. I bit my tongue until it bled to stop the screams welling up from inside. I turned away, but Nik grabbed my skull and forced my head toward the scene, his fingers digging into my scalp.

Les coughed out a mouthful of blood. It spattered across Val’s face. Val pulled out his sword. Les crumpled to the ground. His head moved once, and then he lay still.

My fault, my fault, my fault.

Only Nik’s powerful grip on my arms kept me on my feet. “Very nice,” Nik whispered to me. “Now it’s your turn.”

A sharp stab to the center of my back sank below my shoulder blades. I gasped as the cold metal slid into my body, shrouding me in agony, until my body arced against it.

Nik released my arms. I fell to my side on the ground, the cobblestones beneath my face damp from the canal.

“No!” Val screamed. Rapid footsteps closed the gap between us. I tried to reach the knife in my body, to pull it out, but my fingers scrabbled against my leathers, pain ripping through me with every twitch of muscle. I dropped my arms.

Val struck Nik, a loud crack bouncing over us. Val’s fist crashed so hard into Nik’s mask that it broke in half at the bridge of his nose. Nik’s mouth gushed blood. He brought his gloved hand to his face and groaned. Blood Spatter took a step toward Val, but Diamond Mask pushed her mask to the top of her head, standing between Val and the others. It was Val’s sister, Claudia, no longer pregnant.