mate surged through him, making his heart ache.
“So, what—I get left out here to worry about you instead? No. Remember what Dorinda said? We both need to be there. That doesn’t mean you’re in there where it’s dangerous while I wait in safety out here. It means us both, fighting as one, against him.”
He squinted into the gloom of the interior that was dark even to his eyes in the dim moonlit night. He expelled a slow breath and nodded. She was right. He would just take care the best he could.
“Stay behind me, at all cost. Do not leave my side for any reason.”
“Let’s get in there and end this shit,” she murmured.
She stuck close behind him as he stepped inside. She was close enough that he could just barely feel the brush of her hot breath against the back of his neck. It reassured him as they crept forward.
A rumbling, quaking sound rocked the walls of the crypt and a lick of fire illuminated the room briefly as it fanned from the mouth of the sleeping creature. It slept on its side, its huge upper body curled in a relaxed pose, its head pillowed on its arm. The four legs were partially drawn up under it from where it had eased itself on its side. Selvans’ eyes trailed over the Tainted One, looking for the best place to strike that would guarantee a quick death for him. The monstrous tail whipped, sending the rubble it came into contact with flying.
Selvans leaped back as another burst of flames seared the air, coming close to grazing his right antler. His eyes darted to Diana, pleased to see that she was tucked behind him, staring around at Cacus, her brow drawn down. He felt their bond quake as she faced the creature who had tracked her through the corridors of Arx. A small gasp left her at the sight of the monster curled on himself, her body rigid with tension.
“How do we kill him?” she whispered.
His lips tightened. “I don’t know.”
Diana’s head whipped around, her mouth gaping. “You don’t know?”
“It is not like there are instructions on how to kill Cacus. If you recall Hercules, a heroic son of one of the highest of gods, hadn’t managed to do more than choke him until he fell unconscious. Myth likes to tell that he strangled the creature to death, but not even he could kill Cacus. I am a bit at a loss as to exactly how we should proceed. Most of the Tainted Ones I have slain had been minor creatures that existed before Cacus first rose from the belly of the earth.”
“Right,” Diana whispered back. “So we know it has something to do with Nocis, and presumably Anola since it was made as a companion to your sword. Should we try just stabbing him?”
Although he didn’t like her getting quite that close in the tight spaces around Cacus, he couldn’t think of a better suggestion.
“Take his flank while I go for the front. When you drive in your blade, be sure to put your full strength behind it so that the blade sinks deep. We will only have one chance at catching him unaware.”
Diana nodded and crept toward Cacus’s flank while Selvans walked around the front. His eyes fell on the creature’s chest as it rose and fell. Raising Nocis, he looked over at his mate to make sure she was in position. She stood right at Cacus’s side, her own blade’s hilt gripped between both hands, lifted above her head with the sharp end of the blade pointed down toward the side of his monstrous belly.
Selvans’ eyes returned to Cacus, drifting over him before fastening upon the thickly muscled neck. Most of the male’s body was covered in dense muscle, but the throat seemed to be his best bet. It had weakened bands pressure cut into the skin, making the entire area vulnerable. Without shifting his eyes away from the Tainted One, he dropped his chin in an inclination of his head, signaling Diana.
Baring his fangs, he drove down with his blade. Nocis flashed with a dark, ultraviolet light. As if that light summoned him from the depths of his slumber, Cacus’s murderous eyes sprung open as he wrenched his giant body away at the last minute. The blade succeeded only in nicking the flesh of his neck, a thin slash spraying out dark blood. The creature roared in pain and a white light filled the room at the