The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,89

attuned to Ashleigh, I’d known when she’d pushed through the crowd. I’d known the moment she was stopped. I’d known when Adriel had clasped her vulnerable throat...

A dagger-sharp growl ravaged my throat, what remained of my calm veneer disintegrating. Adriel was two hundred pounds of muscle, and he had choked a young girl with a damaged heart. I’d lost all sense, flying over to break his neck—nonfatal for an avian. Then I’d dropped him into the combat zone. The rules stated we could not leave the coliseum, and I hadn’t. The stands were part of the coliseum and no one could say otherwise.

Now Adriel lay on the ground, unmoving, his gaze pleading for mercy he hadn’t shown Ashleigh.

I could only indulge one of my desires right now. I looked to the giant, as if to say, He’s all yours. Whether the move would help me or hurt me with my people, I didn’t know. While they valued loyalty to one’s species, they also believed one should obey his king. Adriel had not done so.

Skylair blood flowed through my veins. With or without the title, I was king three times over. I would be obeyed.

Laughing, the giant stepped on Adriel’s head, crushing his skull—highly fatal for anyone.

I landed, reentering the fray without a shred of remorse.

Desperate to return to Ashleigh and whisk her to Everly, who could syphon from healers and mend her face, I forgot about proving I was strong enough to rule and vicious enough to rule well. I fought dirtier than ever. I jabbed eyes and kneed groins. Punched and clawed. The only thing I couldn’t do? Stab. The dagger I’d chosen possessed a retractable blade to better “murder” Roth. The same weapon Roth had chosen for himself, just in case mine got lost in the fray.

Moving too fast to track, the vampire clawed my side, hitting bone. I let him take another swipe, just so I could catch his wrist, spin him around while yanking him against me, and rip out his throat with my bare hand. He toppled, but he never hit the ground. The giant scooped him up between meaty fingers.

The gorgon must have gained dominion over the giant’s mind, because he now rode atop his massive shoulders, cheering as the giant ripped the vampire in half. Blood and viscera sprayed over the battlefield.

One combatant down. Three remained.

“Look out,” Roth called.

The warning came a split second too late. As if the pixies had been waiting for the first casualty, they launched their first bomb right at my feet. Dust and glitter exploded, pluming the air, and I inadvertently inhaled a mouthful. My eyes burned, and my throat itched. I coughed so hard I might have cracked a rib. I... I... I frowned and pulled hanks of my hair. What...why... I couldn’t think. I needed to think!

An iron-hard fist that had to belong to the giant slammed into my temple, and I wheeled to the left. On the plus side, the fog lifted from my mind, my thoughts my own once again. Stupid pixie dust. At least the giant stumbled about, too.

The gorgon jumped off him, crashing into Roth. The two rolled over the dirt, punching at each other.

My blood burned hot as I jogged...sprinted over, reaching the giant in record time. I leaped up and spun midair, extending my broken wing as far as it would go. Ignoring the spike of agonizing pain, I raked one of my many joint-hooks through the base of a horn. Amid his screams, his pain clearly excruciating, the appendage plopped to the ground.

I swooped down to pick it up, Roth and the gorgon still rolling around.

“Let him,” I shouted, knowing Roth alone would understand.

My friend let the gorgon pin him, allowing me to ram the tip of the horn through his shoulder blades. The tip exited his chest, pieces of heart muscle clinging to it.

The gorgon slumped over and fell, and Roth scrambled to his feet.

Two opponents down, only the giant to go. Hurry. Must get to Ashleigh.

My gaze locked with Roth’s. We nodded in unison because we knew what the other needed to do next.

Roth threw himself at the giant, climbing him just to whisper in his ear, “You are still confused.” With a spoken command, Roth could compel almost anyone to do anything. He could tell the giant to off himself, and the giant would obey, but citizens would wonder why the giant had done something like that, after fighting so hard to survive.

Few beings possessed the