Ra’Sa, behind you!I cry.
He heeds me, but not fast enough, and I’m forced to watch as they bind him.
For the last three years, I’ve been humiliated, treated and used like a thing rather a person. Degraded so many fucking times.
Then, they pour the oil on Ra'Sa.
This stops here.
I want a future. This is my choice. My plan.
I grab the knife we've been using for cooking and step outside into the cold. The snow burns through my boots, and I trudge forward into the blood bath.
Ra’Sa sees me. He always does.
Run!he shouts.
I ignore him.
The waking nightmare starts slowly, with a tingling in my hands. If I could, I would run. But I can’t.
"Warriors!" I call out with the last bits of breath that fill my lungs, fixing a smile on my lips.
This is insane. You’re insane. What is wrong with you?
I’m saving the ones I love, I bark to the harsh voice in my head.
I take it all in: the light of the deadly flames they hold, ready to be dropped atop the oil split across the men, the humans, and my mate.
“Oh, mighty warriors!” I shout again while stepping into the light.
More than half the warriors lie dead but the remaining giants turn toward me, one by one.
Some recognize me. One even whistles.
Time slows, yet my heart thunders in my chest.
You are strong. You are fierce. You are capable.
Yes.
I fucking am.
Melisa, RUN!Ra’Sa’s voice shouts through the bond again, but my hand is already raised, dagger poised at the neckline of my dress.
“You fight so well. You all deserve a treat,” I call as I bring the blade down, slicing through cloth and thread. The bodice opens up, my breasts spilling out and the cold stinging every inch of my now exposed flesh.
Mi amor,?1you have two seconds to kill every last one,I say as they all stare at me, thoroughly engrossed in how the fabric flutters open.
I don’t shrink away or try to cover myself.
Ra’Sa doesn’t make me wait. Hardly a blink of an eye passes before he manages to stand. His hands snap out to either side of his body, breaking his bindings with his palms facing straight up.
The ground around us lurches, the top layer roiling into a wave. I lose my balance as it passes under me, rending the ground, and we all fall like dominoes, all, that is, save Ra’Sa.
He limps, and yet, his magic is stronger than ever. As he commands the stone beneath us, it bursts out of the ground, spraying snow and extinguishing the flames. Rock parts, splits, and cracks. Those jagged bits, broken as I once had been, form themselves into weapons that pierce and shred.
It all starts to rotate around him in a lethal tornado.