They cast knowing glances at each other and laugh, some of them mockingly calling out:
“Dances with the prince, she does.”
“Break the curse. Break the curse. Thinks she will break the curse.”
I swirl, desperately trying to find an opening.
“Mother and brother would not like that.”
“Not like that. No, no, no.”
The creatures’ breath smells of spoiled milk and sulfur, a cloying odor that fills the air as their circle tightens.
“Your prince can burn in hell,” I spit.
A blinding pain shoots through me as one of them lunges, cutting its thorn sword across my thigh. I cry out, doubling over.
“Thy shall not mock our prince,” the goblin snarls, then licks her lips at the sight of my blood. “Red as a rose.”
“Red as a rose!” Another goblin attacks, swiping for my face.
“No!” I shriek, bringing up my arms desperately to defend myself. The sharp glint of the blade slams into my skin, slicing the flesh of my upper arm.
“Red as a rose. Red as a rose. Red as a rose.” A sickening ring of malicious laughter encircles me, each chuckle rippling in the icy air like a deadly wave.
“Down, down, down to Mother you will go.” Their chant changes, and they stomp their feet. Two of them grab me.
“No!” I scream and tear myself out of their grip. “No, I won’t.”
One of them quirks its head at an awkward angle. “Her head will look pretty on a pike.”
Raw terror floods my veins. Two of them grab my arms, another wraps its moldy fingers on my dress, ripping into the fabric. And the one with the long thorn blade stalks before me. “Your shiny eyes will be earrings. Your hair bronze rope. Head on a pike.”
I thrash wildly, screaming. Pure rage lights me from within. And a voice that doesn’t sound entirely my own snarls with a dark promise, “I will see your guts splattered across the ice.”
They look at each other and snicker. The goblin in front of me raises its thorn sword.
A deafening roar cuts through the air, and the goblins go silent, right before a massive white paw tears through a cluster of them. The goblin in front of me turns just in time to see a nine-foot white wolf leap into view. It engulfs the goblin’s head in one bite.
He tosses the remains to the side before his wild blue eyes meet mine.
Keldarion has come for me.
53
Keldarion
AfirebeyondanyI have ever known fuels my body. And this is one time I am grateful for the wildness of my beast. Rosalina’s blood stains this ice.
So every single one of these despicable monsters will die.
“Get down,” I growl.
Rosalina obeys, and I stand over her, surveying the surrounding goblins. Something wild has affected them, and they’re not backing down.Why have you sent so many? For her or for me? Another one of your vicious schemes?
A cluster of goblins raise their swords and charge. I swipe them, claws shredding their flesh. Guts paint the ice black. Whirling, I snatch another two, feeling bones break beneath my powerful teeth.
“Look out!” Rosalina cries.