Beyond the Walls

Chapter 40

I jerk my legs free and knee him in the crotch. Edward yelps as I lunge forward, shoving his chest. His head snaps backwards as his shoulders slam into the ground. I grab his collar and yank his face towards mine.

"You are a coward." I fling the words out like knives.

"Perhaps that is a flaw of mine, Elle," he muses and grins. For a split second, I catch his similarity to Ruben. The green eyes and the jawline. The way their mouths turn into a smile. I gasp and drop him.

His eyes flare with malice, and he scrambles to his feet. "I suppose my father's legacy never died after all, did it?"

I glare at him. The trees around us groan as the wind chatters through them, the limbs bending toward the earth.

"It must hurt knowing Ruben came from that. He had a full belly as a child while you withered away to bones. How can you love someone who came from a monster?"

"You know nothing about Ruben," I say.

"I'd like to get to know him then," Edward says, running his hand through his blond hair. He prowls around me, feral eyes glinting as he watches me. "As much as I'd love to sit and chat with you, Elle, I think we have a battle to attend."

He waltzes up to me, pausing as his shoulder brushes against my own. He sticks his mouth up to my ear and I can feel his grin as he breathes into my neck. "May want to stop me."

Then he takes off, breaking into a run. He crashes through the trees, disappearing with a manic chuckle, and my muscles refuse to move for a moment. I roll my eyes and follow him. The crescendo of the battle dances into my eardrums and sends my heart hammering against my ribs. I emerge from the forest and break into a sprint across the field, towards the haze of stumbling bodies, flailing limbs, and shrieking curses. Bodies litter the visible landscape, and I hop over them to enter the fray.

The beasts cry my name, and the sound reverberates down my spine. I withdraw my sword. Slashing and ducking, I drive my blade into the ribs of a beast, cringing at the crack and their shriek. I spin around before they hit the ground, slicing into someone's guts. They gurgle as their intestines spill to their knees. Bile burns my throat and I cry out, stabbing someone's temple. As I kick them away, a rough set of hands grabs me by the arms and jerk me backwards. I fall, landing with a grunt next to a dead man as a pair of yellow eyes hover over me. The beast lips their lips, dripping saliva onto my face and I growl. I struggle against them, but they are startingly strong.

They lean their face towards mine, baring a yellow stained-tooth smile and their eyes somehow widen, dancing with wildness. "At last," they chatter, pulling their rusty dagger and pressing it against my throat. "I get to kill the famous, oh so precious Elle. This time, no one is here to bend over backwards to keep you alive. Where's the pretty blond boy? Or the gorgeous boy with dark hair who loves you more than anything?"

I grit my teeth, unable to speak, for the blade grazes my skin.

"Where are they?" the beast says again. Then he holds his pale, cracked lips against my ear, panting. "Edward is going to kill the blond-haired boy. Pity you hadn't listened to his warnings and evacuated the city."

"What are you talking about?" I say through gritted teeth.

The man licks his lips, and rears back, making a show of lifting the dagger above his head. The blade shimmers and the beast's eyes swallow the light, like a blackhole, only reflecting utter darkness. I brace myself as he slams it down. But he misses. Someone collides into the beast, throwing them off me and finishing them with a blade across the neck. Blood spurts out and bile burns my throat.

The person who killed the beast straightens and whips around, the colour bleached from their face. Their auburn hair is matted with blood. Killian.