by S A McClure
“So glad you could join the party,” she said, smirking. If they wanted a two-on-one fight, then that’s exactly what they’d get.
Amber focused on protecting herself from harm as Frost fired more darts at her. She wove between them, ducking each one. Although he continued firing at her, there was a light in his eye and a half-smile on his lips. She couldn’t tell if he was deranged or actually enjoying this fight.
She picked up a geode with purple crystals exposed and tossed it over her shoulder in the direction she thought Frost was standing. She didn’t wait to see if it hit him or not as she charged towards Guinevere again.
Guinevere delivered a powerful axe kick straight at her jaw.
Amber weaved to the left, dodging the blow. Stepping forward with her left leg, she jabbed upwards, hitting Guinevere squarely in the chest. While Guinevere stumbled backwards, Amber slammed her elbow into the wound at Guinevere’s hip. Blood gushed out, and Guinevere screamed, clutching one hand to her wound.
Not forgetting Frost, Amber swung around and threw the dagger. This time, she watched it sink into his abdomen. His skin paled as he attempted to withdraw the blade.
Amber swung her left leg over, twisting as she jumped in the air and performed a butterfly kick to Guinevere’s chest. Her stabilizers whirred beneath her skin as she struck her opponent in the jaw. She landed on her feet and ducked as Frost wrenched the dagger from his gut and threw it at her.
The blade lodged itself in Guinevere’s chest.
Amber blinked in surprise as blood bubbled on the luck-driver’s lips. She coughed, trying to say something as her lungs filled with her own blood and she began to suffocate.
Amber looked back at Frost, who stood completely still, his hands shaking. Blood freely flowed from the wound on his abdomen. The tension slowly left her shoulders as she reached back and ripped the blade free from Guinevere’s chest. Wiping the blood and gore from the blade on the bed sheets, Amber turned to face Frost.
His lips trembled as he watched Guinevere die. He didn’t say anything to her to provide comfort. He just stood there, watching.
“Why did you save me from the woman in the tunnels?” Amber asked. Her voice was hoarse and raw. She realized that she had been screaming during the fight without even realizing it. She’d been so focused on surviving that all she could remember doing was using her abilities to manipulate where her blows landed and to avoid being struck by her opponents.
Her stabilizers continued to hum beneath her skin as she approached Frost. His cybernetic eye dimmed as he met her gaze and gave her a lopsided smile.
“I knew you were the luckiest woman on Thoth,” he said.
She placed a hand on her hip and stared at him. “Tell me why you saved me in the tunnels,” she commanded. She didn’t have time for him to meander through random stories. She needed to know the truth.
He shrugged. “From the moment I met you, I just felt like I needed to protect you,” he said.
“But why?” she pressed, unsatisfied with his response.
He sank to his knees, his hands pressing against the wound. “I’m not sure why,” he admitted.
For some reason, Amber believed him. A part of her felt pity for him as he lay on the floor, bleeding out. She wasn’t going to save him. He’d helped Guinevere kill Morta. He’d lied to her. Sure, he’d saved her life, but he couldn’t even explain to her why he’d done it. For all she knew, it was the remnants of her power that had nudged him to save her in the tunnels beneath the city.
“I want you to know, when I leave this room, I will never think of you again,” she said. “You are nothing to me, other than the person who helped kill the one person in this world who always had my back.”
She glanced over her shoulder towards Guinevere. Her lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling. She couldn’t tell if she was happy she hadn’t been the one to deliver the death blow or not. Part of her wished it had been by her hand.
“I know,” Frost said, his cybernetic eye glowed as ice began to pack into his wound, staunching the flow of blood. “But I’m not going to let myself die here.”
Amber stared at him numbly. She could kill him. The whir of her stabilizers told her that she could manipulate everything about the battle such that she would always be the victor. She didn’t doubt herself the way she had before. She’d manipulated the odds and beaten another luck-driver. She’d pushed her powers beyond her known boundaries to save Morta when she’d been attacked by Laurie.
With time, she could become stronger. She would build a world where nothing could harm her. Not now.
Not ever again.
She smiled at Frost. She wouldn’t save him, but she also wouldn’t manipulate the odds against him. Let the universe decide his fate.
She didn’t say anything to him as she slid the dagger back into her boot and retrieved her pulser pistol from the floor. She didn’t look at him as she slipped from the room as if she had never been there at all.
Her mind wandered as she stalked from the casino. She didn’t see a single person as she exited the way she’d come. Thoughts of her time spent with Morta filled her mind, leaving her with a sense of wanting and sorrow.
The ache in her chest wouldn’t subside, even as she began running. Towards or away from the fight, she wasn’t sure. She just let the world dissolve into a blur of color and sound as she sped past buildings and down dark alleyways. Her heart hammered in her ears, slowly blocking out all other sound. Her chest burned, dimming the emotional ache.
Her calves began to tremble as she raced up a hill. Higher and higher she climbed until she at last crested its top and looked back at the city. Neon lights highlighted darker buildings. Scantily clad women danced on rooftops. The sounds of drinking and fighting filled the ever-twilight horizon.
She smiled as she stared out at the ‘V.’
She was the queen of the Underworld now.
This was all hers.
The End…
The Fortuna Saga Continues in Suicide King
More Books by S.A. McClure
The Fortuna Saga
Suicide King (coming soon)
Dead Man’s Hand (coming soon)
All or Nothing (coming soon)
The Valka Chronicles
Spellbreaker
Starseeker
Dreamwalker (coming soon)
Broken Prophecies Series
Kilian: A Broken Prophecies Story
Keepers of the Light
Destroyers of the Light
Harbinger of the Light (coming soon)
Apprentice’s Wings
Wings of Gold & Snow
Wings of Shadow & Wrath (coming soon)
Wings of Steel & Valor (coming soon)
About the Author
S.A. McClure is an avid lover of all things fantasy and science-fiction. A self-proclaimed nerd, S.A. enjoys attending comic cons, seeing new movies, and discussing books with friends. By day, she spends her time working with college students and by night she writes. When S.A. McClure isn’t traveling, she’s at home, wrangling her three trouble-making cats.
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