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I turned to the in the wind

Death’s eyes glowed behind his hel his swords

A wall of reen towered above him like a tidal wave He craned his head up and up

I commanded the swell to break over this embankment, to swamp them all With a yell, Death flashed out his swords But he was not yet nore the pain as he slashed through ht s Before they could reachthe beasts upside down Whimpers, howls They couldn’t be killed until I took out Lark

All in good ti for me; a cypress crashed down on hiony rackedtree His yell was cut short Another tree, and another To coth, I sent poisoned thorn stalks to bind and kill him Just to be safe, I ordered roots to suck hi him down

Other plants were at work on a more insidious task

Eyes ith horror, Lark abandoned her wolves, sprinting a retreat My vines seized her, suspending her upside down as well, like the Hanging Man As she dangled and screeched, I waved for her to be brought closer, until our faces were inches apart “You’re worse than they are,” Imy head at her “We trusted you”

“Wait, Evie! Please!” Her eyes were terrified As Joules’s had been

I enjoyed it just asto die extra bad”

I sensed there was little of that retention pond left, the surface replaced with a bed of writhing plants Vines and slimy water strands I wavedas she sailed directly into that squirht down to gore her She twisted and rolled, dodging it Again the vine struck She eluded it, but she was getting slower

“There is no shame in surrender,” I told her, as a past Eh the battalion I’d sent his way, and noas co, readying to takeIn the randmother’s voice floated into oddess as not to be crossed When soed, she refused to let crops grow, starving the entire world Evie, there’s a viciousness in you that I must nurture

Flanked by protective thorns, I screae, and the whole world seemed to tremble

I screamed for Jack and Matthew For Finn, and even Selena I screamed for my family and friends I’d lost For this entire ruined planet

I screaain

I arisly scene and recoil? No Because I’ame!

Kill them all? With pleasure

When my screaling fingers He couldn’t know that my soldiers had bored out the side of this hill and the underpinning of the asphalt that stretched between hi through a chute to be trapped beloith Lark

“Afraid to strike? Coain”

He approached as if in a trance “Ease your wrath, and I won’t kill you today”

I laughed, a throaty sound

He reached my trap The roadway crumbled; before he could escape, he dropped At the last second, he stabbed one sword into the asphalt He clung to his anchor as vines snaked up his body, curling around his shoulders and neck to drag hi his perfect face, his grimly deterled over his head, across hiseyes In a rush of dizziness, I re down on en tackled ht train How?!

We crashed into the ground, withback, cracking my skull My vision wavered, my army stunned

How had he escaped my poison and the pressure of those trees?

With the last of h hide of his neck, injecting hiers went nu harder and harder The Devil’s strength wasn’t fading?

As I stabbed Ogen frantically, I gli up froh “Ogen is one of two players immune to your poisons Come, Empress, ask yourself: why else would sorip, so deep in my neck popped My arms fell limp beside me I couldn’t feel them As my lids slid shut and consciousness faded once uage

What was the Reaper saying?

“To olden collar studded with e to woo me, has already declared his intention to take me to his bed

I’ve been with hi from his sword blow

He sits next to me on my pallet in the tent we share “Do you like it?” he asks, reaching forward to stroke hten, beginning to glow

Death toucheshis thu his hands around loves the second he enters our dwelling

“It’s beautiful,” I ansith honesty He must have purchased the piece at the bazaar we passed earlier I wish I could touch the gold, but my arms are bound behind h I ay with him I know I must escape hiuards the tent whenever Death leaves

“The gift is very kind”

“Kindness has nothing to do with it” His lids grow heavy as he grazes the backs of his fingers along my jawline, then across s”

His Death’s He intends to take me to his horasses and endless fields As alien as this desert

“Allowup the length ofkiss to ainst my skin, “You like my touch”

Gods help me, I do The hands that deliver death with such ease are beyond tender tome “Ah, creature, for that reaction, I shall buy you jewels every day”