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Another dagger flies at me. I slam my back against the bark, whipping my head to the side. The blade slices through strands of my hair. Irritation shoots down my spine, but it’s quickly replaced by panic as another one imbeds itself into my thigh.

“Fuck,” I gasp, clutching the weapon. It’s deep in my muscles. The longer it stays in, though, the more fatal it’ll be. Every part of me doesn’t want to, but I grind my teeth and rip the weapon free, vision stuttering and breath catching. I don’t have time to feel the panic, because triplet streaks of lightning illuminate the sky and slam into the earth around the tree.

Panting, I press my hand to the silver-poisoned wound. Blood slicks my palm. My skin won’t stitch itself back together like it normally would. One small silver wound is fine. This one, though?

This could be dangerous.

Trembles rattle up my spine, the poison already leeching into my veins like acid, as I stand. A burn like fire wraps around the infected leg. My muscles scream in protest as I glance up. I have to get higher. I peek over the side, only to lurch back, fingertips grasping at the rough bark to steady myself.

Melody’s dagger slams into the branch above my head. “I don’t think so, bitch.”

Fuck.

One more hit near a large artery, and I’m screwed.

I go onto my toes, reaching for the handle of the blade stuck in the tree, as another is launched at me. That one misses, and I wrap my fingers around the other, tugging it free and collapsing back against the trunk, breathing heavily as I think through the options.

I could climb, but it would leave me too exposed.

I can’t get down without them converging on me.

Steeling myself, taking a deep breath to calm my heart, I lower to a squat, holding myself steady with one hand as I lean to the side and launch the dagger at Chelsea as hard as I can. She doesn’t move in time, and the blade slams into her chest.

Chelsea’s mouth parts in an O, her eyes flare wide, and before she can even try to yank it out, she bursts into a pile of ash.

She’s dead, dead.

There’s a pause while Melody stares at where her friend once stood, features contorting, and sends a vicious glare in my direction. “You’re going to regret that, bitch.”

My stomach drops right as a light so brilliant white flashes. My eyes pinch shut, but I can still see the echo of the lightning branded on my eyelids, though that’s the least of my concerns. The branch I’m perched on splits with a violent crack and careens toward the ground.

I barely have time to jump off before it slams into the ground, the impact rattling the windows, the tip of the branch mere inches away from the panes of glass. As soon as I start running, lightning slams between my shoulder blades, quick and fierce enough to bring me to my knees. My palms slap into the mud.

{Fight!}

I roll to the side, groaning as pain reverberates through me, but staying still is a death sentence.

Another streak of lighting hits me.

Electricity riddles my body, scorches my bones, and fries my nerves.

Someone screams.

It might be me.

Melody grabs a fistful of my hair. “You’re really starting to piss me off,” she growls.

I have enough awareness to grasp my dagger and yank it free of my sheath, jamming it into her leg.

“Bitch!” Melody yanks on my hair, strands ripping free of my scalp. Her mouth finds my ear. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die. It’s the least you deserve for touching my men.”

A laugh, pained and wholly deranged, pours out of me. “Killing me won’t make them love you.”

“We’ll see about that,” she hisses, the tip of a silver dagger pressing between my ribs. The blade sinks into my skin torturously slow. “You’re an abomination,” she says, the words slipping between her clenched teeth. “The Goddess will thank me.”

Panting, I grasp at her wrist, trying to stop her, but the silver rushing through my veins has stolen my strength. A groan rattles in my throat as she pushes the blade in a little farther. Aiming for my heart.

This is it.