Vengeance (The Prince's Games Book 1) by Rebecca Grey (electric book reader TXT) 📕

her lips shape that final word. The ashy color of death begins to seep into her skin. The years she'd lived catching up to her. Sloane had lived a long life, at least of that I could be sure.

I can't watch the last of her life leave her body. This is one death that I don't wish to have on my hands. Not any longer at least. I sniffle just once, feeling the overwhelming sting of tears forming in my eyes. There is no time to cry.

So instead, I scream my madness into the trees, throwing my arms back behind me before I take off to find someone to kill. To find anyone to get revenge on.

A red, as deep in color as Sloane's blood, tints my vision. I can taste Costello's blood on my lips. Again I find myself running. Running in rage. Running in fear. This time I don't even jump as Hedda pops off another round and it echoes through the playing field.

I move toward the sound. Surging forward faster than I ever thought I could. Fueled by loss and the eagerness not to lose anymore. Sloane and I hadn't been close, but she believed in the reform that needs to take place. Sloane believed in everything I stood for. A fleeting question crosses my mind, but I don't have the time to ponder it.

How had she known why I was here to begin with? Had she known I played this game so that I could eventually take the king's heart?

A clearing of trees appears and a large stand with spiraling stairs leads up where the barrel of a gun pokes out. It aims for me then quickly turns away as she realizes who is in her sights. Two bodies with bullets lodged inside their heads are on the edge of forest on the opposite side of me. Washington and Credence. If Credence is the prince, I hardly have to worry about him anymore.

But Credence isn't the prince. I don't truly believe so. Not anymore. And I have yet to see Mavi or his body.

Hedda grunts and her gun disappears. There's another bang of the gun inside the small shelter she's found. The shot aimed for something behind her. My breath catches in my throat. Hurrying forward, I climb the stairs spinning with every curl of the steps until I reach the entrance and fling open the door.

Calik, the Vampire from Jefferson's team, has his hands wrapped around the edge of the gun, trying to wrestle it from Hedda. She doesn't spare a glance for me as she spits and hisses at the man trying to steal one of her prized possessions. Closing the space between us, I leap on the man's back.

The Vampire startles as if he didn't realize that I'd even entered the space. It's too late for him. I cling to him like I had the Criosphinx on the very first day. He bucks but my hips move with him. He's not as strong as that monster. His bones aren't as thick. My blade burns for blood. Any blood will do.

Wrapping my forearm across his forehead, I pull hard enough to expose his neck. There isn't time for him to fight back. There isn't a second for him to shout for help or gasp for air or even plead for his life. Not now when fury consumes me so fiercely. Blade meets skin as I slice over his throat. The motion is enough to draw his hands up to the blood that forms there.

I am not going for his throat. I'm going for his heart.

My next exhale sounds more like a scream as I extend my arm and plunge it into his chest. Gray seeps into his skin, his body becoming fragile as he falls to the floor. We fall together, but I roll at the last second, anticipating my blade to poke through the ash that he turns into.

I sit up, pinching my fingers against the blade and dragging it through his body. It comes easily as time grips his body and turns his insides to dust. I brush my hand across the sweat on my forehead that drips into my eyes. Grime and dirt clings to my skin.

"Damn, Human." Hedda blinks. Her throat bobs and she lifts up the bolt lever and pulls it back. The gun spits out the spent shell on the floor. She points to the where the bullets shot through the paneling on the back wall. "Damn Vampire made me waste one."

"How many do you have left?" I make myself stand. There's a quaking to my knees that makes the motion wobbly.

"Five."

"Where is the flag?"

Hedda points out the window and I follow the motion. A red flag waves in the breeze created by the rotating blades of a drone that hovers near it. The material rests at the top of a tree. From here Hedda can see the tops of all trees as well as a decent view of the floor below us through the limbs.

"If you'll excuse me now." Hedda squares her shoulders and sets the gun up on its bipod in the windowsill. She takes a deep breath before slowly releasing it. I only see the slight form of Alastar as he makes his way to the tree moments before she pulls the trigger. The gun pushes back into her shoulder and expels the bullet.

Alastar falls at the base of the trunk, no more than two feet away from the other Dryad girl, Winona. Hedda keeps looking through her scope, scanning for any potential threats. There's already so many bodies I can't imagine there are any more people left within the game.

"Where is Finnegan? Where is Marcello? Juilliard?" I shuffle up to her side, trying to see what I can around her large frame.

"Finnegan was with me but when he heard you scream