I glanced back in time to see Bhrunyz shimmer into being behind me. Three claws gouged my leg and I screamed.

He disappeared. Transported away. He was giving me time to think I could get away, but I knew I couldn’t.

I sobbed as I tried to get up. My leg burned and I was losing too much blood. But I had to move or I was dead.

I screamed as I pushed myself up from the ground. Pain burned down my leg as I tried to stand on it, but I limped forward. I was even slower than before, but I had to keep moving.

The need to survive drove me. I had to buy Donovan enough time to get Saoirse. He’d find the brooch. I just had to keep going.

Sweat poured down my face, making it hard to see. I tripped a few more times, getting covered in dirt and grime and my own blood. My left leg grew numb, but I made myself move down another tunnel.

I took another turn that looked exactly like the last three—another passage of rock and dirt—but I couldn’t breathe. The air had gotten thicker. Bhrunyz’s scent was overwhelming. I knew I’d taken a wrong turn, but who the hell knew when. Everything looked the same here. Caves, tunnels, and more caves.

I gagged, pulling my shirt up over my nose.

Piles of bone and body parts as tall as me were scattered along the edges of the cavern. The floor, ceiling, and walls were coated with bits of rotting corpses.

This was where the smell was coming from. I was in his kill chamber. The fucker had kept me moving, terrifying me, all to get me to here, where he was going to kill me.

Claws click-clacked on the stone behind me.

I searched for a way out, but the chamber was a dead end. There were no other tunnels except for the one I’d just come through. The same one that Bhrunyz was walking down. Fifty feet. That was all that stood between me and death.

Bhrunyz stepped into the chamber and roared. It wasn’t a magical sound, but one of triumph. The roar echoed so loud, I had to cover my ears.

The game was over. He was done playing with me.

I only had one option left. I had to fight. I was hurting, exhausted, and bleeding, but I wouldn’t go down without giving every bit of energy I had left.

I spun to face Bhrunyz. Black slime drooled from his jowls, singeing the stones it touched. The claws that extended half the length of his body sliced deep gouges in the dirt. He opened his mouth, baring all his crisscrossing needlelike teeth.

He screamed and this time magic locked my muscles.

Bhrunyz took two steps closer.

The magic was suddenly gone, and I stumbled back a single step.