His heavy armor collided into the stone, and he let out a grunt as the air knocked out of his lungs. Bri dropped her knee onto his chest, cracking it against the steel but pinning him to the ground. She held the tip of her dagger to his throat.

“Start talking,” she commanded.

His eyes bugged in his head as he frantically shook it. “I-I can’t,” he stammered. “Sh-she’ll—”

“Who’s ‘she’?”

“The High Priestess.” He sucked in gasping breaths.

Bri’s heart pounded in her ears. “Which High Priestess?”

His hand, grasping a knife, flew up toward his neck. Bri grabbed his wrist to stop him from impaling himself with his own blade. The tip of his knife nicked his skin and a thin trail of blood dripped into the leaves below his head.

“She can torture people like no others, get into their minds, turn us into monsters. Please,” he pleaded, bucking against Bri.

Bri shoved him back down. “Who is she?”

“The High Priestess of the violet witches,” he whispered. “Baba Monroe.”

Time seemed to freeze as Bri turned that name over in her mind. “Monroe.”

The guard made a choking gasp, pulling her attention back to him. His eyes rolled back in his head as blood poured from his ears and mouth. The tiny cut on his neck fizzled, rotting a giant black hole into his flesh as his body went limp.

Bri leapt back from his poisoned corpse, her eyes landing on the knife in his hand. The steel was dulled by a thick film covering the metal, the same as the cutlery in the castle. Bri’s stomach soured thinking of the blackened leaves in Cole’s office. She gagged at the wound that now circled the dead soldier’s neck, spiderwebs of inky black climbing up his jawline. Was this what the Queen had looked like when she died?

“Bri?” Lina’s voice called through the trees and Bri shot up from her crouch, running back toward the trail.

She pushed through the dense foliage, stumbling out onto the path where Lina stood. Bri’s chest heaved as she stared down at two lifeless soldiers, pools of burgundy staining the earth beneath them. Lina harnessed her bloodied axe and looked up at Bri.

Her face was splattered in blood, her dark eyes brimming over with emotion. In two steps Bri was in front of her, grabbing her by the neck and pulling her into a fiery kiss. Bri needed to feel her warmth, breathe in her sweet scent, and know for certain she was okay.

“Are you hurt?” she murmured onto Lina’s lips.

“No,” Lina whispered, pulling Bri tighter against her. “You?”

“No,” Bri panted, resting her forehead against Lina’s. “What in the Gods’ names just happened?”

The clank of metal sounded far in the distance and their heads turned toward the lookout up ahead.