Reign of Darkness (Prince's Assassin Book 2) by Ariana Nash

Author:Ariana Nash [Nash, Ariana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crazy Ace Publishing
Published: 2020-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Another impact sent the carriage skidding across the road and knocked Niko back into his seat. Jarred from his grip, his sword clattered to the floor. Yasir’s yell and the crack of a whip pulled the carriage from a dangerous swerve, but they were still racing along. Either the beasts would get them, or a sudden stop would.

Niko lunged for the sword.

Vasili kicked it from his grasp and slammed his left hand up, under Niko’s chin, driving him backward against the seat. Vasili was on him suddenly, a knee in his gut, a hand at his throat. Niko jerked his elbow up, impacting hard with Vasili’s chin, knocking the prince’s head back. He grunted, and Niko shoved, slamming him back into his seat. But the small, bouncing carriage kept jerking and jumping around them, and when Niko made a grab for Vasili, the carriage tilted, Niko’s reach sailed wide, and Vasili’s kick landed hard in Niko’s middle, instantly wrenching the breath from his lungs.

“Niko! Get up here!”

Niko heard Yasir at the same time as Vasili’s fingers wrapped around his throat and squeezed. Niko kicked out, but his knee struck the side of the carriage, and Vasili was crouched over him, pinning him down.

His chest burned, lungs screaming for air.

He plucked at Vasili’s fingers, trying to lever them off.

Dark spots swam in his vision. He kicked uselessly again.

“Amir turned you, didn’t he? Turned you like he turned all the others!”

Niko shook his head, as much as Vasili’s vise-like grip allowed. He shoved at Vasili, but the prince twisted, and Niko’s fumbling efforts to push him back slid off.

A beast slammed into the door, the carriage bounced sideways, and Vasili fell, hitting the opposite door. The door swung open onto a blurred street, almost dumping Vasili outside. The prince snagged a handle and caught himself. Niko snatched his blade off the floor. Vasili saw, disgust pulled on his mouth, and then he clutched the outside of the carriage and vanished from sight.

The beast saw Niko through the swinging door, still inside the carriage, and locked on.

“Shit!”

The creature was easily the size of Niko, and if it got inside, there’d be no escaping it.

“Yar!” Vasili shouted from above, now in the driver’s seat. The whip cracked, and the carriage lurched, the horses finding more speed from somewhere.

Maybe Vasili had tossed Yasir from the carriage?

Niko wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

The beast galloped up to the swinging door. Its red eyes fixed on Niko. It would get inside, and then what? Death, surely. What else could it want?

Niko rocked on his feet, sheathed his blade, and kicked open the opposite door. Seran’s rows of tall, redstone houses spooled by. If he fell, the carriage wheels would kill him as surely as any beast.

He reached around the open doorway and grabbed a hold of a piece of protruding trim. A beast galloped closer, teeth bared, eyes ablaze with cold, inhuman intelligence. It would kill him. Probably kill them all.

Niko clutched the exterior trim and climbed onto the roof.

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