Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Breaking Point
The Queen's first step toward me was silent.
The second cracked the floor.
Her claws were a blur — not one set, but three, each the size of a sword and moving faster than my eyes could track. I rolled back, the air splitting with a sharp whhht as one claw carved through the space my head had just been. Resin shards rained down, stinging my skin.
The Hiveborn soldiers fought around us in chaos — some under my control, some hers, locked in brutal, mindless duels. But I could feel her now, focusing entirely on me, her soldiers nothing more than noise.
Her mandibles flexed open, revealing rows of needle-fine spines.
—Your blood is the key. Your death is the lock.—
She lunged.
I barely had time to snatch a fallen spear from the floor, jamming it between her claws as she struck. The impact jarred my bones, the shaft splintering instantly. I used the break to twist under her reach, slashing upward with the jagged end toward the softer plates under her arm.
She didn't dodge. She let it hit, chitin cracking, and then her tail — gods, I hadn't even seen the tail — whipped around and slammed into my ribs.
The world spun. I hit the wall so hard my teeth clacked together, the impact knocking the breath from me.
Through the haze, I saw her advancing again. No hurry. Just certainty.
Vire was there suddenly, diving between us, her twin blades flashing silver. She carved a line across the Queen's thigh, ichor spraying like molten tar. The Queen swatted her aside with one casual sweep, sending her crashing into a cluster of soldiers.
I staggered up. My ribs screamed, my head throbbed, but my hands still burned with the white-hot threads of control. I pulled — not at her soldiers this time — but at her.
The threads wrapped around her like chains, glowing brighter with each heartbeat. I could feel her mind now — vast, alien, pulsing with power. Touching it was like dipping my hands into boiling metal.
She froze for a fraction of a second, mandibles clicking in surprise. Then she yanked back.
My chains snapped like spider silk. The backlash slammed through me, dropping me to my knees.
And then she was on me.
Her claws pinned my shoulders to the ground, the tips digging into the resin beside my head. Her face lowered until all I could see were those molten-gold eyes. The heat of her breath was thick with pheromones, flooding my senses, making my limbs heavy.
—I could end you now.—
Her voice was the weight of a mountain in my skull.
I forced my lips into a grin that hurt. "Then do it."
She paused — not because of my defiance, but because I'd already started pulling again.
This time I didn't aim for control. I aimed for disruption. I shoved a flood of contradictory signals into the Hive — attack / retreat / protect / destroy. Soldiers staggered mid-fight, turning on each other, hesitating, freezing. The chaos rippled outward like wildfire.
Her grip faltered.
I tore free, rolling under her body as she struck down. One claw gouged the floor inches from my head, resin bursting like shattered glass. I came up with my hands on a fallen soldier's halberd, spinning it in a desperate arc toward her neck.
The blade connected. Sparks exploded. She reeled back a step — not from pain, but surprise.
—You learn quickly.—
The chamber was collapsing now — cracks racing up the walls, soldiers screaming in ultrasonic bursts that made my skull ache. The stranger's voice cut through it all:
"Jess! If you're going to finish her, now is the time!"
But the Queen's golden eyes never left mine.
And in them, I saw something terrifying.
She wasn't fighting to kill me.
She was fighting to test me.