Sudden Ambush

Vesperia's POV

Steel split the dark with a sickening thud, and a ragged, choked cry tore through the clearing, wrenching the breath clean out of my lungs.

Blind instinct took the wheel. I rammed both hands into Valerius's chest to break toward the noise, but his fingers snapped shut around my upper arm like a vice. With a single fluid wrench, he hoisted me clear off the packed earth, his face in