Brute 285

Chapter 285 

Atasha’s POV 

Cassian’s breath brushed my car as he stared up at the ceiling, “Kyla” 

He urged out from behind the rock like the webs did not exist, blade already up, body moving with the kind of certainty that meant he had made the decision before Cassian even spoke. The spiders shifted above as if the motion had disturbed the alt, and the webbing rippled in wide, trembling sheets. 

Nylas jumped 

His sword flashed and the thread that held Rio snapped with a sound that was too soft for how important it was. Kid’s body dropped instantly, swinging hard, blood trailing in a thin are. 

Nylas caught him. 

He took the weight against his chest, staggered a half step, then turned with Rio held tight like a shield of flesh and armor. Cassian grabbed me and hauled me up at the same time. 

“Run” Cassian said, and he did not wait to see if my legs would cooperate. 

We bolted. 

The tunnel ahead narrowed fast, the stone walls pinching closer, the ground uneven and slick in patches where water had gathered and then dried. 

The air changed with every step, warm one moment, cold the next, like we were moving through sections of the cave that belonged to different depths stitched together by force. The ceiling lowered until Cassian had to angle his shoulders and drag me under a jagged ridge that hung down like a broken tooth. 

Behind us, the webs shivered. 

The sound came a heartbeat later, a rush of tiny impacts that grew into a continuous scrape, like a hundred claws finding purchase at once. I glanced over Cassian’s shoulder and my stomach tightened. 

The spiders were moving. 

They poured out of the ceiling like the webbing had been holding them back only until we gave it a reason. Their bodies dropped onto the walls, onto the floor, onto each other, legs folding and unfolding in frantic rhythm as they surged after us The light caught their eyes in scattered points that blinked as they crawled, and the swarm stretched so far back that the tunnel behind us looked filled. 

Xylas clicked his tongue sharply behind us. “Faster.” 

Cassian did not answer, but his grip bruised my arm through my sleeve as he pulled me harder, his steps lengthening even as the tunnel fought him. 

The swarm gained. 

I heard the spiders hit stone close enough that I could imagine their legs scraping along the ground behind my boots, and the urge to look again almost pulled my head backward until Cassian yanked me forward by force. 

178 

3:13 pm 

PP D 

Chapter 285 

Xylas’s boots pounded behind us, heavier now with Rio’s weight. 

Then I saw Xylas’s hand move. 

He reached into his pocket without slowing. 

My eyes caught the shape as it came out, and the breath in my throat stalled. 

A fae stone device. 

It looked like the one Nicho had used earlier. The faint glow along its seams pulsed once as if it recognized air. 

Xylas threw it. 

65 vouchers 

The device spun through the tunnel behind us, arcing low, then skipping once across stone and sliding straight into the heart of the swarm. 

“Go,” Xylas said, his voice hard. “Do not stop.” 

Cassian did not stop. 

He dragged me forward so fast my feet barely kept full contact with the ground, my boots catching on broken rock, my shoulder slamming into the wall once as we turned sharply into a narrower passage. The air compressed there, the stone overhead dipped so low that Cassian shoved me down and half carried me for three steps just to get us through. 

The explosion hit behind us. 

It was not a clean blast. 

It was a crack that shook the tunnel from the inside, followed by a pressure wave that shoved air forward like a fist. Dust burst around us in a choking cloud. Pebbles rained from the ceiling. The ground vibrated hard enough that my teeth clicked, and something behind us collapsed with a heavy, sliding roar. 

Cassian did not slow until he saw an opening to the side, a narrow break in the wall that looked like nothing from a distance. 

A pocket cave. 

He shoved me into it first, then ducked inside as the air filled with grit. 

“Xylas,” Cassian said sharply, it sounded like an order even though his voice was tight. 

The King staggered in right after him, still carrying Rio, his armor coated in dust, his hair and shoulders speckled with stone flakes. He moved like his legs wanted to keep running even though the space ended. 

“Put him down,” Cassian said. 

Xylas lowered Rio onto the ground with a controlled drop, one knee hitting the stone as he adjusted the body so Rio’s head was not twisted at an angle that would stop him from breathing. 

The pocket was barely large enough for the three of us, and the entrance was a jagged slit that Cassian immediately started blocking with loose rocks, shoving them into place fast, leaving a narrow gap for air. 

My hands moved before my mind finished catching up. 

I dropped beside Rio and pressed my fingers to his neck. 

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24 

8:13 pm 

Chapter 283 

PPD 

His skin was cold. 

Not the chill of damp air, but the cold that sat too deep, the kind that did not match the heat of blood that had been spilling from him. My fingertips traced along the sticky line of it, searching for the pulse beneath. 

I found it. 

It was faint, but it was there. 

Then Rio’s eyes opened. 

The iris was not the brown I knew. 

It was red. 

Not bloodshot red from pain or lack of sleep, but a full, unnatural color that filled the eye like it belonged there. His gaze locked onto me immediately, as if he had been awake the entire time and only chose this moment to show it. 

My body stiffened just as Rio’s hand shot up. 

His fingers clamped around my throat so hard the pressure cut off my breath instantly. He yanked me forward with strength that did not match his injuries. My back hit the stone behind me. My vision sparked at the edges. 

Cassian moved, his sword was immediately on Rio’s neck. Xylas lunged at the same time, hand reaching for Rio’s wrist. 

However, Rio did not release me. 

Instead, he tightened his grip instead, his thumb pressing into the side of my throat in a way that made swallowing impossible. His other hand shifted, not searching for a weapon, but bracing against the ground as if he was anchoring himself for something worse. 

Then he smiled. 

“Got you,” he said, voice calm, almost amused. 

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