Zara hit the wall so hard that the sound made everyone's chest tighten for one second.
Then she dropped to the floor like a sack of bones and blood, and the fresh mouthful of blood that spilled from her lips looked especially ugly against the pale stone. Her shoulders shook, her chest rose and fell in short painful breaths, and for one moment, even she seemed shocked that she was still alive.
Cyrus was still breathing hard.
His great red python tail lashed once against the floor again, and the crack of it echoed through the room like a warning. His pink eyes still looked wrong, too bright and too raw, and the scales along his body looked almost sharper in the firelight. It was obvious to everyone there that if Isabella had not spoken when she did, Zara would already be dead.
That alone made the room feel even more dangerous.
