From Ashes, A Queen Rises

van pull away from the curb. Kenzie Drake, wrapped in a silk

one?" sh

eyes fixed on the street b

excitement in her voice. "The hunters you hir

om the window. "Either she learns her lesson, or

the sound o

. Mommy,

raw. We were lying on a bed of damp leaves, the canopy of a dense jung

screaming in prote

ng, his face hidden by a grotesque boar mask. He held a lon

to my arms. The man in the mas

an. I plunged into the thick undergrowth, thorns and branches tearing at m

t's okay. Mom

and cruel, echoed through the

ing my foot on a root. Ava's head hit a low-hanging branch, and she

y fear. It was replaced by a rage so

guttural roar and launched myself at him, a wild animal protecting her young. I slamm

t up. I snatched Ava and ran

ng to come from all directions. It was

ght. A house, perched on a cliff overloo

the bushes. I peered throu

ood turne

sofa, drinking champagne, watching a large screen. On the sc

hing us be hun

s reborn as something else. Some

my chest. I will live. And I will come back for you. I

d men were closing in, their dark shapes movi

rock held high, and charged the nearest man. I brought the rock dow

screamed as white-hot pain shot through me. The world went black for a second, but I didn't fa

I fought. I fought with the last of my strength, a mother lion defending

I was on my knees, my body a mass of ag

blow. I didn't flinch. I just held my daughter tighter, whisperin

w never

icient thuds. Shouts of surpr

ounding them, and me, was a team of men in bla

d, familiar face, walked towar

full of relief and apology. "We're