The Duke's Reluctant Bride

Chapter 40: Stormcleave

Clara wasn't wrong when she said Valerie is good-looking. I mean, just look at her! 😆💖💖✨😍

Steel shrieked against obsidian. Sparks flared between blades as Valerie twisted her wrist, forcing the woman back a step. Trees groaned with every arc of their swords, the forest holding its breath.

The black-cloaked woman pivoted low and swept her obsidian blade in a wide arc, forcing Valerie to leap back a fair distance, boots skidding across the earth. The ground beneath them shivered as shadows pulsed outward from the woman's feet, crawling like ink across the roots and trunks. She muttered words in a guttural tongue that Valerie didn't understand—low and rhythmic, like a curse dragging itself through a grave.

Then the forest ground split open.

From the trembling soil, shapes began to rise—twisted things, hunched and snarling, their limbs too long and mouths too wide. Eyes like glowing coals blinked open beneath their dripping, blackened skin. Clawed hands tore themselves free from the dirt as more emerged, dozens of them, maybe hundreds, moving with twitchy, unnatural jerks. They didn't breathe. They didn't speak. They just watched, and waited.

Valerie's grip tightened on her sword, lightning arcing across her body in sharp pulses. The woman said nothing more—her monsters spoke everything for her.

With a sudden, guttural screech, the horde lunged forward as one, limbs flailing, claws digging into the earth as they sprinted toward Valerie on all fours like rabid beasts. The ground trembled under their charge, their shrieks cutting through the forest air like knives.

"Can't you even let the dead rest?" she said, raising her blade as the first wave closed in.

As the first wave hit—Valerie vanished in a flash of purple light, reappearing mid-air above the closest creature. Lightning surged down her arm as she brought her sword down like a thunderbolt, cleaving it clean through. Sparks exploded with every strike, each slash punctuated by a deafening crack of thunder. She moved like a storm given shape—vanishing between strikes, reappearing in bursts of crackling energy, cutting down anything that got too close.

The monsters retaliated, hurling blackened bone shards and dark projectiles from their gaping maws. Valerie deflected it quickly, lightning wrapping around her in a blinding veil. Every dodge was razor-close, her navy blue coat whipping behind her. 

Her gaze darted past the chaos, back to the woman, still hovering just beyond the horde like a spider at the center of its web. A flicker of annoyance crossed Valerie's face. She'd had enough of the warm-up.

With a crack of lightning, she launched forward, zigzagging through the swarm—too fast to catch, too sharp to stop. Her blade carved clean arcs through their bones, each strike dropping another creature before it could even react. Sparks flashed with every movement, and still, nothing touched her.

Mid-run, she pivoted hard, ducked a swipe, and drove her boot square into a creature's face. The impact cracked through the air like a cannon. Its head tore free with a sickening snap, flung backward like a kicked helmet and shot straight into the air.

It struck the cloaked woman square in the chest, forcing her to stumble mid-hover, her form shuddering as she hissed in surprise. In a flash of fury, she raised her hand and brought it down like a blade. The horde responded instantly, lunging at Valerie from all sides—swarming her like predators closing in on prey. Bodies piled in, pressing together in a crushing wave, burying her in a suffocating mass of claws, limbs, and shrieks.

For a moment, she vanished beneath them—just a silhouette swallowed by the dark, like ants devouring scraps.

Then the air split.