Alicia dangled five feet above the frost-covered floorboards, her face turning a deep, dangerous shade of purple as Draven's thick fingers clamped down on her windpipe. Her tiny hands hit blindly against his forearm, but the Duke's arm remained as unyielding as iron.
Yet, despite the suffocating pressure cutting off her air, Alicia's bloodshot eyes bulged with a hysterical, venomous spark. She opened her mouth, straining her vocal cords to squeeze out a raspy, blood-choked whisper.
"You... you think I don't know..." Alicia gasped, her crisp accent distorted by the sheer agony in her throat. "You think... I don't know what you're trying to do? You aren't... saving the South... You're trying to destroy humanity... and let the creatures take over!"
I froze at the entrance of the balcony, my mud-and-blood-soaked hand tightening around the hilt of my broadsword. My breath hitched in my throat as I stared at Draven.
