A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5658

The child's fury only deepened. She sprang at him, tiny fists flailing, wild and desperate.

Jared slipped aside with a whisper of boots on gravel; her blows struck empty air.

"Enough!" he snapped, brow furrowing.

She froze, glare turning eerily calm. "You will pay for my parents' blood," she whispered.

Jared blinked. The words chilled him more than any blade.

A prickle of danger washed over him—instinct screaming like a struck bell.

The girl whipped a dagger from her ragged coat and lunged, point aimed at his heart.

Reflex took him. He twisted, caught her slender wrist, steel hovering inches from his chest.

"What are you doing?" he thundered.

She answered with a cold, brittle laugh. "You stole their lives. I'll take yours."

Rage and sorrow collided within Jared. He stared into those grief-black eyes and felt a grim resolve settle over him. If mercy cannot reach her, then only finality remains.

Jared knelt, the valley wind tugging at his dust-stained cloak, and leveled his gaze with the child's haunted eyes. "Child, I can bring you to your parents," he promised, voice low yet carrying the weight of an oath.

A spark of desperate hope broke across the child's grime-streaked face. "Really? Then hurry!" the youngster cried, bouncing on bare heels.

Jared's reply was a single, somber nod. He rose, the sword flashing out. A crescent of icy, steel-blue energy ripped from the blade and sped toward the child with impossible speed.

"No!" Sylvia's cry split the air, raw and sharp.

She had never believed Jared would truly strike. Terror pinned her feet to the earth even as her hands flew up, far too slow to halt what was already done.

The arc of energy passed clean through the child's slight torso, leaving no blood—only a ghostly shimmer that fizzled in the sunlight.

Wide-eyed, the child stared at Jared as though the world itself had betrayed him. Then, like a puppet whose strings were severed, she folded silently to the ground.

Jared lowered his sword, its humming edge subsiding. "Your parents are waiting for you in hell," he murmured. "I merely opened the door."

Sylvia whirled toward him, shock and confusion crashing across her pale features. "Jared, how could you..."

He drew a long breath, the metallic aftertaste of violence still clinging to it. "Ms. Vale, I know you ached for that child, but hatred had already blinded her. Moments ago, she tried to end my life. In a land where the strong devour the weak, mercy is a luxury that drags its bearer to ruin."

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