Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
I crawl onto the marble steps and get a boot to the gut. “Get up,” grunts the male standing in front of me. “We aren’t going in there. Finish your business; then we’re back on our way.”
“So sick.” I stumble to my feet, then collapse again, trying to look weak—not that it’s hard. My body’s wrecked, and with my hands bound, it’s tough to get my balance.
The female hops off her horse, and my riding buddy winds a rope around his hand and yanks hard. I stumble forward, only now realizing that they don’t just have a rope around my wrists, but one around my neck as well. Like a leash. Or a noose.
This could end very, very badly.
They climb on their horses. The male holding me snaps the rope. “Enough. You’re just stalling.”
“I could knock her out again,” the female offers, stepping toward me.
I swallow hard and pray my captors are too distracted to see the ravens I feel circling closer.
Suddenly the male holding my rope looks around wildly. “Shit! Over there!” He drops the rope and the horse’s reins and darts into the woods.
“What the—” the female ducks, as if something’s attacking her from the sky. “No! Please!”
Abriella! My mom’s voice. Like a siren call in the distance. Crashing waves fill my ears, and cold water licks my shins.
It’s not real. Do not engage.
Another male slumps on his horse and weeps. “No. Please don’t! I’m so sorry!”
A small part of me regrets dragging anyone through this mental torment, but I shut it down.
The final males stumble off their horses and scramble toward the temple steps. One cradles his head in his hands and claws at his hair as if he’s trying to rip it from his head.
Abriella! Hurry. The water’s getting too deep.
Ignoring my mother’s voice is like ignoring the need to breathe.
Abriella, please. Hold my hand.
I know if I turn my head, I’ll see her. I know if I offer my bound hands, she’ll free them and hold me close. I’ll get to look into her eyes again. Everything will be okay.
I can’t help but hesitate. My feet refuse to move.
It’s not her. My mother is gone.
I squeeze my eyes shut, blocking out the Sluagh’s siren call.
“Brie, over here!” Sebastian’s voice is so close. But has he come for me or are the Sluagh making me think he did? “Brie, let me help you.”
I want to see my mother’s face just one more time, and when I turn, I’m treated to her beautiful smile, her kind eyes—right before a wave crashes over her and pulls her under the sea.
“Mother!” I shout, diving in after her.
Hands claw at my legs, pulling me under, but I fight them and swim toward her. My mother’s chestnut hair floats around her in the water and her eyes close.
No.
Teeth like razor blades dig into my legs, my arms, rip into my gut, pulling me back from her. I fight them with the last of the air in my lungs.
“Abriella, breathe!”
I force my eyes open to see Sebastian’s face backlit by the morning light pouring into the temple’s sanctuary. He’s bending over me, and those beautiful sea-green eyes are ravaged with worry.
“I knew you’d come,” I whisper, but I can’t keep my eyes open. Then a soft wind picks me up from the ground and I’m in his arms, being carried away from the temple and down the mountain.
“I’ll always come for you,” Sebastian whispers.
I’m vaguely aware of the voices around me. Sebastian’s frantic requests and a low voice I somehow know belongs to a healer.
“There’s nothing more I can do,” the healer says. “The toxin is everywhere in her system, and any attempts to actively heal strengthen the poison.”
“She’s hurting,” he says, his voice raw.
“All we can do is wait. She needs rest. She needs to be home. Put her close to anything she naturally draws power from. Take her to the roof and let her rest beneath the stars.”
“We’re bonded,” he says, gasping. “Can’t I do something? Can’t she pull from me somehow?”
“The bond doesn’t work like a tether. You know this, Prince Ronan.”
My muscles scream as I’m scooped into someone’s arms.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “Abriella, I’m so sorry. I know what to do.”
And then I feel weightless, like I’m leaving my body. And it’s a relief, even as I fight it. I need to be in my body. I’m afraid if I leave it, I’ll never come back. If I disconnect from this physical pain, I’ll never find the courage to return.
I’m thrown back into myself in a rush, and I feel the arms around me shift, feel Sebastian stumble.
“Thank you,” Sebastian murmurs, and then I hear the sounds of a goblin thanking Sebastian for his payment.
“What happened?” Finn’s voice.
“I found her outside a temple in the Goblin Mountains. The others were dead, and she was like this—as if some creature tried to tear her apart.”