Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I open my mouth to scream again, but I'm cut off when Zeke grips my elbow.
“Come on!”
I stumble to my feet, and we dash across the yard. Zeke is yanked backward, and my shoulder pops out of its socket from the force of him having no time to let me go.
A loud cry of pain escapes me as I push to my feet. I whip around as the woman, if you can fucking call her that, grips his leg and then his head, before beginning to pull.
Gritting my teeth, I turn frantically, searching for a way to save him with my arm hanging dead at my side.
Zeke’s eyes turn white, then roots explode up from the soil, wrapping around the beast’s form, as the large figure’s lower half turns from a thick, seemly solid black cloud to a thin layer of grey fog.
Zeke begins to fall to the floor, but the creature shrieks louder this time, and then she has him once again. She lifts him into the air, slamming him down into the hard earth, but he flips a hand out, eyes still white and then the grass turns to a bed of water.
He submerges completely and the beast thrashes, reaching inside, but coming up empty. When she screams again, the water blows aside in a swift wave, and his eyes widen. His arms fly up, but she snaps his wrist before he can do a thing, and his howl echoes around us.
She grips his neck, thick bands of smoke weaving around him.
His panicked eyes find mine and I jerk forward.
Run, he tries to say but his mouth won't move.
She squeezes, as do the bands around his body, just as the crack of his bones sear my mind.
“No! Stop!” I scream, darting closer.
Blood slips from Zeke’s ears and mouth as he tries to shake his head, but I keep coming.
The beast screams at me, her free arm darting out, as mine shoots up in what is sure to be a futile attempt at protecting myself, but then a harsh zap stops me. My eyes fly open to find her screeching, her mouth agape as a continued shriek fills the air.
I look to my palm. What the...
She barrels toward me; Zeke still being crushed in her arms and my working hand shooting out yet again.
I stare, shocked when a long string of flickering light pours from my fingertips. It’s an icy-blue color, and it sparks when it meets the thick smoke bands around Zeke. The tethers release him instantly and he falls to a heap on the ground.
Something inside me surges and my chest bows. My eyes flicker and twitch from darkness covering my sight. I blink, and just like that, the fog clears.
I dash for Zeke, but she comes for me full speed.
This is it. We’re about to die.
I drop over him, covering his body with mine and wait for death to come. I could be patient for death, but her screams grow louder. I open my eyes.
A clear frost flickers around us, encasing us in a small igloo.
“A shield,” he coughs, holding his stomach. I look to him; his eyes flare wide. “London, your eyes...”
“Huh?” I pant, shaking my head. I wince when the beast pounds at the ...shield? “Come on.” I grip him with my good hand and tug.
He cries out in pain. “I can’t. Everything is broken. I can’t fucking move.”
“Do you want to fucking die?!”
“Feed me.”
My head snaps back. “What?!"
“Just cut your hand. I need the energy. I'm a Mage, I can draw from the earth. I can fix enough to get us through the gate to a more legitimate healer.”
When I just stare at him, he shakes his head in pain. “It’s feed me or fuck me, London. It’s the only way to strengthen my power right now.”
I nod, opening my palm. Before I can try to find something to cut it with, a root spurts from the ground, falling limp into my hand. For whatever reason, I know what to do, closing my palm around it as it whips itself free.
When I open my palm, blood drips from my hand. I lift it to his lips as he runs his tongue along the cut and his eyes flash white.
He grunts, teeth clenching and gleaming red as small snaps and cracks sound.
The shield around us cracks and we jolt.
“Ready?” he wheezes.
I nod, and we jump to our feet, the shield moving with us as we dash for the giant wall of angry thorns.
“Fuck!” he shouts, head whipping from one side to the other, but I keep going.
“London, wait!”
The shield sparks angrily as it meets the protective wall, but I move closer anyway.
“We have to try another way!” he screams.
“Wait!” I shout back and he freezes. “It’s...”
“Opening,” he mutters in disbelief, looking at me curiously.
Ice absorbs the vines, dying and breaking into small snowflakes that melt before they touch the ground, and then the stone wall does the same.