Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
I look up into blue eyes as I fight to keep the blade from going any farther. My muscles shake with the effort. I do not know this man, but the hatred in his eyes says he knows me.
There is something familiar about his presence, but I cannot call on my senses or wit to figure out what. More screams come from within the fire surrounding the crest. It sets in that my love is gone.
She may have chosen power over our love and used me to get to it, but I will always have love for Venus. Right as I think to allow the blade to push through my heart. The man holding the other end flies back, hitting a wall across the room.
My brothers now surround me. Bradan pulls the blade from my chest and rushes to place it in the man who held it in place as I fought against him. I can feel the fury rolling off Bradan.
As I catch my breath, Reilly looks around wildly and sniffs the air. There’s something written on his face, but I cannot place it just yet.
“What has happened here?” he says as he closes his eyes and a pained expression crosses his face.
“I do not know all the answers,” I say.
He and Ardan help me to my feet. They are now looking at me with wide eyes. I look down at my chest and see it’s already healing.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Have you forgotten what your brother looks like?” I ask.
Ardan runs his hand through the front of my hair. “You do not look as you did when we went to slumber.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your hair is gray, Kendrick. Not all of it, but the blessed iron whitened some of your locks.”
“We can worry about that later,” Bradan seethes. “He is gone.”
“I felt others with him,” Reilly says.
“They weren’t with him. These were witches who used our temple for their own agenda.”
“No, I felt them. However, whoever that was trying to run you through, he wasn’t alone. The cloak slipped and I felt others.”
“He is right,” Ardan says.
“I think it’s time we reconsider resting here. Maybe it’s time we stick with our brother and not leave him with the burden of watching over us,” Bradan says.
“I agree. This place is no longer safe for us,” Ardan adds.
“Then we should collect our swords and leave,” Reilly says.
“But this place will collapse and we will be walking around with a source of our power that should remain somewhere we can trust.”
“That is no longer here, my brother. Let these walls fall. We can no longer call this home. We will build another.”
I tug Reilly into a hug, knowing his words are true. “What woke you, brother?” I whisper.
“I felt…” He cuts off. “It was nothing. Let us go.”
I release him and turn to the crest. The fire is out and smoke is settling around it. My heart aches as not even a single ash remains of my love and her sisters.
They were the last of their bloodline. Now gone forever. Venus once shared with me about The Book of Paths that kept her and her sisters connected to their bloodline’s history.
I cannot help but wonder if it was destroyed in the fire. I shake the thought off as my brothers and I move into our respective positions around the crest.
The room shakes as we each call forth our swords. Debris falls from the ceiling and the ground breaks apart. All four swords lift from the ground and come to rest in our palms. I say my last goodbye to my love and then vanish from this place before it caves in. Never to look back or see it again.
Impossible
Present…
It feels as if I’m dreaming, but I know I’m not. I’ve just lived through someone’s past. Or should I say relived?
It’s like pain stabs me in the chest as my mind rushes through visions of the past as well as through memories of my life. The weirdest part about it is that I know I’m not the only one in my head watching all of this.
He is in my head. Kendrick, that’s his name. I also sense someone else. All of it is so confusing and overwhelming.
I fight to open my eyes and regain consciousness. I sit up with a gasp as if rising out of water. Cautiously, I lift to my feet and stand on solid ground.
“Ben kralım,” Kendrick roars.
The mirrors in the room shatter with his words and the room shakes. I duck and cover my head, waiting for the shards of glass to fall on me, but it never happens.
Heart racing, I peek out from under my arm. Kendrick stands across the room with his chest heaving. However, that’s not what has my brain glitching and my eyes wide.