Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Retreat!” Bram demands, waving his wand with another efficient sweep that materializes a blade that halves two robed figures into broken, unconscious heaps next to those Caden subdued.
Someone loops an arm about my waist and hauls me closer while Caden clutches me. I scream until I realize the second arm belongs to Hurstgrove. Mr. Titled is helping to protect me.
Bram reaches for Aquarius, who looks wide-eyed and terrified. Before he can secure her against his side, one of the skeletons in robes grabs her and literally tosses her in Zain’s direction. She shrieks, the chilling sound making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“No one is leaving until I get that book!” Zain snarls as Aquarius lands against him. He absorbs her smaller body with a grunt, then traps her with a lean forearm around her waist. “I’ll count to three. One.” He glares at Duke, who still holds the tome. “Two.” He raises a brow at Duke as he lifts his wand to Aquarius’s head.
“Do something!” I shout.
“Three,” Zain spits. “You stupid wankers.”
Then Aquarius jerks and gasps, her green eyes popping wide as she lets loose a bloodcurdling scream.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
Aquarius’s face turns red, then purple, before swelling into something cracked and terrible.
I wriggle, struggling to free myself from Caden and Hurstgrove, who are holding me back, so I can reach my friend. But their grips are unyielding.
“Let me go!” I screech. “I must save her!”
As my words peal off the walls, Aquarius’s eyes roll into the back of her head, and she falls limp in Zain’s arms, her entire body bloated, skin blistered. Is she even breathing?
“No!” I flail and curse, redoubling my efforts to reach her.
Neither man restraining me budges an inch.
Despite retaining his hold on me, Caden kicks one of the corpse-like attackers, delivering some martial arts roundhouse that snaps the minion’s spine in half. Blood spurts everywhere. Black blood, just like Chloe described. I gape in horror.
“Humans converted to magical zombies, like the dead soldiers in the tunnel. Bloody hell…” I whisper.
“Anarki. They’re conscripted men minus a soul.” Caden kicks another half-dead creature who tries to sneak up on Bram. Again, the brittle body breaks apart and bleeds black as he collapses.
Bram, who has been slicing and gouging the others in robes with his magically materialized sword, rushes to my side. All around us is a pile of unconscious Mathias followers, some rotting, some not, littered on the ground. Now only Zain and two of his robed peers stand.
“Put the girl down,” Bram says. “Call off the rest of your lackeys. They’re no match. Let’s fight this fairly, you and I.”
Zain scoffs. “I don’t give two fucks about fighting fairly. The girl is alive.” He jostles Aquarius in his grip, and she bounces like a rag doll. “But only just. Give me the book, and I’ll let her live. If not…”
My heart screams with fear.
“Give it to him!” I hurl at Bram.
The wizard huffs. He isn’t budging.
The book must be more powerful than Aquarius told me. Otherwise, Bram would be surrendering it. I suppose that putting it in Zain’s hands would be as good as putting it into Mathias’s, but Aquarius is my friend. If Bram doesn’t comply, I’ve no doubt Zain will kill her.
To my surprise, he eases the book toward Zain, who reaches for it while struggling to maintain his hold on Aquarius. I cast an anxious glance at my friend. She looks horrifyingly still, so close to dead. I bite back a cry.
At the last second, Bram retracts the book, tucking it into his protective clutch as he slings the tip of his wand toward Aquarius. A cooling wind suddenly sweeps her up and sucks her toward Bram.
Zain is having none of it. He brandishes his wand at Aquarius, too, and her body jolts to a shuddering stop as opposing forces battle for her life in mid-air. She keens, the sound rife with agony.
Around me, Hurstgrove dispatches the final two Anarki with a pair of spells. I’m shocked to see that, under their robes, they’re both normal looking men—well, wizards—who clutch wands in their frozen fists.
“Your Anarki are all unconscious or dead. You’re alone and outnumbered,” Bram points out. “Give up or fight me.”
Suddenly, he shoves the book into my hand. Startled, I grasp it and hold on for dear life. My stare meets Bram’s blue gaze, his sharp with warning. Do not give it to Zain. He described it as a weapon of some sort. I understand.
But…Aquarius.
Zain scans my foyer, looking uncertain for the first time. Bram takes advantage of the opening and lunges, hooking one arm around him. With his free hand, he grabs my hippie friend and hurtles her in midair. Hurstgrove takes hold of her wrist.
“Go!” Bram shouts at him.
Instantly, Hurstgrove’s arm tightens around me. A sense of falling assails me. Like being in a dark, endless well. I thrash about, looking for escape, but he and Caden still hold me tight. I squeeze my eyes shut and try not to vomit.