Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Anyone?” he echoed, the hope gone.
Not giving myself an opportunity to ponder the end results, I called, “I will. I’ll do it.”
All eyes swung my way. Patch and Leona gaped, even shook their heads in negation, but the executioner glared. Would he kill me?
We would find out. Because I couldn’t let him kill an innocent. And this young mother who’d only sought to protect her child was innocent. I removed my hat, thrust it at Patch, and raised my chin. “I will,” I repeated.
The mother collapsed to her knees, sobbing. When the crimen above her head faded, I knew it took residence over mine; an awful, eerie energy pulsed against my skin.
For Jasher. For Tandi. For me.
The crowd parted, creating a path for me as I made my way forward. Up the steps and onto the stage. “Go,” I told the mother. “Find your aunt and child and never come back here. Stay hidden.”
She sprinted off as fast as her feet would carry her. Good.
The rain increased. Every droplet stung like a needle prick. Jasher held my stare as I willingly approached the chopping block.
“What of your father?” he snapped. “How will you transport serpens-rosa to him when you are dead?”
When, not if. “Why are you talking? The storm comes. Kill me.” Brave talk. I knelt down and rested my cheek on the wood. Tremors plagued me, but I didn’t cry. Not even when I caught sight of Leona and Patch. Both looked ready to vomit.
“You don’t think I will?” Fury laced Jasher’s question. “You’ve tied my hands, Moriah. Ensured I must end someone else I care for. How could you do this to me?” he hissed.
The confession rocked me in ways I couldn’t have guessed. “I care for you, too, Jasher.” Very much. The sky darkened until being electrified by forks of lightning. “You’re running out of time,” I reminded him, merciless. I had to be.
“You have none left,” he snapped.
From the corner of my eye, I watched him raise the ax. I bit my tongue, tasting blood. If he did it, he did it. I died. End of story. At least I’d made a difference in someone’s life, stood up for what I believed, fought against the wrongness I despised, and taken a chance on a man worthy of the risk.
“You have ruined me, princess.”
His guttural admission wrecked me. “I take that as a compliment, tinman.”
Wind whipped up, blowing locks of my hair around my face. An animalistic roar sounded not too many miles away, sending the crowd into a frenzied panic.
Shouts rang out. “The monstra!” “Kill her!” “Kill her before we’re destroyed!”
One roll of thunder bled into another. Still Jasher hesitated. Other roars came louder and louder. My ring heated at last.
With a roar of his own, Jasher finally did it. He swung.
The blade sliced into the floor of the dais directly beside the chopping block, avoiding me entirely. “Run,” he commanded the crowd. “The monstra come.”
The people dispersed, screaming and dashing for cover in the woods. Only Leona and Patch remained. The mayor dropped the pack and floundered, as if torn. Patch let the hat fly away and held up her fists, ready to fight.
Shock reverberated in my bones. Jasher hadn’t beheaded me. Had let me live. Had risked utter destruction. Now, the girls were hanging back, putting their lives on the line to help us.
Gripping the neckline of my shirt, Jasher hauled me to my feet and shoved a dagger hilt in my hand. “Lead as many as you can to the oasis,” he instructed, each word dripping with fury.
I’d saved him from himself, but he might not forgive me for it.
“I won’t leave you to battle the enemy on your own.” I wasn’t a skilled soldier, and yet otherworldly confidence accompanied the ring’s heat. A strength I’d experienced only once before, only in greater measure. Suddenly the dagger felt natural in my grip, as if it had become an extension of my arm.
“Lead as many as you can to the oasis,” he repeated, tossing a crossbow to Patch, who caught the weapon with ease. He lobbed a mini-whip at Leona, but she dropped it.
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Patch announced over the thunder.
“M-me either,” Leona squeaked on a raspy plume of air.
All but spewing fire from his nostrils, Jasher jerked his ax free of the wood and withdrew the other from its sheath. “If any of you die, it’s your fault. I’ll accept no blame.”
The ring’s heat amplified to blistering, and I heard myself say, “No one is dying today.” The words spilled from deep inside my being, from a well I hadn’t known I possessed.
As rain beat upon us, the chorus of roars increased in volume. With the next flash of lightning, I spied them. The monstra. By a miracle I didn’t yet understand, fear remained at bay. Three creatures streaked through the sky, as grotesque as advertised. A twisted amalgamation of a dragon, bull, and wolf whose incarnations hailed from nightmares rather than nature. They were even bigger than the stuffed mounts in West’s office with gnarled black horns spiked from their heads. Their crimson eyes were whirlpools of hatred. Smoke wafted from their nostrils.