Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
She wanted me to kill them all, but she was stuck in my hand as I watched a group of witches surround Fenrir.
Tears leaked from my eyes, but I couldn’t brush them away. Liv had told them not to kill Fen, but would they listen to her? Would Liv decide to punish me for fighting her?
I struggled to move, fought with every cell of my being, and I couldn’t. Panic surged through me. We were being completely overrun, and they were holding Fenrir down with their spells. He howled out in pain.
“I have her!”
I watched in horror as a dark-haired witch dragged Evan into my field of vision. She had her hands wrapped around Evan’s arms, and I could see where the princess had started to bleed.
“Thank the goddess.” Liv turned, her relief obvious. “Take her through. The rest of us will follow. We need to clean up here and make sure all our people are out of the Under.”
Evan looked over at me, tears in her eyes. “Kelsey, it’s the only way. Can’t let Fen die.”
I tried to shake my head, tried to force the words out, but this spell seemed to work like the bindings Liv had placed on me earlier. They tightened when I struggled, and I felt pressure at my throat like an invisible hand choking the life out of me. If I didn’t stop moving, it would cut off my oxygen supply and make it super easy for Liv to get me through her portal.
Fucking painting. I hate art now. You really can’t trust it. One minute it’s a nice little scene, something to brighten up the place, and the next it’s a fucking portal to Hell.
We were about to be dragged through, and I didn’t know what would happen.
I’d lost twelve years, and now I would lose the rest.
“We should kill the wolf,” a dark voice said. “It’s what the master would want. We kill the fucking dog and bring his pelt back.”
Liv held a hand up. “No. We’re not… Why would we kill him when we can sell him to the wolves who want him? He’s a valuable bargaining chip.”
Evan turned her head to look Fen’s way, and then her whole body stiffened as though getting ready for something. Likely steeling herself for what happened next.
I wanted to tell her to survive, to stay alive because her parents would do anything to get her back.
Including trading their lives for hers.
I’d never felt so utterly and completely useless as I did in that moment when I realized I was going to lose them all. I hadn’t meant to leave them in this world, hadn’t meant for them to grow up in a place I couldn’t even recognize, but they had, and I was failing them again.
“Hey!” The witch who held Evan kicked back, but I could see Puff defending Evan, sinking those fangs into the witch’s ankle.
Evan took the opportunity to pull away.
Run. Run as fast as you can. I tried to yell the words but they wouldn’t come out. I wanted her to run and not look back, to get out as fast as she could. She had a whole life in front of her. She was supposed to be the one I protected.
Instead I stood there unable to move as the witch who’d held her started trying to kill Puff, Liv argued about whether they should murder my son or sell him for profit, and Evan looked at me. So fucking young. So brave.
“It’s the only way,” she said.
And ran forward, impaling herself on Gladys.
I watched in complete horror as she reached up, taking the blade in her hands and forcing herself further on. The blade slid deep, and Evan began to bleed.
“Tell Fenrir I loved him,” she whispered and then her head fell back.
And all the power in the world seemed to flow through my veins.
Chapter Twenty
The world seemed to recede around me, and there was zero doubt that this would work. Evan was as much a queen as her mother, and Gladys approved of her blood.
The first time the queen and I had worked this magic, Gladys had shown us our history, flashing us images of when we had been warriors, Amazons on the banks of the Thermodon. Gold magic had flowed through me, and I’d been suffused with a sense of joy.
Not so this time. This time the horror at what Evan had done was shoved back as a silvery cloud rushed over my brain and time seemed to still. Evan and I were caught in whatever her blood had unleashed, and I felt icy fingers move over my brain.
Myrddin. He was here. A piece of him, some echo that lived in his blood, now existed inside Gladys.
“Can you see her?” Evan’s voice reached out through the fog we found ourselves in. She was here with me because she was connected to Gladys. Because Gladys was lodged in her chest.