Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
She stops a foot away from Caz, looking him up and down. I wheeze a bit harder as she assesses me. Then, with a heavy accent, she says, “Kill them.”
The women don’t waste any time bringing their weapons forward as Hassha backs away.
“Wait!” Caz calls. “You can’t be serious! Your sister sent us! We’re Tethered—a Cold Tether, created by Selah! She said you would help us!”
“You, a man, come to my land spouting lies about my sister,” Hassha hisses, and just before she turns away, I find the strength to raise my hand with the gold crown piece in the air.
The piece falls out of my hand, landing on the grass, next to Hassha’s foot. She bends down to pick it up, and the gold piece transforms to what looks like a hair clip with prongs on the end. Immediately, Hassha’s eyes expand, and she looks from the piece to us again with curiosity swirling in her eyes.
She removes her crown, and the other women murmur amongst themselves as they watch Hassha press the piece to the broken side of it. It bonds to the crown with a gentle lavender spark that crackles.
“Korah,” Hassha whispers, her face crumpling with emotion.
“Please,” Caz pleads, and this time it’s sincere, not demanding, or angry. “You have to help her. She’ll die if you don’t.”
Hassha cuts her misty eyes to Caz. “Place her on the ground. Quickly,” she demands.
Caz does as he’s told and settles me on the grass. I cry out as the pain worsens while Hassha drops to her knees and heavily presses her hands on my chest. Never in my entire life have I felt this much pain, but it rips right through me, shocking every nerve in my body. I can’t help but scream.
An iridescent blue light emits from Hassha’s hands. Heat circulates through me, the pain fading by the second and my nerves calming. When Hassha pulls her glowing blue hands away, she looks to one of the women.
“Take her to Wellness Bay right away,” she commands, and the woman moves toward me, along with another. One of the women comes around with a wagon attached to her horse, and they place me on top of it. The wagon jolts, rocking and bumping, and I look up at the sky as white birds soar overhead, and not a single cloud is in sight.
I don’t feel like I’m dying anymore…but I am sleepy. Caz appears at my side, eyes chockful of worry.
“You’ll be okay,” he whispers, grabbing my hand and kissing it. “I’ll be here. I love you.”
I try to smile but find that I can’t. He releases my hand as the wagon continues rolling, and I close my eyes, falling into a comatose sleep.
Chapter 43
CAZ
“Where are you taking her?” I turn to Hassha as she grips the reins of a white horse.
She looks at me through the corner of her eye. “To Wellness Bay. We can heal her better there.” She gives me a onceover. “She has a dark energy in her that I haven’t felt in a very long time. We have things that can draw it out of her, but it will take time.”
“Do you believe us then? About Korah sending us to you?”
She exhales, reaching for the crown on her head. She removes it and studies the section that she’d previously attached. A splotch of Willow’s blood is on it, and she wipes it away with her thumb as if it’s a random smudge. Then she narrows her eyes at me, replacing it. “You say she’s your mate, but she doesn’t feel Vakeeli born.”
“That’s because she’s from Earth.”
“Ah. Explains how you got to Korah then.”
“My queen!” someone shouts, and Hassha’s head turns to find the voice. A woman in white rushes our way with two younger girls trailing behind. These girls can’t be any older than nine or ten. One has skin as dark as Korah’s with hair as snow-white as Hassha’s. Her striking blue eyes are set on Hassha, an excited expression on her face. The other girl has skin that’s just as pale as mine, her hair dark, eyes silver. Both wear dark tribal clothing and are barefoot. They continue making their way toward us while dragging something behind them in a black net.
“The girls found a man!” the woman announces.
“Mum!” the young dark-skinned girl shouts. “We took him down! See? We did good!”
“You shouldn’t have taken anyone down because I told you two to stay in hiding!” Hassha scolds her with a frown.
The pale girl looks at the other, eyes widening.
“We know, Mum,” the blue-eyed one continues, oblivious (or careless) to her mother’s anger. “But we saw this man running toward the village and you always tell us to protect the village no matter what, so we came out of the hiding tree to stop him!” The girls stop dragging the net, and Hassha walks toward them, dropping to one knee.