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)
“You hurt a hair on her head, and I’ll tear you limb from limb, you twisted fuck,” I growl. “I swear on all of Vakeeli, I’ll find a way to end you.”
He laughs, his head falling backward. “And there it is. That calm demeanor you carry so well simply vanishes when your mate comes into the equation. You’re just like the Tether you descend from. The original, Lehvine. Always throwing threats even when he’s unable to do a damn thing. Tell me, how will you do any of what you say when you’re stuck here?”
“My clan will find a way out for me.”
“There’s no way to fight it. The only way is through Selah, but that won’t happen now because I have you. The Council will have to find another chosen man…and that will never happen. Not when I begin my reign.” He taps his chin, looking all around. “How about this? I let you and Willow suffer together. That’s rather poetic, isn’t it? She feels your pain and absorbs your memories, while you get to endure it all over again.”
He forms another cloud as I shout at him, but my shouting turns to screams of agony as he continues the memory—the one that ruined my life and changed me forever.
Chapter 6
YOUNG CASPIAN
PAST
I crouched in the hiding hole when I heard the thundering voices of men. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears.
I wrapped my arms around myself as I looked up, focusing on the jagged slits of the planks. Through the slits, the sky was a hazy orange. It would be dark soon, and the thought of that terrified me because around the cabin at night, it was pitch black, and there were stories about things that only came out at night.
As wisps of light gave leeway, I decided to inspect the hole. There were no spiders or nests, fortunately, only dirt, twigs, and black worms. One of the worms tried inching away, but I picked it up and sat on my bottom. I recall my feet being bare and the cool soil wedging between my toes.
“Mum will be back,” I whispered to the worm. I held it close, studying the ridges and lumps on its body.
Then there was a familiar, high-pitched scream. Gasping, I looked up as I heard my mum shout, “No!”
Footsteps followed, swift and chaotic, and I stood promptly as the steps grew nearer. With haste, the plank was removed, and I saw my mother again. She threw her hand at me and when I took it, she yanked me out of the hiding hole.
“Come, son! Now! They know where I’ve hidden you! We must go!” There was panic in her voice and though I had no idea what was going on, I held her hand tighter. We ran away, but that’s when heard the pounding of horse hooves behind us.
“Don’t look back, Caspian! Just run!” Mum shouted, but I was only a child. I couldn’t help himself. As my feet moved and Mum led the way, I peered over my shoulder again and there were three men riding horses and chasing after us. Two of the men had torches gripped in their large hands and glistening black helmets on their heads, the letter B carved into the sides of them. Back then, to my young mind, they were intimidating, but not as much as the man in the middle, who rode his horse without a helmet and had dark eyes full of fury. A bushy, thick beard swarmed the lower half of his face, and he roared Mum’s name repeatedly, demanding her to stop. She didn’t.
Instead, she kept running, gunning it through the forest with my hand in hers. Panic set in when I realized this was a chase. These men were trying to get us, possibly even kill us. I whimpered and put my attention ahead again, running as quickly as I could alongside her.
The hooves of the horses grew closer. It didn’t take long for one of the men to circle us and bring us to screeching halt. The fire of his torch blazed in our faces, the heat of the fire lightly singeing my forehead, as the man shouted, “Give us the boy!”
Mum collected me into her arms with a defensive snarl. Shooting a hand in the air, she aimed it at the man and an invisible force knocked him off his horse and sent him crashing into a tree.
I gasped as Mum dropped her hand. I was in complete shock. I’d never seen her do that before. Ever. But I had no time to ask her what’d happened or how it was possible because she tossed me onto the back of the man’s horse before I could fully let it sink in.
“Azira!” the bearded man behind us bellowed, but Mum climbed onto the horse, gripped the reins, and rode off. I was still stunned by what my mother had done. She used to tell me only Mythics and the gilded had powers, yet she’d just killed a man with powers of her own. How was that possible?