The Night Realm
Page 35
The sweet oblivion of sleep called to him, but anxiety bubbled through his chest. He had escaped Asphodel, and now … now the real hell began. The hunters would come—not just for him, but for Clio too. There was no safe place for them to go. They would have to run, hide, run again. It would never end.
But that wasn’t the only thing spurring the sick fear creeping through him. For the first time since its theft, he allowed himself to think about the KLOC. That bodyguard had stolen a spell he didn’t understand. If he figured out how to trigger it without the key … if he unleashed it in the wrong place …
The KLOC was the biggest mistake Lyre had ever made, and he could never allow anyone to use it again. He’d told Clio some of its potential to inflict devastation, but he hadn’t told her the worst of it.
Squeezing his eyes closed, he rolled onto his side and curled an arm over Clio, pulling her warmth closer. A soft sound slipped from her, a murmur that might have been contentment. He buried his face in her hair, filling his nose with her sweet scent, and a moment later, he was asleep.
Clio scrunched her eyes more tightly closed to block out the light. Grumbling, she attempted to roll away, but a warm weight across her middle held her down. Huffing, she opened her eyes.
Yellow light blazed, and she turned her head toward the small window, staring in awe. Sun. The warm, brilliant Earth sun. Was she dreaming?
Then she glanced down and figured she must be dreaming. Because a gorgeous incubus, too perfect for words, was curled against her side, his arm across her middle and his face tucked against her shoulder. His breath warmed her skin, his chest shifting in a slow rhythm.
Although it looked like he’d washed his face, his clothes were splattered with blood and dirt, and she was glad he was on top of the blankets and not under them with her. He was too dirty. Later, she would worry about how she’d ended up in an unfamiliar but clean shirt.
Her hand crept toward his face and she brushed his hair away from his eyes. He didn’t stir, deeply asleep. Her fingers slid down his cheek and traced his jaw where a dark bruise had formed. But he was breathing easily, so she had to assume he wasn’t badly hurt.
She remembered him falling into the underground river. She remembered Dulcet grabbing her, and she remembered desperately trying to break through his defensive weaves as he sent waves of agonizing pain through her body. But she didn’t remember anything else.
They must have escaped. Lyre must have gotten them away somehow. Where were they? She looked around at the plain, hostel-like room, then squinted her asper into focus. Aside from Lyre’s weapons leaning against the wall and the wards on the door and window, the room was devoid of magic. She had no idea where they were, but she knew one thing.
She was back on Earth. She had escaped the night realm, and she was never ever going back.
Tears welled in her eyes. She had escaped … but Kassia hadn’t.
Anguish ripped through her, abrupt and overwhelming. Sobs built in her chest, and she put her arm over her face, muffling her cries as they broke free. Her body trembled and she sucked in air to get herself under control.
Lyre mumbled something unintelligible. His arm tightened, and he pulled her against him.
She didn’t move, too startled to react. Then she turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She held him as she cried silently. Grief twined with loneliness until the darkness inside her threatened to drag her down, but she huddled against him like he was her only shelter in a violent storm.
When her tears abated, she slumped against him, exhausted. His arm was a heavy, relaxed weight around her. Despite pulling her closer, he hadn’t woken.
Tucked against him, she tilted her face toward the sun she had missed so much.
They had escaped. Now that she was free of Asphodel and the Underworld, she could focus on her next problem: finding Eryx and stopping him from unleashing Lyre’s magic-eating clock spell on Irida. And she wouldn’t pass up a chance to avenge Kassia either. But that task wouldn’t be as simple as merely tracking down Eryx—not after the way she’d escaped Asphodel.
Her bodyguard had stolen a deadly spell from Chrysalis, but Clio had gone one step further. Instead of a spell, she had stolen one of their most gifted master weavers. And Chrysalis and Hades would stop at nothing to get him back.
To be continued
in Spell Weaver: Book 2
The Shadow Weave
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THE SHADOW WEAVE
Spell Weaver: Book 2
Clio might be a nymph living in exile among humans. And she might possess the rare ability to mimic any magic she sees. And she might have just seriously ticked off the most powerful family of spell weavers in the Underworld.
But she is not in love with an incubus.
Lyre is the rebellious black sheep of said weaver family, and he’s the only reason she survived her recent Underworld “vacation.” He’s also the sexiest thing she’s ever seen. Together, they have to track down a catastrophically dangerous magic—a magic he created, she sort of stole, and they both lost—before his family gets their hands on it. And that means fighting alongside him in a desperate attempt to avert complete disaster.
But she is definitely not in love with him. At least, she’s pretty sure she’s not.
Mostly sure.
Maybe sure?
…Crap.
- Get The Shadow Weave on Amazon -
THE STEEL & STONE SERIES
YA urban fantasy by Annette Marie
Five years after the events of the Spell Weaver trilogy …
Piper knows the first rule for an apprentice Consul is don’t trust daemons. But when she’s framed for the theft of the deadly Sahar Stone, she ends up with two troublesome daemons as her only allies: Lyre, a hotter-than-hell incubus who isn’t as harmless as he seems, and Ash, a draconian mercenary with a seriously bad reputation. Trusting them might be her biggest mistake yet.
- See the Steel & Stone Series on Amazon -
THE RED WINTER TRILOGY
YA romantic fantasy by Annette Marie
A destiny written by the gods.
A fate forged by lies.
Emi has spent her life hiding from the creatures that hunt her. The savage earth spirits are determined to kill her before she can become the living host of a goddess, so she stays hidden—until the day she saves the life of one of her hunters.
Shiro isn’t the harmless fox spirit she thought he was. He’s mysterious, cunning, unpredictable … and now hers to command. He’s sworn to pay his debt to her, but he doesn’t know who she is. If he finds out, he’ll kill her.
But she can’t send him away—not yet. Her future isn’t what she thought. The lies surrounding her fate have begun to unravel, and she needs answers before time runs out—answers that lie in the spirit realm. Shiro can take her there … if she dares to trust him.
And only then will she find out how deep the gods’ treachery runs.
- See the Red Winter Trilogy on Amazon -
Special Thanks
A special thank you to alpha readers Breanna and Sheena, and beta readers Sarah, Marguerite, Jenifer, Karen, and Jennafer, for your dedication and support. I can’t say how much I appreciate your help!
About the Author
Annette Marie is the author of Amazon best-selling YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter.
Her first love is fantasy, but fast-paced action, bold heroines, and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She proudly admits she has a thing for dragons, and her editor has politely inquired as to whether she intends to include them in every book.
Annette lives in the frozen wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) and shares her life with her comparatively sensible husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
Find out more about Annette and her books here:
Website: www.annettemarie.ca
Amazon author page: amzn.to/2b8ZHlh
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorAnnetteMarie
Facebook Reader Group: www.facebook.com/groups/annettemarie/
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/8546572.Annette_Marie
Twitter: twitter.com/annettemmarie