The wendigo's screeches as it burned to death followed me into the safety and cover of the trees. Once I felt I was at a safe enough distance, I slowed the horse down and turned around to survey the battleground.
Hundreds of people fought in the field below. The only way to tell who was on which side was by the black and gold uniforms of Octavius' guards. But I assumed that everyone else was with Liam and the Pax since they were hacking the guards to pieces. I tried to spot Liam in the fray, but it was impossible from here.
Even though I couldn't see Liam, there were still some amazing people fighting Octavius' forces. Men in crimson cloaks teleported around their enemies, chopping off their heads from behind. Giant wolves, lions, tigers, bears, and other shapeshifters used tooth and claw to rip the enemy apart. Mages flung fireballs, erected spires of ice to impale their enemies, and opened fissures in the ground beneath their feet.
With his bright blue hair, the undine man was easy to spot standing back-to-back with a brunette woman. The sword of a guard went straight through them without any effect. That guard quickly lost his head against the woman. Another woman with shining red hair soared above the ground on the back of a great golden dragon as she rained exploding arrows from above. Two small, white shapes nearly indistinguishable against the snow appeared to be playing a game of leapfrog on the guards' heads. For a second, I thought they could be the children from the garage sale, but there was no way there could be kids here.
Quickly, the guards started to fall against the overwhelming number of Pax. Octavius was losing, but the battle still raged on and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I was beginning to feel the full extent of my injuries.
What the hell did I get myself into? There was no way that I could compete with any of these people. I had to get out of here before anyone found me. I needed to go find a safe hiding spot and wait for Liam, so I urged the horse to hurry deeper into the forest.
As soon as the sight of the castle was eclipsed by the trees and the sounds of those fighting and dying had faded, I slowed the horse to a stop in a secluded nook behind what I assumed was a rock formation buried in the snow.
The instant its hooves stopped moving, the horse collapsed onto the snowy ground. I yelped in pain as it threw me to the ground, slamming my legs into a tree hard enough that I heard one of my ankles snap. As I landed at the base, the entire crust of snow on the bended pine collapsed on the lower half of my body.
Tears stung my eyes, not only from pain, but from frustration. I survived all of this gory crap, only to die again from fucking hypothermia in the frozen woods God only knew where with a headless horse.
I just wanted Lexie.
I wanted my best friend back more than anything in the world. There wasn't really anything that she could do about the post-traumatic stress I would undoubtedly have in the few hours I probably had left to live, but I wanted her anyway. The full weight of the horrors that she had gone through because of me slapped me in the face.
I just wanted her back.
“Constance, honey?” I could have sworn I heard Lexie's voice in the quiet taiga night. A cool hand touched my bare back, sticky from dirt, sweat, and drying blood. I jerked my head up to see Lexie kneeling in the snow in front of me.
She looked even more pale than usual and her hair was a mess. She was wearing the same purple, stars-and-moons pajamas she'd died in, now covered in dried blood. Her bow lips were pursed in confusion and her blue eyes were staring at me like I'd just donned a fish suit and danced a jaunty jig. Across her neck was an angry-looking red line with raw edges, but it wasn't bleeding at all.
She stroked the matted, disgusting rats' nest that used to be my hair a few times before pulling her hand back and giving it a grossed-out look.
“Good God, girl, what the hell happened to you? Is that blood?” she asked, looking like she couldn't decide whether or not I was too yucky to hug right now. I must have looked miserable and pathetic enough that Lexie overcame her borderline phobia of anything dirty and pulled me into an embrace, hugging my head against her chest. When I didn't hear a heartbeat in her chest, I couldn't take it anymore.
I collapsed into her lap and screamed.
Dear Reader,
I can't thank you enough for spending your valuable time and money on my book. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it. It took a lot of hard work and courage to get it written, edited, and published.
It would mean the world to me if you'd leave me an honest review at Amazon and/or Goodreads. Indie authors rely on reviews from readers just like you to make our living.
Constance's journey continues in Duo, which will be available on November 23rd, 2016. Join my mailing list with the link below for deleted scenes, author commentary, and progress reports.
eepurl.com/cgdV0P
About the Author
Raven Whitney is a broke millennial living in her parent's horse barn on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She graduated with honors from college with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry, but left behind a career in academia to pursue all the stories that had been so insistently whispering in her ears since she was a teenager. She dreams of one day opening her own microbiology lab and owning a little home of her own in a place that has stoplights and a dating pool that's bigger than the gene pool.
When she isn't attached to her laptop or working on the farm, she's often found nestled in the couch with at least two animals and a book. She's a sucker for anything with a fuzzy face, silly BuzzFeed articles, and chocolatey sweets. She is also a lifelong hoarder of books and mangas and will one day die when a mountain of her collection collapses on her.
She's still learning this whole social media thing, but here's where you can find her:
Website: www.ravenwhitney.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RavenWhitneyAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RWhitneyAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rwhitneyauthor/
Also By Raven Whitney
Stone Mage Saga
Unus
Duo (coming November 2016)
Tresia (coming December 2016)
Quattore (coming January or February 2017)
Many more to be written!
Please enjoy the following preview of the next book in Constance’s adventures, Duo, available for purchase on November 23, 2016.
Images of red and darkness and terror flashed through my mind. The faces of the innocent people whose lives I'd taken stared at me from the void. Again, I relived that indescribably painful moment as the light faded from Lexie's eyes. Chattering skulls painted in crimson skittered around me, whispering to me.
“Wake up!” Lexie whisper/yelled in my ear, shaking me from my slumber.
I looked over to see her face was alight with fear and her eyes kept darting between me and the door. My heart leaped into my throat and I glanced to the door, now unblocked.
“Someone just came in.”
Over the sound of my racing heartbeat, I could hear light, slow footfalls echoing through the apartment. Lexie grabbed my feet and pulled me off the bed, making almost no sound. She looked around frantically for someplace to hide as the steps grew closer.
I pointed behind her. “Closet.”
She turned around and we rushed inside.
It was a tiny space barely big enough for the two of us and the slatted doors allowed the dim early morning light to pass through the gauzy sheers. If there was enough of an opening for light to shine in, it was big enough for whoever it was to spot us, but unless we were going to jump out the second story window into traffic, it would have to do.
The door creaked open and the footsteps entered the bedroom, pausing just inside the threshold.
My muscles tensed and numbed at the same time and all I could hear now were those footsteps, careful and measured as though they were stalking. As if from a ghost, I could hear Unus' taunting voice ringing through my head and I could barely keep my breathing quiet.
“
Come out now.” A familiar voice enunciated each word with an unfamiliar, icy tone.
I sobbed aloud with overwhelming relief. It was my grandma, Gwennaby Dillon.
The closet doors burst open and there she was, but it wasn't her— not exactly. Her big, brown eyes, wide with shock, were no longer framed with the laugh lines earned from countless smiles. The messy, short curls that framed her round, rosy face were now the same shade of auburn as my own. My grandmother couldn't be a day older than thirty.
“Gan yr holl dduwiau a sêr!” She lunged forward to pull us into her embrace. “I was so scared!”
The smell of her favorite perfume surrounded me and every thought fled my mind. Of their own volition, my arms flung themselves around her and clung to her and all of the warmth she brought to my heart. Suddenly, I couldn't think of the reasons Lexie and I had come up with to avoid anyone we knew.
She jerked back and grabbed my face with one hand and Lexie's in the other. “What in the seven hells happened? Where have you been? Do you know what you've put me through, put your mother through?” Her shock turned quickly into anger and her pale, plump cheeks flushed cherry red.
Her eyes bored holes in mine and I wanted tell her everything, I wanted to ask her about her face, but I clammed up under the pressure. She turned her intense stare to Lexie before her face lost all of its color. Her gaze was frozen on Lexie, who stood there just as agape as me— or more specifically, the red line around her neck.
The hands which were holding our faces dropped limply to her sides. Without another word, she turned around and walked into the living room before plopping onto the couch. She stared blankly at the wall in front of her.
Finally, she turned to us with a carefully blank expression. “Did you do that, Constance?”
I felt put on the spot, like a child being asked if I'd broken the vase. “Um, I— I don't know what you mean.”
“Did you raise her?”
Unus (Stone Mage Saga Book 1) Page 16