It kills me to think I’ll have to leave her here. This hellish place that will fill my nightmares for life. She’ll be living it. Forever.
She’ll never escape this evil place. Because of me.
She came to protect me.
I shake my head, trying to figure her out. No matter what kind of scum lies over her heart, she loves me—I think that much I can justify. Her heart and soul are so smothered in pain and trauma it’s consumed her.
I loved it, she said about killing my brother. I press my eyes closed tightly as a fresh wave of pain hits me. It wouldn’t hurt this bad if...
It shouldn’t hurt this bad.
I’d do it again if given the chance, and I’d enjoy it just as much.
It’s hard to breathe as daggers press through my chest. I can feel it, the place she stabbed him. Where she carved a hole in his chest and mine in the same moment.
Hating her is easy. It’s what I’ve been doing since I was barely an adult. And so, I fall back to it, even while knowing I cannot commit entirely.
She’s stolen my heart, and that’s the crime I can never forgive.
Caelynn
Rev is sleeping when I wake. My body still aches terribly, and my back roars with pain, like a thousand razor blades embedded into my skin that bite every time I shift even slightly.
I press my hand against the wound, and my hand comes away slick with black blood. That’s probably not good. What kind of poison do these creatures have in their fangs and claws?
I pull in a few long breaths and then force myself to stand with wobbly knees. I might be screwed. Rev doesn’t trust me—not that I blame him. And I’m here with no other allies than this tagalong wraith. And I’m injured. Maybe gravely injured.
I lift my shirt and tie a quick bandage over the wound.
“About time you woke.”
I spin to find the wraith dancing over the fire. A hole where his mouth would be opens into an oddly curled smile.
It’s not pleasant.
The sky is only just beginning to lighten, so it’s not as if we slept in. I ignore the wraith and make an achingly slow climb over the stones we were sheltered by, and I find a good vantage point. Down below us is a massive valley of red stone several miles wide beneath a huge set of mountains. A grey stone valley peppered with hundreds, maybe thousands, of wraiths.
“Whoa,” I mutter. “Is this Death Valley?”
The wraith nods. “These are the mindless wraiths,” he tells me. “Two-thirds of the souls who are sent to the Schorchedlands are caught in either of the first two obstacles. They become bones in the Bog of the Dead, or they are trapped by the trees in the Forest of Desires. The ones who escape those common fates are free to travel throughout the lands. But there is little for us to live for. And so, after many years, many lose their hope and, finally, their minds. Those wraiths wander this barren valley for eternity.” His voice is so much more somber than before, and I wonder if he knows some of the wraiths wandering below personally. I wonder if he expects he’ll join them one day.
I swallow, watching the ghost-like wraiths. They waft in the gentle wind, passing back and forth, back and forth.
“We have to pass through them?”
“Yes,” he says, “The wraiths hide while the sun is up. Many have already scattered. You do not want to be caught in the valley at night. As mindless as those spirits are, they will not hesitate to kill a living being that crosses their path. At night there will be so many you cannot walk a foot without stumbling into one.”
I nod, accepting his advice. “Do you know where to find the spellbook?” I ask, not expecting an answer. Even if he did know, why would he help? He doesn’t want Rev to complete his mission.
“Pass between those two mountains. There will be another few obstacles before you reach the acid swamp. The book is there. In the center of it all.”
Acid swamp. That sounds lovely.
“What are you discussing?”
I whip around, the fast movement sending jolts of pain through my body. Through my blurred vision, I find Rev standing at the bottom of the largest stone, looking up at us.
“Just what lies between us and the spellbook.”
He climbs up to the top of the stone. “Which is?” His jaw is tight and eyes cast over the field below.
“A field populated by wraiths. Only passable in the sunlight, apparently.”
“Even in the sunlight, it isn’t easy. There will be lingering wraiths. Luckily, you have me.” The wraith does his creepy smoke smile again.
“I would never align with a wraith.” Rev’s lip curls in disgust. “If you think I’m going to let you take this from me and leave me behind...”
The wraith burst out laughing. “Is that what you think she’s doing? Trying to usurp you? Well, I wish. Indeed, that would make my life much easier.”
“Whatever,” Rev says and turns to pack up his things.
I sigh, willing to allow Rev to have his tantrum—I don’t blame him for his distrust or his hate, but the wraith leaps after him.
“And what is wrong with wraiths?” he asks, curling around him. “You think yourself so morally superior?”
“Wraith are evil souls. Of course, I’m more moral.”
“You are such an oblivious fae. One day, the truth you work so hard to fight will smack you in the face, and you’ll realize how wrong you’ve been.”
“You’re so damn cryptic.” Rev shakes his head. “Good thing I don’t care what you mean.”
“What do you think was the reason you couldn’t enter through the gates before? What changed that allowed you entry? Let me give you a hint. It was your soul. You didn’t belong here, Prince Reveln. The gate tried everything it could to keep you out for all our sakes.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Wraith,” I warn. Rev does not need to know all of this.
“And,” the wraith goes on, “what if it turned out you knew one of those wraiths down there? Would you still act so superior?”
Rev jerks back. “No one I’ve known would have come to this place.”
“Ha!” the wraith spits, spinning in the air like he enjoys this. “How about Rook, your friend that betrayed you? That your mate you hate so much killed to protect you? The fae guard who attempted to kill a teenaged human just to get to your lovely mate? Or how about Reahgan?”
Before I can even blink, white light blasts from Rev’s palm, slamming into the wraith. He screams in agony as the light presses him into the ground. The smoke that makes up his wraith body convulses.
“Rev!” I call, but he doesn’t hear me. He doesn’t register anything in his blinding rage.
I toss a wall of shadow magic between them, cutting off the searing white light. Rev doesn’t seem to care—he got his point across. “Don’t you dare talk about my brother.”
Rev grabs his bag and stomps away, toward the valley filled with wraiths below.
Caelynn
My wraith groans. “Charming lover of yours.”
“He’s not my lover. And I didn’t choose him, magic chose him for me.”
He chuckles bitterly. “If you could sever the mating bond, would you do it?”
I jerk away from him, stomach in my mouth. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I didn’t think so.”
Is such a thing possible? And even if it were possible, why would I? To save myself some pain? No, I have grown quite accustomed to pain.
“Just because the magic makes its choice known, doesn’t mean your choice isn’t also part of the equation. You do not have to love your fated mate.”
I bite the inside of my lip, shove my remaining things into my bag, and stomp out the last of the embers of our flame.
“He is going to get himself killed storming out there like that,” the wraith tells me.
I sigh and begin a slow trek down the hillside toward the open field. “The ground isn’t going to swallow him whole here, is it?”
“No. But that doesn’t mean it’s any safer.”
Rev’s silhouette is visible in the distance, but so long as I can see him, that’s okay with me. This valley is so flat and open I can see for miles.
The faded glow of sunlight is just now lightening the sky and already the valley is mostly clear of its wraith inhabitants. There are several still slinking to the tree line on both sides and two or three visible wraiths wafting in the shadows below the mountains, but none anywhere nearby. Even so, I pull shadows around my body so I’m less noticeable.
“You see,” my wraith says, “smart. Unlike that fool.”
I roll my eyes and continue my march, keeping a close eye on the shifting shadows far in the distance. They dance at every edge of this place.
I ache to catch up to Rev, but I know better. He needs some space, and I could probably use it too. The truth is, being near him is hard. Looking him in the eyes and knowing the male I love hates me, for good reason, and I will never have the opportunity to change his mind—hurts really bad.
So, I keep my distance and just watch. If he needs my help, I’ll leap in. If he doesn’t, I’ll leave him to wallow in his own delusions.
Rev is nearly halfway to the mountain range when something massive shifts up ahead, over a hundred yards off our trajectory but close enough that my stomach sinks. “Oh shit,” the wraith says.
I stop, breath caught in my throat. A roaring beast, at least triple the size of a bear but with a distinctively similar gait, charges forward.
Straight toward Rev.
Rev
My eyes grow wide as a huge beastly creature roars, charging straight at me.
The pathway was so open, wide, and clear, I thought... shit. Obviously, I thought wrong.
A bear made of bone and rotting flesh, at least thirty feet tall charges straight at me. I’m alone with nowhere to hide.
I slide my sharp obsidian sword out of its sheath, gripping it tightly in one hand and my iron dagger in the other. I widen my stance ready to take on the monster. My light magic will draw a lot of attention to me, and here in the middle of an open plain miles long, with wraiths lining the edges, is a really bad place to attract attention.
This fight is going to have to be magicless.
I said I’d rather take on an impossible opponent face to face than creatures clawing at me from where I can’t see them.
Well, I meant it.
And when the bear reaches me, teeth bared and dripping with green slime, I spin and slice in one fluid motion. The beast roars, more in anger than pain, and whips around much faster than I’d anticipated, and his talon clips my thigh, slicing through the skin.
I leap to my feet, ignoring the raging pain in my leg and the trickle of warm blood seeping through my pants. There will be time to heal it later.
The monster bear stops a dozen feet from me, heaving in breaths and snorting. But he doesn’t move. He just watches me with black pits where there should be eyes.
He lifts his chin, strings of bloody flesh hanging off awkwardly. I suppress a gag and then sprint straight at him. He returns the gesture and runs for me, his roar echoing over the open field, reverberating off the mountains in the distance.
The moment I’m within range of his mangy paws, I fall to my hip and slide beneath him. I shove up with the iron blade through bone and pieces of flesh. But before I carve his heart, he twists, his massive boney paw slamming down, and I roll out of the way just before he crushes me.
My arm is covered in oozing flesh tinged with green and red, but the beast is still quite lively.
Another shadow comes into focus, pulling my attention from the bear for just a moment, and that instant of distraction costs me. He lands another swipe with his razor-sharp claws—right over my torso.
I scream body tossed to the ground. My vision turns black for only a moment, then I leap back to my feet. Caelynn is beneath the beast, carving at his leg. She manages to remove a large piece of bone before he reaches her with his powerful jaws.
For a moment, I’m angry with her. Can’t she just leave me be? Doesn’t she believe I’m strong enough to do this on my own?
But then, her body is swept up into the monster’s massive mouth. She screams, and panic fills my every limb.
No.
Without even thinking, a blast of white-hot power explodes from my palm toward the beast. Caelynn’s limp body falls to the ground with a crunch. The bear whines, high pitched and pathetic, clawing at his eyes.
Curling my hands into a circle, I build a sphere of magic. “Move,” I yell at Caelynn, praying she’s able. Secretly begging her to be okay.
She cries out but manages to roll her body over and again. It’ll have to do.
I leap toward the bear, hands pressed to his chest, and just before his claws tear me to shreds, I detonate my magical sphere.
The undead-bear flies fifty feet into the air and lands with a crash that rumbles the ground beneath me.
Birds leap from the trees at least a mile east and flock towards us.
Great. So much for not drawing attention.
At least the bear’s body is crumpled in an unmoving heap, but there’s no telling whose attention we caught with my light show.
I approach Caelynn slowly, heart in my throat but stomach twisting in anger.
She groans and stirs. She looks up at me through stringy blond hair all over her blood-streaked face. Her eyes are dark, eyelashes fluttering. Her energy is nearly gone entirely. Her face pale as death.
“You are going to get us both killed,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Rev,” she says, her voice gravelly, and she winces in pain. “I’m sorry.”
But I don’t dare ask her for what. I’m mad at her as tears well in my eyes. So angry for all the pain she’s put me through, including this moment. Watching her die in front of me would be the greatest torture of my life.
“Don’t you even trust me to be able to take care of myself? You once told me you believed in me.” My head falls back, looking up to the hazy sky. “But then,” I say slower, passion gone. Anger gone. Now, there is only pain. “I suppose that was a lie too.”
I let that sink in for one beat before I look her in the eye. Her mouth is wide open, eyebrows scrunched. Recognition flickers in her eyes.
Will she die if I leave her now? She might. And maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe her death would free me. Maybe it’s better for her too. She can live in these lands as a true wraith instead of only a pretend phantom.
“You are determined to save me, but at what point are you going to realize that I don’t need it? I don’t need you.”
She sucks in a breath, tears filling her eyes.
Her eyes grow wide, and she squirms. I know her well enough to know this expression is not from pain.
She’s scared.
Then, I feel it, the power looming over me. The air trembles around us, the light suddenly sucked from the sky.
I freeze, unable to move.
“No,” Caelynn whispers, and it’s her voice that breaks me from my panic-induced freeze. Slowly, I turn to face our new enemy.
It’s a wraith, almost indistinguishable from the one who befriended Caelynn, except this one’s smoke is lighter, a grey more than black, and there is a white light in his chest.
When he speaks, the ground rumbles beneath him. My knees nearly buckle with the weight of his words.
“Hello, little brother.”
Caelynn
Suddenly, I am a child again. Back in the Luminescent Court palace, trapped by the High Heir, Reahgan. He holds me down with a powerful white light, and it burns every inch of my skin.
I can’t move.
I can’t speak.
I can’t breathe.
My body is on fire with the pain of my injuries and the panic, the need to get away from him.
Reahgan.
No, I think. No, no, no, no, no.
I beat him. I killed him.
And he... beca
me a wraith.
How had I not even considered that as a possibility? It makes so much sense. I always knew he was evil. He belongs here.
And so do I.
Rev is frozen before the wraith claiming to be his brother.
Coldness spreads over my body.
“You’ve gotten yourself into quite the predicament, brother,” the smoke creature says. There is nothing distinguishable about this dark creature before us. Nothing that would pinpoint him as the late Luminescent Court heir. But I can feel it. His power, his essence.
It’s him. Can Rev feel the same? And... what does that mean for him?
“Don’t worry. I’ll solve it all for you.” His gaze shifts past Rev and onto me. “By killing her right here and now.”
Reahgan’s wraith form dissolves and rushes past Rev and straight to me. Panic swallows me whole, and my vision flickers in and out. I scramble back, but I don’t have near enough control to fight him.
Reahgan in wraith form is my worst nightmare—because it’s not a bad person I’m fighting. I’m not afraid of him.
I’m afraid of me.
The blackened, scarred soul in front of me is my worst moment come to life. It’s the decision that both saved and ruined me.
And it’s going to kill me. It’s going to strangle the breath from my lungs and what little hope I held for my soul.
I’m going to die right here. Because I’m not going to stop him.
A shadow flies between us, blocking the acidic smoke that was Reahgan’s attack. I cower before the magical battle swirling before me. Like storm clouds colliding in a raging war, they twist and twirl and rip at each other, crackling like thunder, but I cannot tell where one ends and the other begins.
My vision is spotted with black, and my teeth chatter. I can’t feel much of anything. I can’t see the fight happening over my head any longer. All I can hear is the pulse of my own heart slowing.
Then, I can feel him. A hand presses to my stomach, warm at first—then hot. Searing pain explodes over my body.
Curse of Thorns (Wicked Fae Book 2) Page 16