Page 5 of Cursed Evermore

“Little thief, you’re coming with me now.”The wraith’s words cracked through my mind, striking a chord of primal dread.

Blessed Mother, it wanted to take me.

Andthief?

What did it think I stole?

Never mind that. I had to get away. I couldn’t let this thing take me or kill me.

“Let me go!” My voice sounded strained and far away. As if it didn’t belong to me.

“Noooo.” In the void of the wraith’s voice, I was certain I heard satisfaction. Maybe even humor at my devastation and doom.

In those frozen moments, I saw the faces of the people I loved and cared about. I thought of all my hopes and dreams for the life I wanted. And I decided to fight.

Summoning all my strength, I tried to pull away again. I tugged so hard my insides tightened like clamps were attached to every organ.

The wraith reeled me back in, but not with his fingers.

With his mind.

I moved to it thoughtlessly, like a dutiful servant. Its mouth opened wider. Heat licked up my spine, curling in my blood like molten fire, searing through the frost the wraith left behind. It grew hotter, then a blast of energy pulsed around me, freeing me from the wraith’s grasp.

It screamed, a thousand smoky voices wailing all at once.

While it whirled backward, I took the chance and ran.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, but moments later, the wraith hovered over me. Those talons snatched me again.

I screamed, my hands flailing around me. Just as the wraith was about to take me up into the sky, a dark ring of smoke appeared before me and pulled me in, drawing me into its darkness.

Darkness surrounded me, thick and heavy and stifling.

Then there was nothing.

And I was falling into nowhere.

Chapter 2

Wolfe

“All Things Hollow Come Calling”

The rebel’s scream ricocheted off the dungeon walls, a raw, anguished cry torn from his bloodstained chest.

Looming over him with a sadistic sneer, I twisted my knife, still buried deep in his gut. The resistance of flesh gave way and another tormented cry fell from the Fae male’s lips.

He coughed blood, spluttering it onto the front of my golden armor. I bared my teeth, scowling as I assessed his battered body. Bruises the color of twilight and obsidian marred his pale skin. His wrists were almost black where the heavy chains shackled him against the wall. His pain bled into the dark stone surface, swallowed by the grooves, as if the dungeon itself was feasting on his suffering like it had with the traitors, rebels, and cowards before him.

And yet, no matter how many of them I carved apart, the whispers still came. The defiance. The refusal to bend the knee.

Contempt raced through my blood, hot and relentless like refiner’s fire.

One hour. This piece of shit had held his silence for a full hour, fucking with me, his lord and prince. No matter what I’d asked him, he refused to answer my questions.

I got up in his face, my breath ghosting across his blood-flecked skin. At least he had the good sense to flinch. “One. More.Time.Tell me where to find your leaders and what their plans are.Now!”

The rebel stared back at me, his bloodshot eyes dull with pain. And that was it. No words. No sign of surrender. Just a look filled with violent thunder.