Page 30 of Of Nine So Bold (Forever After: Crimson Snow #4)

30

GWYNEIRA

N o one argued, for once. In moments we were at the cusp of the gateway, ready to follow the giants through.

It felt like standing at a cliff, beyond which was pure darkness. And we were about to dive over the edge.

“Brace yourselves,” Casimir said as the last of the other giants passed through the gateway, leaving only Ignatius, Ruhl, and the nine of us on this side of the portal.

I nodded. Unlike Duke Ensid and his men, the rest of the giants had passed through individually as the gateway demons requested. Gods willing, they’d made it safely to the opposite end.

“Well—” Clay grinned, but I could see the apprehension in the tight expression. “See you on the other side.”

The grin faltering, he turned and walked into the gateway. The darkness rippled and swallowed him.

“I will make sure he is well met on the other side,” Ignatius said.

The portal swallowed him too.

One by one, Ruhl and my other men followed. Soon only Ozias, Byron, Casimir, and I remained.

“Now you,” Ozias said to me.

“Byron should go with her,” Casimir spoke up quickly.

“What?” Byron gave him a confused look. “You heard the demons. That isn’t?—”

“You are not the same size as the other giants. She is smaller still. It will be fine.”

I didn’t move. “Casimir, what’s going on? You’re acting strange.”

His mouth thinned. “Later. You said it yourself, there is no time. Go.” His eyes flicked to Byron, including him in the order. “Now.”

I frowned, but there wasn’t anything for it. He was right about that at least.

With Byron behind me, I walked toward the gateway. At the edge, I glanced back, a sudden thought occurring to me. “Will you be okay?” I asked Ozias. “The… you know, bond. If I’m too far?—”

“Go,” he said calmly. “I’m right behind you.”

Praying that would be enough to keep him safe, I nodded and stepped into the darkness.

Instantly, up and down vanished. Everything did. If Byron was beside me, I couldn’t feel or see him. My senses warped as noises rushed around me, indecipherable, soft then loud, then soft again, like I was being buffeted by invisible waves coming from every direction. My heightened vision was useless. The darkness rendered even my own body invisible.

My vampire side rebelled, overwhelmed by the waves of noise and the absence of sight. It surged up within me as if to take control and fight the chaos.

“ Can you believe it?” An impish chuckle came from the madness. “ She actually crossed.”

The gateway demons were here.

“Aw, I was betting the big one would scare her off.”

“No, he liked her, didn’t you hear? She’s doomed .”

Pleased laughter followed.

I shuddered. The big one? Did they mean the dark and hungry voice from the gateway a short while ago?

Gods help me, it seemed accurate. The owners of these voices did sound somehow smaller than the owner of that voice.

And it liked me… because it thought I was doomed.

That couldn’t be a good thing.

“ Should we let her through?”

“Hmm, maybe we should eat her.”

“We talked about this.”

“I know, I know. But she looks tasty.”

Gods, where was the end of the gateway? I couldn’t tell if I was moving, let alone in which direction I was heading.

Had they eaten my men?

My vampire side pressed harder at my control. I’d kill these creatures if they had. I’d find a way to hunt them down and?—

“ Ooh, she’s getting mad, can you see that?”

Another demon giggled. “ Maybe she wants to eat us ! Wouldn’t that be ? —”

The gateway demon cut off with a frightened gasp. Suddenly, the chaos felt emptier, as if the invisible presences had scattered like terrified children. Even the waves of noise rolled away.

“Well, well…”

I tensed, terror shooting through me. I knew that voice. It wasn’t the demons. It wasn’t even the so-called big one.

“You made a mistake, Gwyneira.”

Melisandre.

“You came back to the dark. Don’t you know I own it all?”

Panic gripped me. My stepmother sounded wrong. Like herself but twisted, as if her voice was accompanied by someone else’s, like a sibilant echo. And she was gaining on me. I couldn’t even tell where I was or what direction I was moving in, but I swore she was?—

“You keep dancing so close to the edge of this realm. Mere inches from the abyss. And if I reach just right …”

On the back of my neck, icy fingers slid against my skin like they were about to wrap around my throat.

And then a strange pressure gripped my hand and yanked me forward, hurtling me through the darkness like a meteor shooting across the sky.

“Flee, little doomed one,” came the low and growling voice of the larger gateway demon. A bright thread of light appeared in the distance, growing larger and larger as I rushed toward it. “ And when the time comes, call.”

The gateway demon’s grip on my hand vanished as the light rushed around me. Gravity suddenly took hold, sending me tumbling across uneven terrain.

“Whoa!” New hands grabbed me.

I shrieked and started to shift, but then reality caught up to my panic. Shaking hard, I stared up at Dex, stunned. Beyond him, my other men were watching.

All of them. Even Byron, Casimir, and Ozias.

The latter strode right at me, taking me from Dex’s hands and engulfing me in his arms. Waves of his relief and fear poured through our connection.

Shivers coursed through me. Gods only knew what he’d felt when I was in there. “I’m okay. I’m sorry. I?—”

“No apologies.” His grip tightened. “I just need you here.”

I nodded against his chest. “I am.”

He held me for another moment, and then he grunted like he was regaining control of himself. He released me except for one hand that stayed planted on my back like he needed to keep touching me.

Or keep me from being stolen away.

“What happened?” Dex asked. “You were gone longer than any of us.”

I shuddered, looking around but finding no sign of the gateway. The terrain was a rough mix of small hills and exposed boulders between patches of snow beneath a blue sky devoid of threats.

I hoped.

“My stepmother. She—” I cast a tense look at the larger giants. They were staring too, but none of them were close enough to have heard. “She was there.”

Ozias snarled, pulling me closer again.

“Are you okay?” Dex demanded.

I nodded. “Fine. I—” My fangs suddenly ached, Ozias’s scent somehow reaching me even if my breath was gone.

Hunger returned to hit me like a boulder to the head. All thought of finishing the sentence vanished.

Gods , Ozias smelled amazing. Even through my sweater and coat, I could feel his warmth. My ears pricked at the steady thud of his pulse and the quiet rush of blood in his veins.

My lips clamped shut on a whimper. The vampire side of me wasn’t happy going back into a cage inside my mind, not after the chaos of the gateway.

It was hungry. I was hungry. The monster inside me wanted out.

It wanted my mate.

I couldn’t stop shaking. I’d struggled with the urge to feed before, but after the gateway it felt as if every stopgap between me and absolute starvation had fallen apart. My fangs ached to bite him, and my muscles were tensed like a spring ready to release.

My eyes flashed to Casimir. His gaze was locked on me, intense. Ravenous.

Oh gods. Neither of us was going to make it much longer.

I looked around quickly, seeking a way out. The terrain rolled in gentle hills of leafless forests draped in snow. Mountains rose in the distance, more rounded and softer than the peaks on the west side of Aneira. Though snow covered their slopes, the pristine blanket was marred by dark, jagged lines with strange growths around them.

“More apple trees,” Dex said, following my gaze. “Byron says they’re following the ley lines.”

A keen of hunger choked out any response I would have given. But what did I care about apple trees right now?

I needed to bite someone, dammit.

But where to go? The other direction only held a wall of gray fog that interrupted the forest and blocked any view of the sky and all that lay beyond.

The Wall of Erenelle.

That was no help.

Drumming panic clogged my ears. My men’s voices came from a distance, their words unintelligible. Hunger had too strong a grip for me to comprehend something as advanced and unnecessary as language.

Suddenly, Ozias was in front of me. His hands gripped my shoulders. Calm poured through our connection like an avalanche.

My mate, trying to calm me as only he could.

A whimper escaped me. I could think again, but words were still so complicated. It was all I could do not to attack him right now.

“Help me,” I whispered.

He smiled. “Always.”