Page 10

Chapter

Nine

Liv

A breeze played at my neck, tickling my hair against my damp skin, rousing me from a hazy sleep. I sat up, finding a dark, empty boat. Maev and Ollo were nowhere to be found, and silence blanketed the night. Even the wind didn’t want to be heard.

Over the past few days, they had made stops, going ashore for food, but someone always stayed to monitor me.

Past the boat and grassy shore lay only darkness. It must have been the middle of the night. Moonlight sparkled across the rippling river surrounding me, and the grass on the shore shone as it waved in the breeze. It was beautiful, yet terrifying.

“Hello?” I whispered. A chill ran down my back, and I was unable to shake the feeling of being watched.

It’s all in your head. The heartache is messing with your logic.

Standing up, I put my arms out so I wouldn’t tip the boat. My heart pounded, echoing. Why was it so loud?

Something was wrong.

I grabbed the rope that tied the boat to a worn-down dock and stepped onto the sodden wood.

The moon only reflected the water and the grass nearby—everything beyond the shore was pitch black, as if cast in shadow.

But there were no clouds in the sky. Checking the opposite shore of the river, I found the same thing—pure darkness.

The dock creaked as I shifted my weight, the thick darkness ahead pulling me in.

I needed to reach it. An unsettling feeling crept along my skin, and I stepped closer to the shore, where the darkness lingered and seemed to pulse.

Grabbing my neck, I sucked in a breath and paused. Waiting. Nothing happened.

The pounding grew louder, no longer coming from just my heart, the pulsing beat echoing in time with the night beyond.

Another step closer. The darkness receded like a rolling wave, revealing more shimmering grass. With each step I took, the darkness continued to pull away from me as if it was afraid, not the other way around. So what was pulling me in if it wasn’t the dark?

I followed my instincts to head inland. Were Ollo and Maev in danger? Were my senses telling me to find them?

“Shit!” I jumped back as something slithered across the grass before me. It disappeared before I got a good look. When I stopped moving, I could hear more things slithering.

I swallowed my rising fear. Were we still in the Median? The fog creeping around the edges of my mind made me lose time—how many days had passed in the boat?

Night birds cooed in the distance, the sound haunting and familiar. I shook my head to rid myself of the feeling of being watched. Nightbirds terrified me.

As I travelled farther away from the river, the sounds of the animals grew louder, along with a ringing in my ear. The colours of the earth pounded in sync with my heartbeat. I squinted in the fading light, but only a small circle around me glowed in the moonlight.

Then everything went dark.

My ears popped as if my head were being squeezed. I slammed my palms against my ears, spinning in a circle, looking for the way back, for the shimmering grass, but no light found me.

Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.

“Help!” Would the two Aethar find me here?

“Help!” I screamed louder. Why didn’t I stay in the boat?

I dropped my hands to my side, hoping to hear the river I left behind.

That’s when I felt the tug. It was so powerful my chest heaved forward, pulling me farther inland on invisible strings. It wasn’t a warning of danger. It wasn’t instinct to help the two Aethar. It was magic—a kind I was familiar with.

The Aspis—the pull. No!

I stumbled ahead, unsure of my footing. Terrifying shapes formed—not a giant snake-like beast, but figures on two feet.

They moved like ghosts, running back and forth in the dark.

I wrapped my arms around myself, spinning as the shadows passed me.

The sounds of battle grew—swords clashing and distant echoes of pain.

Why wasn’t I running back to the shore away from the horror?

My feet sank into the mud, slowing my progress. Why were my boots gone? And why was the mud so red?

“What is going on ?”

I was tugged forward again as the chaos escalated. My feet dragged as I was forced to move. Shouts for mercy rang through the night, yet I saw none of it.

Agonizing screams filled the endless dark. Was someone being tortured?

Fingers brushed down my spine, so I spun, searching for the source. Nothing but more shapes ran in the gloom, screaming as if their lives were about to end. I backed away, limping in the dark, and ran into something hard behind me.

I stumbled as I whipped around, facing the towering figure. He stood as if he were made of stone, clad in scraps of black fabric, his head tipped to the sky. Curling horns sprouted from his matted hair as shadows crawled under his skin, warping his features from monster to man to monster again.

“No.” I wrapped my hand around his forearm, around the tattoos visible beneath the torn fabric. His skin was cold—freezing to the touch—hard. The shadows moved from his skin, up my fingers and sunk into my own, disappearing. I screamed, pulling my hand away.

I searched his misshapen, half-human face as the wind whipped his hair back and forth. Slits for a nose. Citrine yellow eyes staring upward.

I followed his line of sight. The sky above was dark, but it shimmered like millions of crystals scattered about in the vast darkness.

Something grabbed me from behind. A shrill scream tore from my chest as cold fingers wrapped around my forearms and yanked me back, gripping me tighter. They held me in place to watch the stone figure wince in pain.

The half-beast turned away from the sky, shaking and convulsing, a deep rattling building in his chest. He unleashed a roar, revealing sharp teeth, as the earth below shook.

The hands released me from their punishing grip, only to wrap around my waist, pinning me to a hard chest.

The half-beast turned into a cloud of shadows, slithering behind me.

The cold arm around my waist grew warm as hot breath fanned my ear and sharp teeth scraped my neck.

The rattling from before drummed against my back.

The half-beast was now what held me, one hand snaking its way up the front of my chest to wrap around my neck.

It nibbled on my earlobe, licking up the side.

Something was wrong with me because whatever was behind me was dangerous, and yet the sensation of its teeth now scraping along the skin of my neck did something. It warmed a familiar part of me it shouldn’t.

I inhaled a shaky breath, staying so very still.

The beast hummed its pleasure and, in a deep timbre, said, “ Mine .”