Page 151 of Her Blood Revenge

‘It’s okay, Pixie,’ I tell her. ‘I’ve got you.’

‘Shaw…’ she sobs, her entire body shaking with desperate sobs. ‘I’m lost. I can’t find my way out of the forests.’

‘You’re out of theforests now. Look up and see. You’re with me.’

She lifts her head and carefully checks. I feel her body relax before she looks up at me, tears spilling down her dirty cheeks. I wipe them away and kiss her lips.

‘Are you okay?’ she asks before I get to ask her the exact same thing.

‘Fine. Do you know where you are?’ I ask. ‘Are you hurt?’

She’s been awake for at least a day, and I have been waiting to feel her fall asleep. A million things have played out in my head as I’ve gathered our allies and searched for any clue as to where she may be.

‘I don’t know where I am,’ she replies. ‘I’m locked in a cell with a dampener on my wrist.’

‘Have they hurt you?’ I repeat. She altogether avoided my question.

She blinks, releasing a tear, but shakes her head.

‘What happened? The dam broke, and the water covered the coven.’ She shakes her head again, shaking loose more tears. ‘And then I was in a cell. Are the others… are they okay?’

She doesn’t know. She doesn’t remember.

Not that the coven perished. Not that earth magic is gone.

Not that Dorian is dead.

I decide to keep it that way. To give her hope and a reason to stay strong.

So I smile as best I can.

‘We’re coming to get you. Just hold on and fight with everything you have until we get there, okay?’ She nods and cries a little more. ‘Is there anything you can tell me aboutwhere you are? Anything you saw as you travelled? Any sounds or smells.’

‘No,’ she whispers. ‘Just that it’s dark where I am. And cold. It smells of blood and mould.’

‘We’re going to find you, Pixie. I promise. Please don’t do any spells they try to make you do. Okay? And don’t antagonise anyone. You keep quiet. Give them no reason to hurt you.’ I take a breath and ask her, ‘Is Cole there with you?’

She shakes her head and looks deep into my eyes.

‘Are you lying to me, Pixie?’

Her lip trembles.

‘Has he hurt you?’ I ask through gritted teeth.

‘No. But he’s said some things, Shaw. Terrible things I don’t want to believe.’

‘Anything he says is only meant to hurt you. Don’t listen. Trust me. We’re coming for you.’

‘All three of you?’

He’s told her. There’s no doubt in my mind. But I will not add to whatever suffering she is enduring.

‘We love you.’

My breath stalls when I hear those words coming from her.

‘Tell the others I love them, too, okay? And when this is done, I want to go to a distant land with no one else anywhere near us and sleep for a month. Can we do that?’

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