Page 41 of Dark Embers

She hadn’t looked intimidating in her human form, but like this, she was beautifully terrifying. It was hard not to lose myself in admiring the honeycomb plating of her scales, the way they shimmered in different shades of green as they caught the dim light.

I was so distracted with her entrancing allure that I didn’t see the tail spring out from behind her until its poisoned tip pierced the side of my neck.

“Ah, what the fuck!” I cursed, pressing my palm to the burning sting.

“The hypnosissssis more effective with my venom in your sysssstem,” she said, her snake hiss more pronounced in her shifted form.

Her venom seared as it webbed rapidly through my veins, and I sucked in air between my gritted teeth against the intoxicating inferno that engulfed me. My vision doubled and blurred, my head swimming as the toxins infiltrated my mind.

“Look at me, Tobiasss,” I heard her say, and I tried to focus my eyes on the three of her.

My vision snagged on those glowing purple eyes and became locked there.

“Good,” she rasped, her voice vibrating like the rattle of a viper’s tail. “Listen only to my voice.”

As the fire in my blood cooled, my limbs seemed to freeze, stuck in their position like I had turned to stone. There was a small voice in the back of my head that said I should panic, but I lost myself in the rhythmic, thrumming glow of her eyes, unable to care, feel, think.

“You are no longer bonded to Arya Walker,” she intoned, her voice booming in my eardrums. “Your imprint is irrelevant, flimsy, ready to crumble away.”

Her decree wormed into my mind, slithering through the tiny channels of my brain to the very center of it. I could feel it gnawing at the fibers of my imprint, a sense of calm filling me.

With a sudden and piercing ferocity, blinding pain shot through my skull, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut and arch backward despite the paralysis of her venom.

I distantly felt cold hands on either side of my face, pulling it back down.

“You arenotimprinted to Arya Walker!” she commanded, the sound rippling the void in which I floated.

The ripples invaded my mind like a siege, assaulting the bond in my neurons, and agony more acute than anything I’d ever known consumed my entire being.

“Agh!” I heard my own cry of purest torment, helpless as my lungs emptied in desperation.

“You are not imprinted to Arya Walker!” Petra yelled, her power tangible in her thundering voice.

“Stop!” I screamed as my skull threatened to split in two. “Stop!”

Her hands released me at the same time her hypnotic powers did, and my once again paralyzed body slumped sideways, my cheek grinding against the rough, dirt-covered wood floor.

My breaths came in short, sprinting pants, all energy abandoning my clenched muscles as the pain slowly ebbed away. I closed my eyes, willing its departure with each dragging second, until exhaustion forced my eyes shut.

“Well, so much for that,” Petra’s muffled voice filtered into my ears. “The poison will wear off in an hour or two. I still expect my favor to be paid.”

I heard her move, having no more fucks to give as I heard her footsteps carry and eventually disappear. I would have left me here, too.

My only thought was wordless gratitude for the suffering finally subsiding. And as the last of it left me, I welcomed the blackness that mercifully engulfed me.

Chapter 15

Arya

“Can you believe it’s almost Thanksgiving already?” Ashlyn pointed to the banner hanging above the entrance to the dining hall that read: THANKSGIVING FEAST WEDNESDAY.

I turned away from putting the finishing touches on my bio essay on my tablet and glanced in that direction. I had been trying not to notice the damn thing all day. I didn’t like the reminder of how much time had passed since Mom died or that I’d be spending my first holiday without her.

“I feel like this semester has taken a really, really long time,” Ashlyn went on, “but somehow, I still can’t believe Thanksgiving is in two days.”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “It definitely doesn’t feel like a holiday’s coming up.”

Knowing that a holiday was around the corner made Mom’s absence that much more tangible.

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