Page 83 of Of Blooming Embers
There were thousands of them.
Thousands suffering endlessly.
Thousands of bony specters cloaked in shadows sucking at their terror like leeches.
A few nearby slowly turned their veiled skulls, necks cracking as they gave us their full attention.
My fear was palpable.
Ancients help us.
Far in the distance, the wall where we had entered opened, shrieks spilling into the space once more. I squinted, my vision adjusting to the brightness.
Amber bounced off the platinum sheen of slick hair, black smoke curling around the simpering female. The male Akridai stood beside her. The other appeared glued outside the passage as it closed, her frantic eyes beseeching as the structure’s liquefied darkness crawled up her neck.
“They’ve found us,” I whispered, not knowing which monsters I spoke of—living or undead.
32
ENOUGH GAMES
SERYN
Melina’s voice echoed through the prison as the globes dimmed once more. “No need to scurry away. There’s nowhere to run anyhow, pet. Have you found your mother? She’s around here … somewhere.”
Ire and crimson skittered over my flesh.
We wouldn’t find Mama now.
“I’m going to stab her eyes out,” Breena growled before both Marek and Rhaegar put their hands on her shoulders.
“That’s what she wants. For us to react. To come to her. Keep your heads. There’s always a way out,” Rhaegar reasoned. Breena rolled her shoulders, dislodging the men, and then turned with a huff, gaze scouring our surroundings.
I did the same, eyes locking onto the visible threads of energy flowing from all directions, weaving between glass and ghouls.
If we were near a powerful source of ember,then the key bearer simply has to conjure a destination. Phantasos’ words flit through my distress.
“The siphon,” I said.
“Worth a shot,” Marek mumbled.
Breena let out a sound somewhere between a curse and a roar as she unknowingly stepped behind her into a reaper. Instantly, it dug its bony grip into the back of her shoulders, a trail of inky smoke sucking from her crown and into its shrouded cavities. Within moments, her cherry aura sputtered, her objections falling limply to her boots.
“Bree!” I shouted, fractured rainbows splintering around me. I stumbled, weakened by the excessive use of my power.
The Larkin brothers gripped my biceps on either side, steadying me. With a stern look of concentration, Marek’s dark flames scurried over his forearm and poured over Breena. His illusion created a barrier between her and the enraged beast. A shriek followed its veil as it flew up.
“Move!” Marek ordered, his shoulders slumping.
As if waking up, Breena shook her head, jerking away from the demon’s hold. On her flesh, bloody stripes were left behind, her tunic torn where the reaper had grabbed her. Baring her teeth, she swung and stabbed her dagger through Marek’s embered barrier and into the wraith’s robes for good measure. It screeched once more, but her attack only infuriated it rather than harming it.
“Damn it. I told you stabbing them likely wouldn’t work,” Gavrel groused as we backed away.
“I fecking know, but it made me feel better.” She shrugged as Marek’s aura faltered. The flames inside her attacker’s eyeholes flared as my cousin’s illusion dissolved. When they locked on Breena, her bravado slipped a bit, and she darted in the opposite direction.
Boots slapping against the smooth surface, we all bolted as Melina’s cloying laughter chased us. We dodged reapers as their veils flew from their carcasses, skulls ablaze from within like pyres, their hisses scraping against our ears.
My halo flickered as Breena’s kindled. “No, Ryn. We need your ember to get us out of here.”
