Page 102 of The Forsaken Heir
For some reason, he couldn’t shift. All he could do was cry out in pain as piece after piece of his body was torn away in great bloody chunks. Yet, like Prometheus of myth, each torn shred of flesh regrew the moment it was gone, leaving him in perpetual agony.
“Aurelius,” I screamed and tried to run forward, but my feet sank into the ground.
The solid, granite flagstones had become soft and mushy, like quicksand sucking at my feet, pulling them in to the ankles. Aurelius was still screaming in pain, and the sounds of the wolves feeding made me sick with terror and fear.
Pressing my hands to the ground, I wrenched my feet up, tearing them free with a wet, slurping sound. I rushed forward and rammed the group of wolves with my shoulder. They went flying like bowling pins, and I was finally able to take Aurelius’s hand.
He looked at me with those flaming eyes, sadness and betrayal in his expression. “You left me. You left me to die.”
Shaking my head rapidly, I squeezed his hand. “No! I didn’t mean to. I thought you were right behind us.”
Aurelius reached forward, caressing my cheek. “You were gone.”
“I wanted to stay,” I said, tears brimming in my eyes.
“But you didn’t,” he muttered, shaking his head.
Before I could say more, a massive wolf clamped its jaws around him, nearly swallowing him whole, and dragged him off into darkness.
“No!”
I sprinted after him, but the giant wolf was too fast. I had to get to him. Thinking it might be quicker, I began to leap forward, jumping in giant frog-like hops, floating through the air with each jump. Still, I was too slow.
Maybe if I flew? That thought brought along aPeter Pan-esque floating sensation, and I floated through the shadowy darkness toward the sounds of Aurelius screaming.
The shadowy, murky surroundings opened into a large room. The glass ceiling glittered with light, and a massive cast iron cage stood in the center of the room. Aurelius sat hunched over inside it, his hair dirty and matted, a scraggly beard covering his face. His flaming eyes were gone now—only dark pits remained, as if the fire had gone out of his soul. He turned those black, soulless cavities upon me, and didn’t smile at the sight of me.
“I’m here because of you,” he said. “All this is because of you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I cried as I rushed to the cage.
With trembling fingers, I tried to pry the bars apart, but they wouldn’t give. It was like trying to bend the world itself.
Aurelius reached through the bars and put his hands on mine. Looking up, I locked my gaze on the black bottomless pits that were his eyes.
“I’ll save you,” I said, my eyes burning with tears.
“Elle, wake up,” he said.
“If you help, we can bend these bars. Hurry, Aurelius. Please.”
“Elle, you have to wake up. Calm down. Wake up, sweetie,” Aurelius murmured, but his voice sounded strange now. Feminine in some way.
“What?”
“Wake up.”
My eyes snapped open, and I found myself in my bed, the sheets twisted around my body and nearly suffocating me. Bright early morning sunlight shone through the window, and Delphine peered down at me worriedly.
“What kind of dream were you having?” she asked, looking at me in horror. “You’ve been moaning and muttering in your sleep for an hour.”
As I rubbed at my face, the vestiges of the nightmare slowly faded and became hazy. It had something to do with Aurelius—I knew that much, at least—but the rest was fading fast.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just a nightmare. That’s all.”
“Well, that’s fine,” Delphine muttered and turned away.
Frowning, I watched her walk toward the chairs in the living area. It wasn’t like her to be that short.
