Page 86 of Death Warden
The tension in the air is electric and every hair on my body stands to attention. It builds so that blood rushes to my head, the pressure blocking my ears. The mages on the ground begin to convulse, knees and palms still locked against the floor as if superglued there.
Wendall yells but his tone is muted. Then the mages fall to the ground in unison. Lewis crumples, knocking the chalice off the pedestal with a clatter that causes my ears to pop.
I stare at the fourteen mages lying prone on the ground.
I don’t need to do a pulse check to know that they’re all dead.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
ADI
The table is set for two. Wine, fresh bread, and meats. I look down at the gauzy material of my dress. I’m practically naked. There’s a prickle of fear at the back of my mind. I shouldn’t be here. I should be running.
“Now, now.” The male voice soothes away my terror. “You should eat. Build up your strength.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“But I am, Loralie. I’m starving.”
I shouldn’t be here. I should be at home in Blackmore Manor with…with…
“Me, my sweet. We’re to be married. After we consummate, of course.”
“Married?” I look up from my golden plate and stare at the stranger sitting opposite me. I know this face, and yet the memory of how eludes me. My gaze drops to the amulet around his neck, a long oval piece with a stone as black as night. There’s something about it…
“I want you to enjoy your last meal,” he says. “Just as those before enjoyed theirs.”
Memories prick at my mind and tears blur my vision. Why can’t I recall? “Who are you?”
He sighs and sets down his fork. “You know me, Loralie. You were the one who summoned me, after all. You and your friends, Thomas Thorne and Gretta Crescent. You wanted power everlasting and I granted it. Now that you have produced an heir to carry on that power, you must pay just as your friends have paid.”
“Thomas and Gretta…” My friends. They are dead. Oh, God. “You killed them.”
Why do I sound so calm?
“I took what I was owed. Their life force. But their souls are free, and my power runs in their offspring as it does in yours. You must pay the price now, Loralie.”
Memory floods me and a sharp pain fills my head.
I’m pushed out of Loralie’s body.
This is a dream. I need to wake up. I don’t want to see what this man will do.
But I’m trapped, helpless, as he stands and strides around the table toward her. She lets out a squeak as he pulls her to her feet. She’s practically naked and he rakes her over before sweeping out his arm and knocking everything off the table.
“I tire of playing the courtship game. Mortal rules fatigue me.” He lifts her, ignoring her protests, and pushes her onto the table.
“Please, let me go. I didn’t know. We didn’t know.”
He tugs his cock free. “Yes, you did. You knew what you were asking when you offered me your nubile body all those years ago.” His voice is a croon that reverberates inside my head.
Loralie relaxes and her arms fall to her side.
He chuckles and runs his hand up her thigh, dragging the see-through dress up with it to expose her. “Tell me you want me.”
“I want you.” The words sound mechanical, rehearsed, and not her own.
No. He can’t do this. It’s wrong. I need to stop him.
