Page 92 of The Stone Curse
“Cameron, come on!” Curi stood at the window, his hand reaching for me.
A fresh wave of adrenaline gave me a second wind, pushing me forward. I was almost there. Just a few more yards and?—
The moon winked out and the ground shook as a graynite landed in my path, his body folded into a crouch. It rose slowly, unfurling its stony, scaled frame as if it had all the time in the world to make its entrance.
Shimmering gray bony spikes jutted off its shoulders and ran down its arms. Its wings splayed then snapped tight as it deliberately raised its head to reveal its grotesque face, lips pulled back against ivory fangs.
Something inside my chest tugged, and my gaze whipped up to meet its pale blue irises ringed in indigo. The tug inside me bloomed to a familiar heat.
No…
It couldn’t be.
“Serath?” His name was a whisper sitting on my lips because it couldn’t be so. This creature couldn’t be my mate.
But it stared at me with Serath’s eyes. Eyes that had flared with passion for me and softened with tender love. They studied me clinically now, as if I was a specimen on a petri dish.
The other graynites landed around us, but I couldn’t tear my attention from my mate. “Serath, it’s me. It’s Cameron.” I blinked against the sting of tears. “Please…please tell me you’re in there.” His eyes twitched, gaze flicking over my shoulder then down to his hand. “You promised…You promised to hold on.”
He was in there. He had to be, because I couldfeelhim, feel our connection, low-grade but present. He slow-blinked, and his pupils dilated a fraction.
My heart leapt. “I know you can hear me. Dammit, Serath, fight it. You fight whatever they’ve done to you.”
For a moment, it felt like I was reaching him. For a moment, I could almost believe that there was life behind his dead eyes, but then the graynite who owned Romi’s body spoke, his grating grumble breaking the spell.
“There is no Serath,” Romi said. “Not anymore.” He jerked his chin up. “Finish her, Ubron.”
Serath inclined his head. “Yes, General.”
He grabbed me by the throat and hauled me off my feet so I was eye to eye with him. But he didn’t squeeze. Didn’t crush. He just held me, staring at me with darkening and dilating pupils that threatened to consume me.
He was in there. I fucking knew it. He was in there, but he wasn’t in control, and he was about to watch me die. I couldn’t let him bear that guilt.
I reached up to grip his wrist, running my thumb back and forth over his skin. “I love you, Serath. It’s okay. This is not your fault. It’s okay.” I let my love shine out of my eyes. Let it rise and seep from my skin. Giving it all to him, one last time.
A low growl vibrated his chest.
“Ubron. End her now!” the general ordered.
Serath’s grip on me tightened, and then his teeth rushed at my face.
CHAPTER 44
SERATH
I’m lost.
Trapped in the forever dark with an expanse of gray above me that’s out of reach.
The darkness tries to pull me down, away from the gray, but I’m tethered. Somehow, Cameron tethered me. Her essence. Her power. Her love holds me here.
They can’t evict me.
My body.
Mine.
If I can gather my strength. If I can just?—
