Page 116 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood
I did this. I let this happen when I entered the in-between to find Lenore.
Lenore. The faces of her parents flash before my eyes. Speeding toward the ground, I aim for the garden that is home to the King and Queen of Roseheart. By some sheer stroke of luck, their garden is still intact. So many others were not so lucky.
I’m exhausted. I need time to recover and restore my magic. My love for Lenore will not allow it. Ignoring the judgmental looks of the Serpien, I fly straight from the portal to the mortal world all the way to the front door of her home. Energy ricochets back at me, halting my flight. Someone has warded the castle. This is not what I expected to encounter. With what I now know of the castle’s current inhabitants, I’d bet everything it’s Roseheart’s new dark queen.
How long has she had this place locked down? My escape from the in-between came hours ago but my duty to my domain demanded I visit home first. My amulet had burned so hot it left a blister beneath my armor.
I wanted to come straight to Lenore, but what good would be saving my love, only for her to eventually join my realm and find it overrun with dark entities?
A new barrier around the castle complicates things. Sending my shadows out, I prod the wards for weakness. They’re solid. I am not used to such power from a human. I am a god, an immortal. This type of magic should not exist to humans.
I’m still weighing my options when a sudden awareness zaps through me like lightning.Lenore.
“Harrow!” Her voice splits the skies, and my heart leaps into a gallop. Her small frame appears in the window of the castle’s uppermost tower. In the same moment I spot her, she jumps.
My wings snap out, pumping once then shooting me through the air like a loosed arrow. I ascend so quickly the world blurs. All defining features of the castle and its grounds vanish. All I can see is Lenore, the way her body is limp as it plummets toward the earth. Each second stutters past me. Closer, closer…
Lenore’s scream catches in her throat as my arms pluck her from the sky. Banking hard, I swoop around, landing in the courtyard.
My little raven’s face is incredibly pale. Her breathing is so hard and heavy she can barely speak. “I knew…” She gasps. “… knew you would catch me.”
A sharp metallic scent sharpens my worry. I keep her in my arms as I assess her for wounds. Her legs can’t hold her up at the moment. Too much adrenaline, too much blood loss.
“Where are you hurt?”
“Harrow.” She grips the raised edges of my shoulder plates. “Are we in the in-between again?”
“No, this is real.”
“Oh god. That thing in the mirror is real?” Lenore quivers in my hold.
Whatever she saw scared her badly enough to believe she was trapped in a hellscape. “What thing?”
“There’s something in there. A monster in her magic mirror. I saw it.” Fear glosses over her blue eyes as she envisions the creature.
I clutch her tighter to my body. “You’re safe now.”
“No, I’m not. She said it will hunt me and find me. It’s tasted my blood. I only had an hour before it was going to come looking. How long has it been?” She jerks on my shoulders, shaking me. “Don’t let thatthingget me.”
“It won’t get you.”I’ll make sure of it. “Where are they keeping it?”
“My mother’s room.” Her voice is broken. “Catreena has taken her quarters. There are so many bodies. I think everyone but Melly is dead.”
“I’ll handle Catreena.”
“And Cassius,” Lenore blurts out, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It was him. He’s Catreena’s brother. They made the dark forest all those years ago. It was him all along. I’m so stupid.” She sobs into my chest.
“No. You are not stupid. There is powerful magic at play. Even I didn’t sense his true nature.” A fact that unsettles me more than I care to admit. “I always hated that bastard.”
Lenore laughs through her tears. “You’d better not be about to sayI told you so.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” My thumb swipes across her cheek. “Now, where are you hurt?”
“It’s just my arm.” She lifts her slender wrist to reveal a gash that runs the length of her forearm. There are bloody rope burns on her wrists. She was held captive. Again. My fury builds. They’ll pay for their treatment of my raven.
I wrap the forearm gash in shadows, apologizing when she winces. “You’ll still have to heal on your own, but this should help staunch the blood and mask your scent if anything is using your blood to track you.”
She touches the dark band. My shadows shiver in response. “Thank you.”
