Page 85 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood
Betrayal hits, wounding my pride. “Why did you nurse me back to health?”
“Need you strong, doesn’t we? Wouldn’t have lasted a week in the state you was in when we found you.”
“Swiss cheese.” The other goblin starts jumping up and down. “Swiss cheese. Swiss cheese.”
“Saw that on a tea table once, didn’t he? Know why he calls you that? Because that’s what you’ll end up. Always they do. More holes in the end than they started with. There are seven of us, after all.”
My chains are yanked hard, raising me so that I’m hovering on my tiptoes. My clothes are gone. Ladders are erected on both sides of me. The little goblin jerks clamor up, arguing over who will get which parts of me. Tiny fingers jab at the backs of my thighs. I clench my muscles instinctively, eliciting a round of their distorted laughter. Several of the others line up on the ladder in front. Two quarrel before my face.
“You got the mouth last time.”
“Maybe we can both fits. Open up, let’s have us a look.”
I clamp my lips shut. A sharp jab to my abdomen makes my mouth pop open on a scream.
“Not as big a mouth as I hoped. Might have to remove the teeth first.”
The second one wails. “That takes forever. Just slit the sides of the mouth. Spread her from cheek to jaw and we can both have a space.”
“I’ll take this spot.” The sharp pain near my stomach comes again. Looking down, I find one of the goblins with a blade tip pressed just above my belly button.
The leader chuckles from where he stands near the front of my thighs. “Loves to worm your way into the intestines, doesn’t you? Filthy thing.”
The rest of them share in the laughter. They begin to move in closer, their putrid scents overtaking my space. No, no,no.
“Harrow!”I scream his name with everything I’ve got. I scream the word like it will be my last. Maybe it will be. Death’s name, the last two syllables to leave my lips. How morbidly poetic.
A window rattles over the kitchen sink. My head snaps toward the sound. The pane shudders again before smashing open. A gust of wind barrels through, shattering the glass and whipping my hair into my face. The light fixtures swing, flickering. Dust kicks up. It swirls around the room. A single black feather blows in, brushing my cheek as it passes.
“What’s that?” one of the goblins near my face asks, fidgeting nervously.
I smile as the feather lands nearby. “It’s him.”
“Who?” the leader asks indignantly.
“Death.”
The front door blows inward, sending a blast of wooden shards pelting all around us. I shut my eyes, shielding my face the best I can without the use of my arms. Shrieks erupt from all around me.
When I open my eyes, he’s there.
Harrow’s gaze quickly finds mine. He takes in the chains, my nakedness, and the placement of the monsters on their ladders. The fury in his eyes turns murderous. Shadows storm into the room, blanketing it in darkness. The goblins scream.
I’m blind in the pitch black. The goblins’ tormented cries fill my ears. It might as well be a song of praise, lifting to the heavens. The sounds of their anguish and death are so sweet itbrings warmth to my shaky body. A thunderous screech joins the symphony of death wails.
A great pair of wings pounds the air nearby, blowing a mighty gust of wind past me. Is that Harrow? Has he set his monster free?
A spray of liquid hits me in the face. Another burst pelts my back. I hope whatever he’s doing to them is so horrific that it would give the creatures of the in-between nightmares. A thought stops me. It must be horrific. Harrow is keeping me in the dark intentionally. He doesn’t want me to see.
He’s protecting me.
The shackles around my wrists drop away. “I’ve got you, little raven.” Harrow’s deep voice sinks into my soul, its cadence like a balm soothing my racing heart.
“I knew you’d come,” I whisper.
Arms wrap around my back and beneath my knees. I’m lifted up and carried out. The screams have shifted to gurgles and moans. There’s another sound now, one I had not noticed. Whispers in the darkness. A haunting cacophony of nameless voices speaking words of death and despair.
“What is that?” My fingers dig into Harrow’s chest. He has not lifted the veil yet.
