Page 87 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood
I shake my head. I’m doing a terrible job explaining this. “You are inyourversion of the in-between. It’s not the mortal world nor the Underworld. You’re trapped somewhere between the two. The landscape around us has been shaped by your mind’s fear. All the dark inhabitants who roam the in-between feed off of fear. That’s why those creatures took you in—they wanted your fear. The ruler of the in-between watches it all, her power thriving off the horrors that unfold within her domain.”
“That’s horrible. This place is horrible.” She wraps her arms around herself.
I stare down at her exposed body. I should have covered her up the second we left that cottage. Using my shadows, I clean the gore from her face and skin. I don’t have any clothes. Peeling one of the many layers of a shadow apart, I drape the pliant sheets across her, wrapping her slight frame until she’s gowned in darkness.
“Wow. That’s a neat trick.” She lifts her arms, twisting her torso and testing the fabric. The shadows shift with her, molding to her body and movements. “I thought I may be naked until we got out. My clothes were in the cottage.” She glances back. There’s no sign the cottage ever existed.
“If it were just you and I, you would be.” I offer her a smile. The fear from the past few minutes still lingers in the air around us.
“It’s sad, really.” Her mouth turns down in a frown.
I lift my thumb, brushing it along her bottom lip. “What is?”
She tilts her head, leaning against my hand and closing her eyes. “They were something kind and magical before they were corrupted.”
I’m not sure what story they told her, but it was probably true. Most magical creatures that end up in the in-between fall here when their souls become so severely twisted that they can no longer be identified as living or dead. The humans who get trapped here are usually sent here with ill intent by someone with the ability to cast spells.
“Whatever life they knew, whatever semblance of humanity and magic, has been gone for a very long time.”
She opens her eyes. Those glistening blues pull me into their tumultuous waves with barely a thought. My lips find hers again, pressing soft, wanting kisses over and over again.
“Thank you for coming to find me.”
“If I knew you were here, I would have come to you the second you first summoned me.”
“I believe you.” She doesn’t protest as I cover her in more kisses. When I pull back to brush her hair from her face, her eyes are weary. “I’ve spent enough time here. Take me home, please.”
This is the part I’ve been dreading. “I can’t.Youhave to get us out of here.”
Lenore’s soft eyes go wide. “I don’t know how to get out of here.”
“You don’t belong here, which means there’s a door somewhere that will lead you back to the mortal world. The ruler of the in-between places one for any person or creature that is sent here by accident or through dark magic. Without a guide orsomeone to tell them what to look for, most don’t know about the door. They never find a way out.”
Panic blooms behind her aquamarine irises. “Where is the door?”
“Only you know.”
“I don’t, though. I don’t know where it is.” Her breaths quicken.
“We will find ittogether. You must keep your wits about you. Breathe.”
My fingers run through her hair again and her body relaxes. After a few moments, her breathing evens out. She gives me a tight smile. “Together.”
Something squeezes my stomach. Lenore is unaware of her father’s death. I debate telling her. Can she handle any more stress in a place like this? No. I don’t think she can. I’ll wait until we surface in the mortal world. She may be angry with me for not telling her, but I believe it’s for the best.
“Let’s start with your favorite places. The door is likely to be somewhere familiar. Where?—”
Lenore grips her chest as a deep wet cough rips from her lungs. Alarm punches through the relief our reunion has brought. Blood sprays out from between her lovely lips. She wobbles on her feet. My arms snap out to support her.
Sweat beads across her forehead. “The poison?”
Using the back of my hand, I wipe the blood from her mouth “Yes.”
“I thought, well, it hasn’t happened as much. I was hoping it was gone or that it was something made up.”
“Catreena did poison you. The potion also put you into a sort of stasis. The side effects that put you to sleep have likely slowed the spread of the poison.”
She looks up at me, tears brimming. “Will I die? No. She told me I couldn’t. She made it sound like I would want to diebut couldn’t. Does she know about my resurrections? How? Why make me suffer if not?”
