Page 120 of When the Wicked Sing
Her head whipped between the door and the witch. “And what about my sisters? My mother? Did you kill Cybele?”
“Cybele is alive,” she said, the irritation clear in her tone. “If you want to see her again and say your goodbyes, you’ll come with me.”
“What did you do to her?”
“It’s not what I did to her, but what she did to herself. The moment she turned you into a fae, she began to die. The fallout was too great.”
“Mari!” Dax shouted again behind the door, the handle rattling.
“I’m getting sick of your vile lies,” Mariana sneered at the witch.
“And I’m getting sick of your defiance.”
Two figures stepped through the portal behind her, and Mariana’s eyes widened in horror.
A creature unlike anything she’d ever seen stared her down, dripping saltwater. Its eyes were droplets of blood, its mouth a circle of razor-sharp teeth designed for tearing, and its body a motley of corals and seaweed woven tightly together.
“What are you—” Before Mariana could finish, the beast lashed out a long, octopus-like arm, wrapping it around her face and body. She thrashed violently as it choked her. Dax’s shouting behind the closed door faded. Her vision grew hazy. She stared at the witch, who was looking down at her with pity.
“I missed you,” she heard the witch whisper.
Mariana’s eyes drifted shut. The sensation of the witch’s fingers stroking her head gently was the last thing she felt before everything was swallowed by darkness.
Chapter 66
“Aurora!Aurora!”
She heard her name being shouted over and over. Small hands gripped her shoulders, shaking them. Aurora lifted a hand to wave them away, wanting to go back to sleep.
“Aurora, you have to wake up! Wake up!” Luna’s voice became clear, as did the urgency with which she spoke. It stirred Aurora from her slumber, and she opened a hesitant eye.
“Luna?”
“Thank the Goddess!” Luna dived toward her, wrapping her lanky arms around Aurora’s neck and rocking her back and forth.
“Stop,” Aurora grunted, pulling from her embrace. She sat up, clutching her throbbing head. “What happened?”
“The cursed have taken over Salus. They threw us in here. I don’t know where the others are.”
The last thing Aurora remembered was the fear in Malea’s gaze, the sound of her shouting to look behind her, and then…
Aurora groaned, rubbing the sensitive spot on the back of her head where the club had landed its heavy blow. “Why didn’t they just kill me?”
Luna wrapped her arms around herself and shrugged. “They killed Malea,” she whispered, and Aurora’s eyes snapped to hers.
“What did you just say?”
Luna’s eyes were rimmed with red. “They killed her. She grabbed your dagger and—” She shook her head, covering her face with her hands. “It was awful,” she said, muffled. “How could they do that to her?”
Aurora’s heart was pounding so hard in her ears she could barely think. Lifting a hand, she gently rubbed Luna’s back as she gathered her thoughts. Malea was dead. Cybele—
“What about the queen?”
Luna’s hands dropped to her lap, and she shrugged. “I think they took her somewhere. I don’t know.”
“Shit,” she muttered and scrubbed her face. As she dropped her hands, she glanced around. They were in the windowless pantry of the kitchens. Great.
“What are we going to do?” Luna whispered, sniffing.
