Page 83 of Curse of Thorns
“Pass between those two mountains. There will be another few obstacles before you reach the acid swamp. The book is there. In the center of it all.”
Acid swamp. That soundslovely.
“What are you discussing?”
I whip around, the fast movement sending jolts of pain through my body. Through my blurred vision, I find Rev standing at the bottom of the largest stone, looking up at us.
“Just what lies between us and the spellbook.”
He climbs up to the top of the stone. “Which is?” His jaw is tight and eyes cast over the field below.
“A field populated by wraiths. Only passable in the sunlight, apparently.”
“Even in the sunlight, it isn’t easy. There will be lingering wraiths. Luckily, you have me.” The wraith does his creepy smoke smile again.
“I would never align with a wraith.” Rev’s lip curls in disgust. “If you think I’m going to let you take this from me and leave me behind...”
The wraith burst out laughing. “Is that what you think she’s doing? Trying to usurp you? Well, I wish. Indeed, that would make my life much easier.”
“Whatever,” Rev says and turns to pack up his things.
I sigh, willing to allow Rev to have his tantrum—I don’t blame him for his distrust or his hate, but the wraith leaps after him.
“And what is wrong with wraiths?” he asks, curling around him. “You think yourself so morally superior?”
“Wraith are evil souls. Of course, I’m more moral.”
“You are such an oblivious fae. One day, the truth you work so hard to fight will smack you in the face, and you’ll realize how wrong you’ve been.”
“You’re so damn cryptic.” Rev shakes his head. “Good thing I don’t care what you mean.”
“What do you think was the reason you couldn’t enter through the gates before? What changed that allowed you entry? Let me give you a hint. It was your soul. You didn’t belong here, Prince Reveln. The gate tried everything it could to keep you out for all our sakes.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Wraith,” I warn. Rev does not need to know all of this.
“And,” the wraith goes on, “what if it turned out you knew one of those wraiths down there? Would you still act so superior?”
Rev jerks back. “No one I’ve known would have come to this place.”
“Ha!” the wraith spits, spinning in the air like he enjoys this. “How about Rook, your friend that betrayed you? That your mate you hate so much killed to protect you? The fae guard who attempted to kill a teenaged human just to get to your lovely mate? Or how about Reahgan?”
Before I can even blink, white light blasts from Rev’s palm, slamming into the wraith. He screams in agony as the light presses him into the ground. The smoke that makes up his wraith body convulses.
“Rev!” I call, but he doesn’t hear me. He doesn’t register anything in his blinding rage.
I toss a wall of shadow magic between them, cutting off the searing white light. Rev doesn’t seem to care—he got his point across. “Don’t you dare talk about my brother.”
Rev grabs his bag and stomps away, toward the valley filled with wraiths below.
