Page 44 of Fire Kissed
Torben’s big body collides into mine. We fall with slamming force. Magic meant for me booms into the wall, crashing boulders of rock all around us.
The press of it all, it’s too much. My beast is shoved out. She collapses within me. The restricting power of Hell sends her away as fast as she came rushing out. And I’m left lying in the rubble of the aftermath. Exhaustion tears me down and I can’t find the strength to stand after all that my wolf took.
“The castle’s caving in. We have to get out of here,” Latham yells.
Torben nods, his gaze scanning the blood and dirt for a shifter we can’t see. Aric’s curses are heard before he’s ever seen.
“Get the fuck off of me.” His boot angles into the air as he kicks at the serpent shifter that’s slithering down into the mess of stones.
Torben grabs my hand and climbs toward his friend.
His fist comes down when he’s near enough, and fire blazes out, shaking the ground even more, but the snake’s fear sends him slithering away from the heat of Torben’s magic. Torben grips Aric’s shirt and hauls him up to his unsteady feet.
“Let’s go.” Torben’s more careful with my bare feet, taking his time to help me down off of the mound of dusty boulders.
“Where are we going?”
“To the only exit I know in this room.”
“Where does it lead to?” I ask, my gaze searching for the King and Queen among the dusty remains, but everything is eerily quiet and still.
“No idea,” Torben grunts.
He guides me to the wall that’s weirdly, perfectly intact just behind the two thrones. One of the chairs is severed in half.
Hela’s chair.
The other is littered with dust and rock and the floor at the side of the other chair is piled with stones. And that’s where my mother will be buried. That will be her eternal resting place...
He pulls at my hand until I look away and follow after him to the strange gray wall behind the chairs. Torben lifts his palm, and as he’s about to guide me through, a hand snatches mine. Nails dig into my skin and pain follows.
“You’ll die here, too, you little bitch.” Hela’s wild eyes clash with mine.
Latham’s entire body lowers down. He slams into her side, but she’s quick to divert away. She stumbles but takes me with her. I land tangled with her, our hands scratching and clawing at one another as we go down. Magic fills her fist, but the nice jagged rock in mine juts out first. I slam it into the side of her head. As she tumbles away, her hand grips my ankle.
Torben’s hand grabs mine. Latham takes my other.
“Get them!” Hela commands as my foot slams into her knuckles.
I’m pulled to the exit with a rush of force and panic. The four of us are just steps away from freedom.
A familiar tone haunts my mind when I hear his voice. My head turns at the last second. Those eyes that I’d looked into my entire life—the eyes of a man I hated—they stare fully into mine. Uncertainty tangles in my stomach.
Kyvain’s smirk carves his lips while he slams into Aric. He takes him down to the ground. Serpan covers Aric’s strong body with cords of scaly muscle. The two of them rip my dragon shifter away from me.
It’s too late. I can’t reach him. I’m pulled through the exit.
And his name is eaten up into the nothingness as I’m torn away from the realm of Hell.
Muspelheim
Rhys
Aric’s nameis still a scream against my lips when I land on my knees in a pile of ash. The smell of sulfur is harsh against my throat, but the tears stinging there are even worse.
“Take me back!” I stand abruptly and glare up at Torben.
A fire reflects in his green eyes, his gaze scanning our surroundings from over the top of my head.
