Page 81 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Alistair has stopped next to me instead of going through the portal, but I can’t spare him even a glance, because my eyes are locked on the two people who are being led over to where Jessina is standing.
My parents.
Fear pulses across their faces as they are forced to their knees in front of Jessina, but resentment quickly joins that emotion in their eyes when their gazes land on me.
“Mom.” The panicked word escapes my lips without permission. “Dad.”
Terror crashes through me as Jessina summons two blades of ice with her magic and positions them in front of my parents’ throats. They flinch, fear pulsing across their faces again. I drag in an unsteady breath.
Rooted on the floor, all I can do is to just stare at them.
“Selena,” Alistair whispers from next to me.
But I don’t reply. And I don’t move. The portal is right behind us. Two more steps, and we’re through it. But I can’t leave them. They’re… they’re my parents. I can’t leave them.
“Let them go,” I snarl, rage ripping through my soul, as I snap my gaze back up to Empress Jessina.
A cruel smile curls her lips, and her pale gray eyes harden. “Do you really think you’re in a position to make demands?”
The ice blades press tighter against my parents’ throats. I cast a panicked look down at them. Fear and hatred shine in their eyes as they stare at me accusingly from across the floor.
It makes my chest twist in pain.
I drag my gaze up to Jessina. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” She lets out a vicious, mocking laugh. “I want you to learn a lesson, slave.”
“What lesson?”
She glances towards Bane, pain and anger in her pale eyes, before her merciless gaze locks on me again. “A lesson in how a war against me works.”
“Which is what?”
“You take one of mine.” She motions towards the portal where Draven disappeared and then towards my parents. “I takethreeof yours.” Her eyes sharpen like unyielding steel. “So don’t you ever dare touch my mate again.”
Dark rage flares inside me. “I could say the same to you.”
“No, you can’t. Because I’m the one with the hostages. And you’re not ruthless enough to back up your threats.” Her eyes glint as she raises her hand slightly. “But guess what, slave?”
I just hold her stare with eyes full of rage and hatred.
She flashes me a smile dripping with malice. “I am.”
My parents suck in a sharp breath.
She slits their throats.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Time slows until every second feels like an hour. Fear drowns out the resentment in my mom’s yellow and lavender eyes for a second. For one second. The last second. Her entire face is lined with utter terror and her mouth is still slightly open from that final gasp. And her terrified eyes remain locked on me. Next to her, my dad is staring at me in shock, his silver and turquoise eyes wide.
And for that one moment, time seems frozen. As if this one second lasts for an age.
Then a deep red cut appears across their throats.
Blood bursts out and runs down their necks like a flood, staining their worn shirts red.
They topple to the side.
