Page 23 of Ransomed to the World
Annora glowered at the people who smirked and gathered around to watch Mason on his knees. She marched forward, ignoring when her men growled in protest, but they were quickly surrounded, unable to follow.
“So you’re the whore who thinks to claim one of my subjects.” The woman smiled, each of her square teeth at least the size of Annora’s thumbnail. She was slouched on a throne created of stones and wood. Her hair was almost a golden yellow, except it looked like straw. Her skin was tinged a greenish-grey color that reminded Annora of snot.
All Annora’s rage at the way they treated Mason surged to the surface. The image of seeing Xander beaten, then tossed over the side of the cliff like he was trash sent her fury burning higher. Darkness didn’t just explode out of her—it enveloped the world.
The sky turned overcast as the two worlds merged, the trees fading as the dark particles encased them. The trolls whirled, weapons raised as they muttered among themselves and searched for the enemy. Some of their hair rose on end like a cat’s, while others dropped as they backed away from the encroaching darkness.
A scan showed barely half of the people appeared normal.
The other half…not so much.
Tar tinged their eyes completely black, leaving not even a speck of white behind. It streaked down their faces from their eyes and mouth like some grisly Halloween mask to frighten young kids. Their skin was leached of color, a pasty gray, their lips charred black.
It was something that only happened to people who had done something so evil that it stained their soul. Annora wasn’t the least bit surprised to see so many were affected.
She focused on the two women who attacked them earlier, pleased when ribbons of smoke began to twist up their legs, grafting to them like a fungus and beginning to feed. The younger of their attackers panicked, giving a pained squeal, and tried to brush it off, which only succeeded in spreading the mold.
The older one bared her teeth, as if she could beat death. She staggered toward Annora even as her body shriveled rapidly, the mold spreading at an alarming rate.
The queen sprang to her feet as the black fog streaked up her throne, her good cheer gone. Then she whirled, her breath practically billowing around her like a bull ready to charge. “Stop this!”
Annora gave a nasty smile. “Fuck you.”
The queen yanked a spear away from one of her warriors and launched it through the air. The wood gave a sharp whistle as it flew toward Annora.
And disintegrated in a cloud of tiny grains of sand that dropped harmlessly to the ground before it even reached her. The troll stumbled back, her eyes wide, the first hint of fear darkening her face as she saw the future of her kingdom lying in ashes.
Annora allowed the darkness to weave playfully between her fingers, tasting its enjoyment at being let out to play. “You’re welcome to try again. Even if you manage to kill me, I have a nasty habit of not staying dead. If you manage to somehow survive, I’ll come back to finish this once and for all.”
Annora didn’t know if she really would be able to come back from the afterworld anymore if she died, not since so many things had changed, but she vowed to become a reaper if that was her only way to return to take her vengeance.
She would allow no one to harm her mates.
“Annora!” Mason stepped in front of her, cupping her face until she saw only him.
She frowned, her brows furrowing in confusion. “Mas—”
“You have to stop.” He tucked her close to his body, as if to protect her from the darkness surrounding them. “You’re killing them.”
“They deserve it for what they did to you.” She stared up at him, her mind clouded by the need for vengeance. “They—”
“Yeah, Flora is a bitch, but not all of them are evil,” Mason whispered to her.
Part of her anger eased at his nearness, the need to tear apart the world fading. As she gazed up at him, she expected to see horror.
But all she saw was love and concern for her welfare.
“Fine.” She blew out a breath, then sighed. “I’ll spare them for you.”
She pressed her face against his chest, then closed her eyes and pulled back the darkness. It fucking hurt! It peeled back from the real world reluctantly, the fog creeping along the ground toward her like some poorly made scary movie. It seeped into her skin and flowed into her veins like hundred-proof liquor.
It was the feel of sun on her face that made her finally open her eyes and ease away from Mason’s arms.
The rest of the guys surrounded them, weapons drawn, but none of the trolls dared approach them.
That’s when she got a close look at the village…or what was left of it.
The place had been destroyed, aging a hundred years in the space of five minutes. Some trees had gone wild, the vegetation almost foreign, while others had withered and died. The buildings were mostly standing…one looked like the boards shrank two sizes, the wood crumbling like sawdust, while another had grown roots into the ground, the whole thing coming alive with flowers and vines.
