Page 27 of Ransomed to the World
Nausea swirled in her guts at the idea of heading underground. Her heart rattled so hard it threatened to crack her ribs. Her eyes flickered toward where Mason was being held.
He knew.
Pure sorrow gazed back at her.
She gritted her teeth against the fear that battered at her and locked her knees.
She could do this.
Shewoulddo this.
While she didn’t doubt she could keep him occupied for two minutes and stay out of the way of his fists, it was a risk. She’d end up revealing way too many of her secrets if they fought. Not to mention that Mason would never forgive himself if he harmed her.
No, the safest route would be to find the heart stone.
“Have you changed your mind?” Queen Nerilla lifted her brow, leaving her face twisted almost comically, like a caricature sketch.
“No!” Annora licked her dried lips, clamping down on her fear. “I’ll be going for the heart stone.”
Nerilla pursed her lips in disappointment that she wouldn’t see Annora smashed to bits, the liver spots making them look like uncooked little sausages. “Very well. I’ll need a piece of you to complete the potion.”
Annora’s mind went blank.
Say what?!
Xander pulled a knife. She stilled, and he carefully lifted a strand of her hair and sliced it off clean before handing it over. “Will this do?”
“Yeah. Perfect,” Nerilla muttered under her breath as she turned away, clearly unhappy she wouldn’t be walking off with Annora’s severed fingers.
Annora remained frozen on the spot, her attention locked onto the dark mouth of the cave. Despite the sweat soaking her clothes, a chill swept through her at the thought of being underground again.
She’d barely managed to conquer the basement. Fuck Mason chasing her—it was being underground that would kill her when she lost control.
Edgar stepped in front of her, blocking her view, cupping her face. “Annora—”
“Don’t say it.” She shook her head to banish the nightmares clinging to the edge of her sanity and gazed up at him. “You’re not going to talk me out of my decision.”
Edgar hesitated, like he wanted to protest, then his face hardened and he dropped his arms. “Then we need to use our last minutes together to prepare you.”
Camden rubbed his hand over the stubble on his jaw as he surveyed those around them. “I’m going to talk to some of the guards and see what I can learn about this stone and how to find it.”
Which she took to mean he was going to try and use his gift to see if he could loosen any lips.
“Can’t stay out of trouble, even for a second, huh?” A ghost of a smirk lingered on Logan’s lips, and he gave her a two-finger salute, then sauntered off, calling over his shoulder, “I’m going to see what I can learn from Mason and try to calm him down. When he learns what you’re going to do, he’s going to lose his shit again.”
Which left her facing Xander and Edgar. With the both of them standing shoulder to shoulder, glaring down at her, they were intimidating as hell.
Not to mention that it was sexy as fuck to be the center of their attention.
Xander gave her a knowing smile, and she knew he did it to take her mind off of what was to come. “You know Mason, know how he fights, but when his rage takes over, he’s not the same man. If you see him, you’re too close. You must not fight him in a confined space. You need to find that stone fast. Understand?”
She nodded, but became distracted when she saw a group of five trolls approach Mason. Before Mason could launch to his feet, they tackled him until he was under a pile of bodies nearly as tall as Annora. While they held him down, Nerilla approached with a mug that spit and sputtered, leaving a billow of gray smoke trailing behind her.
A man next to Nerilla knelt and held Mason’s head tight, then pinched his nose shut when he refused to open his mouth. Her heart ached at the way he fought so fiercely, every fiber of his being determined to keep her safe, even if it cost him his freedom.
But it was not to be.
The second he gasped for air, they poured the potion down his gullet. The majority of it spilled over his face, just a fraction of it getting into his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but what he’d ingested was enough—she could already see the effects taking hold.
