Courting Death and Destruction (The Death and Destruction Series Book 1) by Emily Shore

Author:Emily Shore [Shore, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Outfitted in an armored bodice with a high collar, lithe, long gauntlets for my arms, leather leggings, and boots, I’m ready for the passage.

Can I get the black venom in time? I barely have an hour till nightfall. More than anything, I need this. I need this for me. My thoughts are too dangerous. Too dark and deep with nothing lovely. Only monsters hunting my flesh. So, I will hunt them instead.

Securing my curls into a low, firm bun, I gird my thighs in leather belts with multiple stakes―the only weapons allotted to me in this Infinity Wardrobe. I suppose I have Neo to thank, considering stakes can’t harm him.

Finally, I press my palms to the walls, seeking, seeking, seeking. Hardly two seconds pass before those death shades creep toward me. Bolder, they wisp into my ear, whispering of doom and demise. The blackest of souls. What?

I knit my brows low, sink my hands into the passage. The shades manacle my wrists like dark chains, and I jerk back from the sudden sensation like icicles dragging along my spine. Somehow, I step forward, arms venturing first, then my legs, and finally, I dive into a parade of pitch blackness.

Thick and swelling, it’s colder than mist, and I use touch to discern my way. Solid floor still rests beneath my feet. On each side of me are walls, but deathly shades waltz with my hands. Spreading my fingers and praying to the Goddess I don’t drown in this all-devouring eclipse, I move forward. More whispers of death.

“Princess…they skulk threats into my ears the more I walk. “Come to me. So sweet. So sweet. That’s right, pretty, pretty Princess.”

Run and hide, Elysia, chants an internal voice.

I don’t look back. The shades snake up to my chest. Triggered, my Halo flares to life, biting at their audacity.

“Oh, sweet, sweet, sweet!!” The shadows whisper to my Halo flares. “Everblood!” they conclude, hissing poison into my mind. “Keep going, Halo-bearer. Tonight, I court your soul! You cannot fight me. No, pretty, pretty Princess, you cannot.”

Something reverberates in my chest. Though my Halo causes the shades to scatter, to scurry, somehow, my heart understands the last part is not a lie. It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.

“Wh-who are you?” I whisper in the darkness, fearing the shade voice which bursts an ice storm to the back of my neck, suspecting the worst. The Father channeled far more than his power into the tower.

The voice does not respond, and my hands crash against a door. No knob, but it swings open to my touch. Darkness does not greet me. I step onto a stone walkway, connected to another. Similar to Neo’s that stretches over the Chasm, these have no railings, no fencing. A network of stone platforms branches out to every level and zigzags for miles below to form an enclosed mega-Tower. No buildings. No homes. Endless doors of uninhabited rooms. But not empty and devoid. One wrong move and I will fall to a crushing death.

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