Lord of the Abyss & Desert Warrior by Nalini Singh

Author:Nalini Singh [Nalini Singh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-08-02T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

IN HIS MEMORIES, THE CASTLE was a proud structure of glimmering stone standing in the middle of a pristine lake. At night its windows had been filled with golden light, while during the day the colorful pennants that spoke of the Royal House of Elden and their allies had flown high overhead. Music had rolled out over the lake more often than not, and the causeway that connected the castle to the mainland had been filled with the bustle of movement as the people came and went.

What he saw before him was a desecration.

He and Liliana had come out of the forest on the opposite side of the lake to the causeway, but even from this far he could see the foul creatures moving about along the narrow stretch. They appeared agitated, their anger vicious. But their presence was, in many ways, the easiest to bear. As for the castle itself…

Enough sickening yellow light spilled from within that he could discern the black slime mold crawling up the sides of the stone, see the monstrous vegetation. His mother’s gardens, her fruit plants, were all gone, dead. To be replaced by putrid plants akin to those in the forest behind them.

The lake was in no better condition—slow moving and polluted, with a thin film of grease overlaying the surface, it appeared lifeless. But it was not untenanted. “What are those?” he said, catching the eager movements beneath the slime.

“The flesh-eating fish I told you about,” she said with a shudder before nodding to a small wooden boat that lay pulled up on the verge not far from them. “If we try to take that out into the water without my father’s sorcery to protect us, the fish will eat through the hull to get to us.” Staring at the water, she said, “I’ve been thinking. My blood is close enough to his that I may be able to fool the fish, get us safely to the castle—otherwise, we’ll have to breach the causeway.”

He tasted her fear, knew her father had terrorized her with the bloodthirsty fish in the lake. But they weren’t the only beings beneath the water.

You must always treat them with respect, Micah. They are the guardians of this place.

His father’s voice, stern and yet kind to a young boy who’d been flushed with his own power after summoning one of those great guardians from the deep, for his was the magic that spoke to the earth and its creatures, whether on the land or in the water. Perhaps the guardians were long dead, poisoned by this filth, but Micah didn’t think so. They were beings of vast and ancient magic who slept far, far below, under the silt of the lake bottom itself.

“No, Lily,” he murmured. “Save your strength, your blood.” Heading to the boat, he told her to get in. “You must trust me.”

It didn’t surprise him that she entered the boat without another word. She was his. Of course she should trust him; he would’ve likely growled at her if she had not.

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