Ocean's Blood (The Drowning Book 1) by Thelma Mantey

Author:Thelma Mantey [Mantey, Thelma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thelma Mantey
Published: 2024-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Darkness had fallen when he woke up. For a blissful second, he lay in the thought-free limbo between sleep and waking, innocent, weightless, then the recent events came down on him like one of the waterfalls outside. He turned onto his stomach and buried his face into the pillow. Then he pulled the pillow over his head. The memories stayed.

Damn Ru. Damn himself. Vindt trusted Ru no more than Asche, or any of them. However, for the first time in a decade, he had allowed his mind to contemplate freedom as an actual possibility. He had no clue what this wrist Binding thing was all about, and he couldn’t care less. But it was a door. Had been.

Damn Asche for his preternatural intuition. Or knowledge. Or spying skills. Damn him in general. Damn them all. Their schemes didn’t matter to him. What mattered was whether Ru had been sincere with his “reward.” If bringing Asche down was really the last thing he planned to do in his life, a Thyd’s freedom might not be such a big price to pay, no?

It meant betrayal.

So what? Vindt might have felt a beacon of solidarity with Asche during the meeting, but that surely was a side effect of the Bond. Or that, in that moment, the Singer had stood between him and a pack of demons wanting him dead.

He had to meet with Ru again, no matter how. Tonight, given they would leave tomorrow morning. Asche had claimed both of them would be at the Pledge. Another of their sick rituals.

If Asche found out, he would kill him.

No, he wouldn’t.

The realization struck. Punish, yes, but not kill. That Asche had gotten him out of Thrithid still seemed ludicrous. Yet, he seemed to want Vindt alive. He had saved him in the meeting, and, if Asche was to be believed, ten years ago when Silhorveen wanted him dead. Whatever his motives.

Punishment. Vindt almost laughed. Oh, he did fear it. But the fear was nothing compared to what risking it might yield.

Asche had left the house already. Vindt felt the absence of his aura. When he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could sense its location, sense him, at some distance up the mountain. With Silhorveen, he had never felt anything remotely similar. It was uncanny, but right now, he was glad. He didn’t have a plan on how to approach Ru. He would come up with one once he had an overview of the situation.

For now, the plan was simple: follow Asche.

Clouds hid the moon, but the fluorescent flowers planted along the paths plunged the night into navigable twilight. Vindt’s brief concerns about Asche having put up some magical barrier to keep him inside turned out to be baseless. He followed the aura’s thread up the mountain to the building where this morning’s meeting had been held, then crossed the plateau to the same stairs Asche had led him up afterward.

The top of the stairway was still a dozen steps ahead when suddenly

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.