Rising Queen by Crawford C.N

Author:Crawford, C.N.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-29T16:00:00+00:00

25

Aenor

Lightning flashed in the dark sky behind Salem, touching down on one of the shattered columns. Even in the rain, Salem’s wings burned with flames, and dark smoke curled into the air.

“A sacrifice!” Salem boomed. “To remove my curse.”

I was still dizzy from the blow to my temple, and his voice sounded strangely distant. Pain fogged my mind, but I couldn’t escape the sense of pure wrongness. Was this really Salem?

As soon as I started to stand, that sword would be in my neck.

Scanning my surroundings, I scrambled to make another plan. I was in the center of the semicircle. Where I’d fallen, I didn’t think Richelle could see me, because she was just above me.

Think.

Hard to think when the word betrayed sang in my mind, a forlorn requiem for our mating bond.

Rainwater slid down Salem’s sharp jaw line, and he wore an easy smile. Was this all a game to him?

I could imagine how I looked to him—sick, with dark magic in my veins. My blue hair stuck to my head, my body battered from my fight with the bull. Cowering against a stone wall.

Aenor Dahut, Flayer of Skins, Scourge of the Wicked, did not cower.

My hand shot out, lightning-fast, and I swiped for his wrist. I carved sharply through his skin, and he dropped his sword in the water. I sprang up, slashing at his chest with the sea glass—but that fucking instinct stopped me again.

His hand shot out, catching my wrist in a crushing grip. He tightened his fist so hard that I thought he might break my bones, and I dropped to my knees again in the cold water.

My desire to protect him would be the death of me. Gods damn it.

“Aenor.” One of his eyebrows rose. “Did you think I’d give up the heavens for you?”

This was all so wrong. Wrong as the seas drying up and the sun going dark. Wrong as a corpse rotting on the wrong side of the wall.

Cold rain slammed into the water around me, sliding down my skin. For thousands of years, Salem had dreamt of becoming a god. And killing me was the only way he could get there. He’d spent millennia dreaming of his destiny in the skies again.

How much time had we spent together? A matter of days, no more.

And yet, still… It was like my brain was breaking, unable to believe what was happening. Salem wouldn’t do this. There was something I was forgetting, some reason I knew it to be true.

He was crushing my wrist, the one still holding the sea glass, but I kept my grip on it.

Then his other hand clamped around my throat, and he lifted me by the neck, slamming me back against the wall. He pressed against my throat, but not so hard I couldn’t breathe. My toes were still on the ground.

All he had to do was squeeze, or unleash his fire.

And yet…

He wasn’t doing it, was he? No, his muscles were starting to shake now, jaw clenched tight.

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