Betrayal of Hearts: A Reverse Harem Alice in Wonderland Story (Her Wonderland Kings Book 2) by Stefanie Marie

Author:Stefanie Marie [Marie, Stefanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

In Which I Prove Myself (Sort Of)

The hedges loomed impossibly tall ahead as I pushed Jewel faster and faster, ignoring Caden’s shouts for me to stop.

I wasn’t going to stop.

I was possessed with a need to prove myself, suddenly; it was like a spell had come over me.

Jewel cleared the outer wall of the garden labyrinth with ease. I felt like we were flying, graceful and airborne long enough that I caught a glimpse of our target far in the distance—a snake-like head whipping above the hedges, a forked tongue flickering.

A snake.

To paraphrase Indiana Jones, why the fuck did it have to be a snake?

I steeled my resolve and leaned lower to Jewel’s back, urging her faster. But it was hard to gain too much speed on these narrow paths that were dotted with thorns and that I swear kept changing around us, trying to confuse us.

This was taking too long.

The screams were getting louder. I lifted my head away from Jewel’s neck, and I saw a row of archers taking aim from a ledge along the palace’s roof. Their arrows did nothing to slow the approaching beast down.

What the hell was I going to do to stop it?

I had no idea, but I was convinced that the only way out of this was to keep going. It was the same way I got through panic attacks. I was used to the feeling of things rising impossibly around me, of thorns pressing in and making me feel like I couldn’t breathe, like the world had gone hazy and the path to escape kept changing and nothing was ever going to be clear again.

The only way out is through.

Light surged from my chest as I repeated that mantra to myself, and the hedges in front of us withered as that light hit them.

Jewel lowered her horn and charged straight through the dying vegetation. I withdrew my sword and helped hack away at the edges, at the stubborn, prickly vines that tried to snag her flanks and slow us down.

I heard the hedges closing behind us once we’d barreled our way through. It was unsettling. It made me think about the Bramblesnatches I’d fought the last time I was in Wonderland, and how they’d hidden themselves by posing as trees.

I was terrified to think about just how ‘alive’ this labyrinth really was.

The sections seemed to close faster and faster as we charged through them, or else we were getting slower. I felt like we were being chased, but I wasn’t looking back now. I wasn’t going that way.

We tore a path all the way to the target we’d set out for.

Light was still pulsing from the Heartstone when we reached it. It washed over the creature’s scaly body, and that creature shuddered to a stop, letting out a bone-rattling screech.

It whipped around to face us, and then arched its lithe body upwards until it towered at least ten feet above my head.

Snake was still an appropriate description, although up close I

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.