Butterflies That Never Die (Legend of the Heirs Book 1) by Aldara Thomas

Author:Aldara Thomas [Thomas, Aldara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aldara Thomas
Published: 2021-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20: SALAMANDER

All this for a throne, Hannah had thought as she watched the traitors fall with a single look of the Queen’s eyes.

She had never been able to understand the atrocities committed in the name of power, had never thought the exchange of death and pain for glory to be fair. Now, witnessing it with her own eyes as half the crowd around her turned into vicious monsters hungry for more, Hannah felt scared.

She was scared of herself.

It terrified her that she could understand why the Queen was doing it. Arabella had to survive. She had to defend what was hers.

Killing is easy when you get down to it, whispered a thought in the darkest depths of Hannah’s mind.

Then Arabella had turned her ice-blue eyes on her.

Nothing could have ever prepared Hannah for the pain.

Her body was ripped apart, the wounds invisible to the naked eye, and her soul shattered somewhere deep inside where she couldn’t reach down to fix it. Ice burned in her veins, consuming her.

Stop, she wanted to scream, but couldn’t. Stop. Let me go, or kill me. I don’t care which, just make it stop.

But Arabella didn’t let her go, and Hannah didn’t die.

Why wasn’t she dying? Everyone else had.

She tried to look away, but couldn’t. Invisible hands locked her head in place, forcing her to stare at her executioner. The more she struggled, the more paralyzed she became.

The corrosive poison spread inside her, covering every inch of her in scorching ice. There was no antidote for the deadliest venom in the world, but Hannah was still alive.

Arabella couldn’t mask her astonishment, nor was the crowd silent. They were witnessing the impossible, a feat that had never been achieved before. No one had ever looked into the eyes of Death and lived.

As abruptly as it had come, the pain stopped.

Her vision was dark. For a moment Hannah believed she was dead. Maybe the venom had done its job. Maybe her soul would now wander far away, somewhere it couldn’t be hurt anymore, but she heard the buzzing consternation of the crowd, and Arabella’s biting command for someone to step away. She realized then that a pair of wings had embraced her like a cocoon.

“She’ll h-hurt you…” she said weakly.

“I don’t care,” Margaret said, shielding Hannah with her wings sprouting from her back. Her guardian angel.

Hannah could barely walk, but Margaret dragged her away. She could hear Arabella calling for her guards, ordering them to bring the wolf back to her. It was agony to move with shards of ice in her heart and sickening poison running through her veins, but Hannah shifted back to her human form and limped as the crowd opened up a path for her.

A woman who Hannah had seen moments earlier protesting against the Queen’s actions held her with care and helped her walk, at the same time that a large group of people moved to form a barrier between her and the Queen’s Guard. “Run, my lady, run!”

I’m not a

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