House of Wolves (The House of Eclipses Duology Book 2) by Casey L. Bond

Author:Casey L. Bond [Bond, Casey L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA Fantasy
Published: 2021-11-16T18:30:00+00:00

17

By the time Holt and Red stood up, and Red offered me a hand and pulled me out of my chair, Beron had sent Chase to Noor and Noor had opened a portal. Chase stayed in Helios with the Lumin and Wolven, but soon, the three would return. Clouds still blanketed the sky when Sol heard Noor’s call and abandoned Lumina to join Lumos over her temple.

Amaris was in the kitchen eating when we entered. She finished chewing whatever she’d grabbed and told Holt she was going to run the perimeter. She didn’t spare even a passing glance, but I could be civil if she ignored me.

The heat of my homeland lingered in the House and I tried to ignore the shadows who whispered that they’d left me behind on purpose. That they didn’t want me to go with them. That I wasn’t welcome in my home anymore. That I was tainted. A target. Too unstable to trust. A liar. I’d hidden the vision from them.

“Are you okay?” Red asked, leaning a hip against one of the long tables.

My fingertips traced the gouges left behind by years of chopping and slicing. I nodded, trying to silence the incessant whispering.

“Hungry?”

“Always,” I answered.

He smiled. “Let’s find something to cook up, then.”

Holt spoke up. “There are trout in the snow cellar.”

“Snow cellar?”

“We collect snow and ice from the mountaintop and keep it piled in a small cellar,” he answered. “It preserves the food we catch or bring home.”

Home. There was that word again. Mocking me. The insidious shadows whispered that Helios wasn’t my home anymore. The sunlight was not a welcome home for darkness. They said this wasn’t my home, either. The House of Wolves was for their kind. Since I hadn’t turned, I was not one of them.

I was another kind.

I was his.

His dark sun.

Something in me recoiled at the voices slithering through my mind. I gripped the edge of the counter, my vision swimming. I wanted to shred the whispers, to sink my teeth in and shake and tear until the life and words bled from each one.

“Citali?” Red asked, dipping his head to peer into my face.

My skin was so hot it felt as if it would blister and peel off. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead and upper lip, sliding down the back of my neck. My fingernails lengthened and raked against the wood. Shavings peeled away when I moved my hands.

“Citali, calm down, okay? Holt!” Red yelled, a tinge of unease in his voice.

Red was beside me in an instant. I heard Holt’s voice. My eyes wouldn’t focus. “Cold rag,” one of them snapped.

A wet, cold rag swept across my face and neck. “You’re okay,” he said. “Breathe. Calm down.”

A colorful curse. Red.

“Citali, listen,” Holt demanded, hefting me onto the counter and holding me upright. “It’s going to take every ounce of strength you have, but you have to push what you’re feeling into the pit of your stomach. Pretend there’s a bottle there. Push all these feelings into the bottle and cork it.

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