Soul Sworn (The Crest of Blackthorn Book 2) by Joy Lewis

Author:Joy Lewis [Lewis, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joy Lewis
Published: 2021-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-Four

Caia’s mental probe stumbled around the area like clumsy fingers searching in the dark.

Unsatisfied with her progress, Caia opened her eyes. The darkness had only thickened from when Augustus had left her. What have I missed? What else is there here? Her brows knitted together in frustration.

Maybe the better question is who else is out here?

Now that she was alone and aboveground, a chill ran along her back. I still haven’t seen Soren.

They’d been separated for some time, but she knew from experience that the Nocturn was persistent when it came to getting what he wanted.

I should go back. Come back during daylight.

But she couldn’t make her body go back underground. It felt too much like admitting defeat.

Caia pulled the knife from where it was tucked at her waist. It shone in the moonlight like liquid silver. She held it closer to her body so that the light wouldn’t give her position away.

Around her were trees dangling moss overhead and the deep, murky depths of the bog.

She squinted in the darkness to attempt to glimpse the souls flickering through the veil, but no light peeked from between the skeletal branches entrenched in water. Her eyes drifted down to the murky pools of water that was loosely considered a river.

As quiet as a mouse, she padded down the incline to the basin of the swamp below.

To look for death, first find where life thrives.

Caia jumped at a sudden noise overhead. Adrenaline pumped her veins, and she angled the knife before her. She would carve her way out of a sker’lar’s embrace before she fell to one again.

Her legs trembled when she saw it was merely a bird taking flight from its nest.

Use your magic, she scolded herself. The thought came as her bare feet touched ebbing water.

Every living soul in the bog lands can be traced back to the river. The bugs lay eggs on its banks, and then some offspring are devoured by the birds. Snakes eat the birds and mice. And these three lifeforms are eaten by something else.

Or, were, she corrected as she gasped at the nature of the soul she’d found in the bog’s watery depths.

She put aside her victory for the moment as she realized the focus that the raising would require when it shared its grave with so many others that demanded her efforts.

Caia’s hands worked through the motions, and the swamp fell quiet. Even the moon hid behind a blanket of clouds in seeming reverence for the creature she attempted to pull from death.

Sweat glided down her shirt in different directions as she repeated the motions, her increasing heartbeat pushing the pace of the process. Allow me to disturb your rest. Although she knew that the creature wouldn’t understand, she found that talking in her head had helped her to successfully raise recently. She tried again, prodding it out of the riverbed with another push. For little more than a moment, let me borrow your soul.

Although the magic left her, she felt as if she were trying to beat down a stone wall with her fists.

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