The Mortal Fires by Anna Durand

Author:Anna Durand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal romance, fantasy romance, fae, elementals
Publisher: Jacobsville Books
Published: 2017-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

17

Everything inside me froze, as if I'd been injected with liquid nitrogen that penetrated every single cell of my body. All the dead women shared my birthday. I'd suspected the women had some connection to me, besides our resemblance to each other, but this confirmation hit me hard. I couldn't speak or move, and even breathing became difficult. A phantom weight bore down on my chest, making it hard to pull in enough air.

My birthday.

One of my allies had betrayed me. That's what I'd thought yesterday, because the sorcerer knew about my powers — and my birth date, it seemed. The more time I spent with my allies, including the newcomers Max and Ennea, the less I could believe any of them might betray me.

Who else could have done it?

Nevan took my face in his hands, the heat of him chasing away the chill in my cheeks but failing to eradicate the coldness in the rest of my body. I let his mesmeric eyes capture my focus, but for once, their swirling couldn't distract me from the fear seizing control of me.

No. I would not give in to the fear. Not this time.

The old me would have, but I'd changed in the past six weeks. I wasn't a coward repressing my feelings anymore.

I placed my hands over Nevan's. "It's okay. I'm okay."

He searched my face — for a sign I was reining it in like I used to, no doubt — but then nodded and lowered his hands to my shoulders. "The connection to you is no longer a hypothesis. The sorcerer killed these women because they resemble you. Perhaps in an attempt to find you, based on appearance and birth date."

"But he knew who I was when he killed Megan. He said the girls were an offering to prove his devotion to me."

The sorcerer had vowed to "whittle away" at me until I had nothing left but fear and regret. He swore I'd want to go with him in the end. Why did he want me? It was more than my powers, of that I was certain. The sorcerer had told me he could become whomever I wanted, offering to glamour into Nevan or Travis. Nevan, I could understand, but why did he choose to glamour into Travis?

He'd called me "sweetness" and "sweet thing." Only one person had ever called me either of those things.

"The sorcerer is Calder Blackwell," I said. "He has to be, it's the only way this makes any sense."

Everyone looked dubious, so I laid out the evidence supporting my claim.

Nevan spoke first. "It does make a certain sense, though your theory fails to account for the sorcerer's vendetta against me. Calder wanted me out of the way, so he could have you."

"And the sorcerer is spending a ton of time and energy on torturing you," I said. "That seems more Notus-ish. But murdering girls as an offering, and trying to wear me down so I'll join him, that seems more Calder-ish. I still don't understand the burning bush thing either.

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