Whisper (Riley Bloom #4) by Alyson Noel

Author:Alyson Noel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA, Alyson Noel, Paranormal, Riley Bloom
ISBN: 9780312641566
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2012-04-24T05:00:00+00:00

12

I slipped away from Dacian, pushed past the Roman nobles standing before me, and leaped as high as I could. Immune to the sound of Dacian’s frantic voice calling out from behind me, I gripped the sides of my gown, bunched it up in my hands, and hurtled right over the edge of the box. Landing on the shoulders of a startled, and not so happy toga-clad man, I evaded his angry, outstretched hands, and found my way to the ground. Winding my way to the center of the arena where I glanced between a headless Theocoles lying prone on the sand, and the completely intact, somewhat filmier version that stood alongside him, staring down at his former body in a mixture of loss and confusion.

“Theocoles.” I tugged hard on his hand, knowing I had to move fast. I had no idea where Messalina might’ve gone, but I could only assume she wouldn’t stay gone for too long. “Theocoles, please, you’ve got to listen to me. You’ve got to realize that you’re dead. It’s over. The battle was lost and there is no going back. And while I’m truly sorry for what happened to you, while I’m truly sorry that you had to go in such a totally gruesome, violent way, it’s time for you to put all of that behind you and move on. There’s a better place for you—a much better place, where you truly belong. And if you’ll just allow me to—”

He turned toward me, his deep topaz eyes staring hard into mine, as though he really did see me, as though he really did hear me—and while my face beamed with victory, I decided to save the celebration for later. First, I had to see this thing through.

“Who is that?” he asked, his voice like a whisper as he gazed down at his poor mangled body.

“It’s you,” I told him, my voice equally soft, sympathetic, knowing firsthand just how shocking it can be to see such a thing, to make the transition between life and death. “That’s what happened to your body. And while I’m truly sorry for that, as you can see, the most essential part of you continues to exist. It’s not over for you, Theocoles, not even close.”

He moved toward his corpse, kneeling beside it as I did the same. Though unlike him, I did my best not to look at it, and I definitely didn’t touch it like he did—it was way too gruesome to even consider. I may have been enthralled with all the blood and gore when I was Aurelia, but returned to myself, I was not only grossed out, but deeply ashamed by the way I’d gotten so easily sucked in—the way I’d so eagerly shouted “Live!” and “Kill!” along with the rest of them. I promised myself I wouldn’t let that happen again.

I mean, seriously, it was pretty much the kind of thing you see in horror movies—the kind of movies that, when I was alive anyway, I was forbidden to watch.

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.