Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
The slender one frowns. “I don’t see why it has to be you.”
The hags continue to argue as they race to get the ingredients for another spell. This one, I’m sure, will nearly kill me, and I don’t dare open myself. Not yet.
I have to be strong. When I open wide, I will pull their power, and there will be no going back.
The hags begin to walk toward me when the cell door opens and Torin rages in.
He stops in front of me, giving me a once-over, his eyes narrowing and his lips thin. A spark of recognition hits him, but he turns as though I don’t deserve a moment’s notice.
My uncle is older, his hair gone to silver. He looks nothing like the man who would sit at my father’s side and talk at night. He’s wrinkled now, hate and guilt obviously taking their toll. But he’s still strong. He hauls two guards with him.
“Take the hags into custody,” Torin announces, his voice ringing out.
The hags laugh. They stand their ground, staring down the guards. “I don’t think they want to do that, Your Majesty. They might discover they prefer their man parts on the outside of their bodies.”
The guards hesitate. I realize I have what I need. They are all here. All here in one place.
I’m ready. I send the message out to everyone, but especially to my loves.
And then Maris enters the room. I can’t believe it. She was supposed to run the minute she convinced Torin to find me. Maris should have fled the castle or joined the bondmates. It was her and Niall’s job to ensure their safety.
The hags begin their threats and Torin his screams for vengeance. He doesn’t even look my way. But Maris does. She moves in close. She still wears her thin, diamond-and-gold crown.
“Do it,” Maris whispers.
I shake my head. Despite all the chaos Maris caused, I can’t kill her. She repented in her way. “I can’t. You know I can’t. Maris, you know what’s going to happen.”
Maris leans in, her voice low. “I’ve protected the others with a spell and Niall is with them. Fire won’t touch them. And I always knew this was how I would end. I don’t want to live, Bronwyn. I want to go home, and my home is no longer here. Do it or I will tell them what’s happening. You will lose your chance. You will lose everything.”
I’m weak again. So weak. I feel sick, my stomach rolling. I can barely move my fingers. How will I do what I need to do? Misery swamps me. I’m so close, but I’m going to fail. I’m going to let them all down. My people. My brothers. My loves. Myself.
My vision starts to fade.
A cool wind buoys me and a familiar voice fills my head. “Then take my strength, daughter. It was always meant for you and Beck and Cian. My children.”
My father floats in front of me, the hags and Torin ignoring him as they continue their argument. My father keeps his eyes on me. “Tell them I did love them. My sons. They will make great kings, and you are already a queen. You didn’t need a crown, Bron. You only needed your own strong heart.”
He moves forward, his essence merging with mine.
The whispers die, but I’m shot through with life. Father gave me everything. He waited, gave up his after, all in order to give me one last gift. One last chance at life. I’m suffused with energy. I brim with it.
I can do this.
“What just happened?” the skinny one asks, looking around the room as though searching for a threat.
The hag takes a step back, my will a palpable thing. In that moment, I feel like a queen.
The hags cackle and Torin yells. The guards begin to tap their swords looking for something to kill. I can hear my compatriots waiting for the time and the time is now.
I do what I was born to do. I open my soul and connect us all. A hundred bondmates, our power soaring and reaching out. The hag who ate all those souls gasps, and I realize the hag’s mistake. The hag is mine, caught in a net of her own making. Those souls that live inside her want to be free, and I give them a way, a path to the after.
The large hag shakes and her head falls back, all the souls rushing out through her mouth and eyes and ears, killing her in an instant.
Torin turns and tries to flee, but Maris catches him. She falls to the floor, trapped in the power. Her mouth opens and a scream splits the air, but she holds on to Torin, dragging him down, keeping him close. I feel her will. This is for her. This is revenge for her love and the girl she’d been. Maris believes in vengeance, and she is at peace with death.