Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Something about Liadan…
“I think she had something to do with me fading the way I did.” Over the course of the last weeks with Meg, the idea has been coalescing in my head. I remember a familiar voice telling me to fade, and it wasn’t my own. Smoke was involved, a sickly sweet smell that always accompanied my loss of will.
Beck sighs. “You were fading because we hadn’t bonded. I was doing my own version of it, too. There’s nothing more than a biological need at play in that.”
“No, I was worse off than you.” I’m sure of it. Beck was functional even at the worst stages.
Beck turns and sighs. “Because you’re the intellectual half…”
He stops in the middle of his explanation because there’s the sound of a thud and then Beck’s right shoulder flies back as an arrow hits him.
I watch in horror as the arrow lodges in my brother’s shoulder and blood begins to bloom over his shirt.
“I think he was trying to say that you’re the weak one, Cian.” Liadan steps out from behind a copse of trees, a crossbow in her hand. She changed clothes and wears pants and a black shirt, her cat slinking around her boots. “It took you long enough to figure out I was the one behind your need to fade. You weren’t doing it fast enough. I had to help you along.”
Beck goes a pasty white. “Lia?”
She stands slightly away from us, the crossbow still in her hand. “Yes, Beckett. You’re not the intellectual half. You’re the idiot half who can’t keep his dick in his pants, the one who didn’t realize he was sleeping with a hag. His Majesty, King Torin sends his greetings. Your wife is gone, and you won’t find her again. I had to pay for it, but the Hell plane will be a lot like home for me. And I’ll have all of Beckett’s power.”
Beck grimaces and pulls the arrow out. “I’m going to kill you.”
Yes, no arrow can take the warrior king out. I have my sword in hand, but I won’t need it. This is what Beck was born to do.
Except when Beck starts to reach for the sword on his back, he falls to his knees.
“Oh, feeling weak?” Lia asks. She starts to nock another arrow into her bow. “That’s because the arrow is spelled. It will remove all of your magic and shift it to me. I’m already quite powerful on my own, though I’ve had to hide it for years while I waited to destroy the two of you in my master’s name. I’ll return to Tír na nÒg a hero with vast powers.”
Panic surges, but I have to tamp it down. I can feel Beck’s weakness as my brother slumps to the ground. If I don’t work fast, Liadan will hit me with an arrow, too, and then she’ll have all of our power.
I need help, and the forest comes to my aid. As though it hears me, the massive tree Liadan stands next to reaches a branch down and catches the back of her shirt, hauling her up. She screams but manages to hold on to the crossbow.
I have to get my brother out of here. I lean over and am about to lift Beck when it hits me. Magic. The moment I touch Beck’s skin, magic flows into me, overwhelming me with all the powers of the storm. It surges through me, but I don’t know how to use it. I can’t focus it, and it threatens to overwhelm me even as I hear thunder crack overhead.
Behind me I hear Liadan struggling to get free. Her cat climbs the tree in an attempt to get to her mistress.
“You have to run,” Beck manages to say. His eyes are only half open, and it’s easy to see he’s fighting to stay conscious.
“Tell me how to kill her.” If she is what she says she is, it won’t be easy.
“Run. Get us out of here, brother. Don’t let her shoot you with one of those arrows.” Beck is fading fast. “Find a place to hide. There’s a hunting cabin not far from here. Hide us.”
I know the place. I can’t wait. If Beck doesn’t think I can defeat the hag, I have to take his word. I have to hide us because I have no idea how to use my brother’s power.
Rain starts to fall and thunder rumbles even as Beck passes out and becomes deadweight. I heft him over my shoulder, securing him there with one arm.
Liadan grunts as she hits the forest floor.
I lift my free hand and beg the ground to aid me.
Grass shoots up all around Liadan, covering the hag with green tendrils. She screams but I don’t waste another moment. I run. I run and run, feet pounding against the forest floor. My lungs ache as I keep up the pace, my brother’s weight slowing me down.