Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“No one can let them go,” a slim guard with a missing front tooth said. “If they cross the fence, they’ll die.”
“Not if you die first.”
“Doesn’t matter if we die first or not.” He backed up a little. “There’s a frequency net placed around this entire mountain. Their very blood has been programmed to incinerate if they step past it.”
The other guards smirked as if it was an inside joke, and in the second it took me to decide if he was telling the truth, the mob of prisoners decided for me.
They charged forward with tattered screams—a crowd of complete chaos bolting toward the five guards.
They opened fire.
“STOP!” A lash of fire chased after them but...it was too late.
After a lifetime of misery, hope was far louder than warnings. Women and men ran together, dragging sickly children. Animals bolted in blind terror—goats bleating, dogs baying, all running in the same direction.
A few were shot.
The rest stampeded.
“Don’t!” I chased after them. “If they’re telling the truth—”
They didn’t listen.
I could only watch in horror as they swarmed the guards, shoved past them, and sobbed at the taste of being free.
And...nothing happened.
The bottleneck broke as they streamed into the forest, cries of pure joy echoing against the moon. I ran after them, the little girl bouncing in my arms, fire replacing my insides with restless serpents.
But then—
A pulse rippled over their skin as if something triggered in their veins.
And they fell.
One by one.
For a blissful second—maybe the only second of their lives—they were free.
And then...they were dead.
I stood there in horror.
I fought bone-breaking despair and hate hot enough to melt the entire mountain. But then the emaciated panther appeared in the cave’s mouth.
Its eyes were so dull compared to Whisper’s. Its coat matted and patchy. Its majestic tail smashed and broken.
With a soft hiss, it limped toward the fence.
No. Please no.
Placing the little girl down, I streaked toward the panther.
I was too late.
Its ruined body broke into a lope, slipping through the hole in the fence.
Hope clawed out my heart as it kept going. Kept living.
But then...just like every animal and human before it, it grunted, seized, and collapsed.
Dead. Useless. Gone.
The guards got to their feet where they’d been run over by the frantic mob. One kicked the closest dead woman. “Stupid idiots. We told them. They knew. How are we supposed to tell Mr. Ward that his precious Requiems are gone?”
I tried to control myself.
I tried to stay human—
A blinding corona of flames detonated out of me, turning the guards to soot before they could scream. The water in the earth vaporised, turning the night hazy. A column of heat shot into the sky, roaring like a dragon made of fire. Flames spiralled in violent helices. The moon threatened to melt.
All of it cost me.
But I couldn’t stop it.
The tax I’d paid was almost complete and the fire raged.
Turning to the little girl, I returned to her and dropped to my knees. With the rest of my mortal strength, I dragged her lifeless body onto my lap and kept her safe.
I protected her as the world broke.
A deafening crack split the heavens as the earth collapsed. I bowed in the middle of a smoking crater as the final trade of my life for power began.
Flames tore through what was left of my soul, consuming every droplet of guilt and grief. These people had been in a cage...like me. They’d been trapped for years...like me. Yet, unlike me, they’d lived in squalor and sickness and I hated myself.
I hated how wronged I’d felt. How powerless I’d been. How I’d had it so fucking easy compared.
Rook had given me my freedom, but them?
I wasn’t enough.
I failed—
Bowing over the dead girl, I tore at my wrist with my teeth.
My lungs filled with glass as the dregs of my ashen blood welled. Not much left, and completely gold—as if the fire alchemised my life-force into pure flame.
It was barely enough for a spoonful.
I couldn’t heal anyone but Rook, but...I had to try. Had to hope.
“Drink.” I pressed my wrist to her slack lips.
My skin split with tiny fissures, criss-crossing my arms to reveal glowing muscles beneath. My mostly dead heart strained against the pressure—remembering how to beat...just for a little while.
I choked on a sob that I’d never see Rook or Whisper again.
I’d chosen this path.
Vengeance destroyed me.
But the girl never drank.
She never opened her eyes and the fire kept building, building.
Curling over her, I coughed up a mouthful of blackened blood. Not gold or even crimson; it splattered against the earth like old oil.
I was dying.
I knew that.
I could feel it creeping, claiming.
And I hated that I regretted my decision.
I was selfish enough to want to reverse time and never leave Rook’s side. Never put her in danger by leaving her. Never be so arrogant to think I could survive.