Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
“No.” His answer is firm. Final. He narrows his eyes.
I’m stalling. I think he can sense it.
Maliek pushes Analla forward, and she trips over herself. Her knees slam to the marble floor, but that doesn’t stop her from raising her shaking arms in the air with the crystal in her hands.
“I’ll end it here,” she declares. “It’ll end right now with me. I won’t let you have my sister!”
My heart drops once again. She’s going to smash it and probably destroy the parts of her soul inside it. She could die if it breaks.
Seferin sighs and rolls his eyes, clearly bored and growing impatient. He bobs his head at Maliek, who marches toward her and grips her throat.
“No!” I yell.
She groans as he elevates her by the throat and chokes her.
“Stop!” I scream. “What are you doing?!”
“Take the crystal,” Seferin growls, side-eyeing me. “Take it and your sister will be restored. She’ll live the rest of her mortal years in peace, however long that lasts.”
“Okay, I’ll take it! Just stop choking her!”
Analla still clings to the crystal, struggling to shake her head behind Maliek’s grip as a vein bulges out on her forehead. Maliek only squeezes tighter, though, curling his fingers, ready to close them in a fist and end her life.
He’ll do it, too. I know he will. Seferin isn’t bluffing. Whether Analla is dead or alive, he’s going to make me take that damn crystal.
Anxious, I rub my forehead hard to get the mindflare going. Now!
I snatch the crystal from her hands before Maliek can choke the life out of her. Analla lets out a broken cry. The crystal is hot in my hands, pointy and light in weight.
Maliek lets Analla fall to a heap on the floor. As if the curse is fading as it transitions to me, Analla’s hair goes from brittle gray to voluminous brown. Her cheeks plump just a bit, too, and the dark rings around her eyes disappear.
With a sinister smile forming, Seferin does a gesture with his hand and directs the tips of his fingers at me.
I immediately think it’s too late for the other half of my plan to work.
I expect something to happen from Seferin—for some kind of pain to seize me, or for my body to weaken…but nothing comes.
Seferin frowns. “What the f—”
His eyes flicker up instantly, as if he knows that whatever is wrong with him has something to do with me. I take that moment to swing the tip of the crystal upward and slam it into the side of his face. He howls, stumbling backward and clutching his bleeding face as I scream, “Analla, run!”
Analla shoves away from Maliek and bolts toward the door, but Maliek throws up a hand and wraps an invisible grip around her, hauling her backward.
“You bitch!” Seferin snarls, lurching toward me and clutching the collar of my shirt. He grips hard and yanks me toward him, causing some of the threads in the neckline to snap. There’s a deep gash in his cheek, running from beneath his sharp cheekbone to the dip beside his left nostril.
“What?” I breathe. “Men like you have made a bad habit of touching women without permission. You placed your hands on me multiple times—you still are, in fact—and because of that, your magic has been muted.”
“What?” he hisses, grimacing.
I dig into my pocket, retrieving the empty vial I bought from the sorceress and dangling it in the air by my fingertips. “Muting elixir,” I inform him. “Only more enhanced, thanks to the tome. I’m certain you’ve heard of it.”
And fuck me, I didn’t truly think this would work.
Maliek slams Analla to the floor, stealing my attention. He uses that same invisible grip to keep her pinned down, then draws a dagger and reels his arm back, ready to launch it at me.
Seferin pulls away from me to throw up a hand and shouts, “Don’t!”
Maliek freezes.
“We need her,” Seferin says.
I don’t need any of this shit. I just need my sister.
My eyes dart to the door as I wipe nervous sweat from my forehead and signal the mindflare again. It’s now or never, Thane!
Seferin notices where my eyes have gone and says, “Don’t be foolish, Zaira.” His voice is eerily calm. “You’ll never succeed. Muting elixirs fade after time, and your weak attempt prior did nothing but draw a little blood.”
Maliek lowers his arm and sheathes his dagger, like it’s all over.
Come on, where are you? I wonder as Maliek takes a step toward me.
Finally, something hits the door hard, and it flies open. A body stumbles in backward and slams down on a glass table in the center of the room.
It’s one of the guards from the corridor. A deep slit is in his throat, and blood oozes from his mouth while his lifeless eyes stare at the ceiling.