Obsidian (Shadowbound Fae #1) Read Online K.F. Breene

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Magic, Paranormal Tags Authors: Series: Shadowbound Fae Series by K.F. Breene
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Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
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“Do. Not. Move,” he ground out next to her ear. He spread his legs, planted his feet, and reached through the thorns to brace his hand flat against the tunnel wall. Thorns scraped his skin. Blood and pus welled up. His flesh turned angry and red. Then his whole body popped, it felt like, muscles pushing into her everywhere, bracing around her.

“Wait—” she’d started to say, or maybe scream, when the wall slammed into him from behind. He grunted and pushed forward with the impact. His elbow bent. Sharp needles neared her body, her face. One was aimed directly at her eye.

His arm shook with the effort of keeping that wall from knocking them into the briars. His whole body trembled, whether from pain or maintaining his position, she didn’t know. Probably both. Then his elbow slowly straightened. Bit by agonizing bit, he willed himself to push away from the wall. She felt the incredible determination through his mind. His agony, but his unwillingness to give up, to give in and let the Celestials win over him. In his mind, they were not above him, as their stations declared. They were his inferiors. They should be looking skyward at him.

He shoved away from that wall until his elbow locked. Until they had breathing room in the tent of his exertion.

“Go,” he wheezed, carefully releasing her body. Even now he would keep her from falling forward and killing herself. “Hurry. Get to safety. Once one of us steps out of this obstacle, it’s safe. It should release me.” He paused. “It should. Once you escape its net, it should lose its ferocity. The wall of briars should disappear or diminish.”

“What if it doesn’t?” she whispered, stepping to the side while crouching.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we steal the right chalice.” It was a joke, and she didn’t waste any more time. Couldn’t. If she didn’t help by getting out of here, she would help by finding a log or something to wedge into the briar wall that might release him.

She was quick but careful, the space limited and a few jutting briar patches in her way. She crawled for some stretches, slithered in others, and noticed the moving wall shaking, belying his extreme effort or pain. She could see the cleared tunnel up ahead.

She felt a snag on her shirt at the back, near her right side.

Her heart stopped. Had something poked her? Was she imagining it?

A horrible burning sensation spread across her skin. Fuck. No, she was not imagining it.

“A little wider,” she yelled at Tarian, fear seeping into her words before she could shove the feeling away. “I’m caught. There’s not enough space.”

She heard him groan, like a bodybuilder lifting too much weight. The shivering wall moved an inch. Two. It was enough.

She crawled across the tunnel floor as fast as she dared. It felt like her skin was blistering. Like it was dripping away from her body. The pain throbbed, sinking into her ribs at her back. Deeper, into the very center of her, like a knife twisting. She couldn’t seem to ignore it. To avoid it.

Zorn’s voice swam into her consciousness.

To give in to the pain is to give in to death.

She gritted her teeth. She remembered his teachings and internalized the feeling. Became one with it. Let it continue to pass through her until her mind accepted it and moved on. Zorn was full of amazing tricks for horrible things. Fuck, though. This hurt worse than anything she’d ever even dreamed of.

The last of the briars seemed to wave goodbye…and then the tunnel cleared of them completely. Not just in front of her, but behind as well. It was as if the whole obstacle had been an illusion, and once she was out of it, it vanished completely.

Breathing heavily, her mind fracturing to skirt the throbs of excruciating pain, she turned back to Tarian. He’d fallen onto a knee, his good hand braced on the ground, his bad arm held in close to his chest. His dark, curled mass of hair fell over his face as he bowed his head. His sides ran freely with blood-tinged liquid, and his ribs expanded and contracted quickly with each labored breath.

Can I come to you? she thought, but the distance was too great. He couldn’t hear her thoughts. She repeated herself out loud.

“No,” he responded gruffly. “If you cross the threshold you just exited, the obstacle will flare to life again. I’ll come to you. I’m just…taking a break.”

The break lasted another few minutes, and in that time, she assessed the throbbing pain that registered in her body. Deep in her soul, it felt like. But as time passed, it didn’t get worse. It didn’t spread or affect anything that might steal her life, like closing her throat. The liquid had pierced her shirt, not her skin, and dripped onto her. That was it, and that wasn’t enough to kill her.


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