Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Her magic was silent.
The bond was silent.
She couldn’t fight around the excruciating pain.
So what was left?
A broken woman half-beaten being driven away from both of the people most capable of finding her. Without the bond, Lorcan couldn’t access her location or speak into her mind. And she’d left her wren necklace behind with its hidden tracker.
There was no help coming for her.
It was how it had started with Jason. Was this really how it was going to end?
She swiped at her eyes, straining to see in the dark. Even her Fae senses were dampened. But they weren’t gone.
The cuffs didn’t remove her magic. They just silenced them like the Amulet of Hermeria. Which meant if she could get the damn things off…
She straightened as a thought came to her. Might not work, but she knew what was in store if she remained trapped. She had to at least try.
Kierse gritted her teeth through the pain as she maneuvered the cuffs for a better look. More tears ran down her cheeks as the feeling of the skin of her wrists being flayed off ratcheted through her.
The first thing she realized was that the cuffs were made for someone bigger than her. She actually had some room where she could almost keep from touching any part of the inner cuff.
The road hit another bump, and this time she did scream as the cuff came down hard on her wrist. She heard Jason laugh in the passenger seat. Bastard.
That did it. She had nothing left to lose. She hoped.
“This is going to hurt,” she whispered as she psyched herself up to the task.
She folded her thumb in tight to her palm and waited. She knew the city roads. She could gather they were heading south, likely back to Sansara. The streets got worse the farther from Midtown. Another bump.
Kierse gritted her teeth and yanked, screaming just as loud as she had the first time. She folded in on herself as her wrist scraped against the magical wards harder. But she wasn’t able to pull herself through. Her hand wasn’t small enough.
Her knees hit the ground, and she vomited up the little she’d eaten before going into the mission. When she had nothing left to give, she leaned her head back against the rattling door. She breathed hard as more tears rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks.
She was a thief. She always had another exit strategy.
Her stomach roiled at the prospect, but a hum of defiance remained in her bones. She had to get away from Jason. She had to best Jason. She had to…
Kierse reassessed the impossible situation. She had another idea. It was out of this world. She didn’t know if she could even stomach it. Would she be able to do it?
Fuck, she had to stop thinking about it and just do it or she’d never manage it.
She braced her feet against the door and jostled the relentless cuffs into position before her. She gave herself a silent pep talk as she steadied her mind. She’d endured worse. She could endure this. And she had to do it quick.
Breathing in and out through her nose, she let the burn of the cuffs settle into her bones until she could remove herself from her body. She was only a mind. Only what lay on the other side of those cuffs.
Then with a swallowed cry, she slammed her thumb down hard in the cuffs. She only barely managed to hold back her scream as the immediate and painful crunch resounded through her bones. Her thumb dangled in a disgusting shape on her left hand. It was difficult to even look at. But it would have to do.
Breaking her thumb should have been the hard part. It wasn’t. Now came the worse part—the cuff.
One.
She pressed the thumb down hard, sending shooting pains up her arms.
Two.
She pulled the chain connecting her to the van taut.
Three.
Kierse jerked backward.
For a moment, her vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground. Blood poured from open wounds. If she didn’t get it stopped and out of these cuffs, she’d die. It was the only pulse that kept her going as her ruined left hand reached for the other. Each cuff was one solid piece with an almost invisible seam to open them.
She was swaying close to unconsciousness as she used the other cuff to slam against the opening on her other wrist. Her vision went blurry. She was going to pass out. She was too close for that.
Then the van screeched to a halt.
“Fuck,” she hissed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Jason was going to come back here, and he was going to see that she had the cuff off. He was going to beat her bloody. She needed to get rid of this one before that.
She forgot discretion and slammed the other cuff against the second, bludgeoning it and crashing into her aching right hand. She did it relentlessly, heedless of the roaring pain in her body. She just needed it gone. With a screech, the cuff gave way at the same time as the van door.