Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Dravic took a closer look at the necklace. The same symbol was etched into it. He took the necklace carefully from her and examined it more closely.
“You’ve had this all along?”
Adira nodded.
Fiora flew nearer. “Let me see.”
Dravic held it where she could.
Fiora’s expression had turned unusually serious. “What is Adira doing with a Morvane necklace?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
No Way Out
What Awaits Within
Dravic had no time to consider it or how it was that Merek’s directions sent them straight into the hands of the Morvane Clan.
A shout sounded somewhere behind them. Closer this time.
He shoved the necklace back into Adira’s hand and she quickly stuffed it into the pouch and slipped that into her pocket.
Dravic caught her hand, and they ran.
The shout behind them was joined by another, then another, coming from different directions. Their pursuers were spreading out, attempting to drive them toward a destination Dravic could not see.
He changed direction.
“Fiora, stay ahead of us.”
The fairy darted through the trees while Dravic kept Adira close beside him.
The forest grew denser the farther they went, but it was not only the thick growth that slowed them. The land itself seemed to change around them. The trees grew twisted, their bare branches reaching across one another overhead like long, crooked fingers. Roots rose unexpectedly from the frozen ground, forcing them to watch every step.
Something black and narrow slithered across their path.
Adira drew up sharply.
Dravic pulled her against him and watched the creature disappear beneath a tangle of roots.
“Keep moving,” he urged.
They did, but not for long.
A branch suddenly swept downward in front of them.
Dravic yanked Adira back.
The branch hung there for a moment before slowly rising again.
“Bloody land,” he muttered.
Adira might have smiled if she hadn’t heard another shout behind them.
She tugged at his hand and pointed back.
“I hear it. Keep moving.”
They pushed on, but the forest became increasingly hostile. Thorny vines curled around tree trunks, their long tendrils stretching across the ground. Bare branches seemed to shift as they passed beneath them, and more than once Dravic caught sight of something moving through the undergrowth alongside them.
He stopped.
Adira looked at him questioningly.
Dravic slowly surveyed their surroundings. The Morvane symbols were everywhere now. Trees. Rocks. Even a large stone half buried beneath dead leaves bore one of the carvings. They were going deeper into Morvane land. Exactly where their pursuers wanted them to go.
Worse, he had no idea what waited ahead.
Dravic had spent his life learning when to advance and when continuing forward would cost more lives than it saved. A man who refused to recognize the difference was a fool, not a warrior.
He would not be that fool today, especially with Adira beside him.
“We’re stopping.”
Fear flashed in her eyes.
He took hold of her face. “I don’t know this land. They do. Every step I take could lead us into greater danger.”
Adira shook her head and clamped her hand around his wrist.
He understood what she was saying. “I am not surrendering. I am King of Scotara. This land belongs to my kingdom as surely as Caerith does.” His voice hardened. “I have run far enough on my own land.”
Adira could not hide her fear.
He kissed her again as fiercely as his last kiss and her fear grew, worrying it could be the last time they ever kissed.
Dravic released her and drew his sword. “Fiora.”
The fairy flew to him.
“Stay with Adira.”
“My king—”
“That was not a request.”
Fiora immediately flew to Adira.
Dravic turned and waited.
The first warrior emerged between the trees. Then another and another. They came from both sides, spreading out until Dravic realized how thoroughly they had been surrounded.
At least a dozen men stood before him and more appeared behind them.
Dravic moved in front of Adira.
No one attacked.
That told him what he needed to know… they wanted him alive.
“Who commands you?” he demanded.
He was met with silence and his temper flared.
He raised his sword, not in attack but in warning. “I asked who commands you.”
A large warrior stepped forward. “You will come with us.”
Dravic’s eyes narrowed. “You mistake your position.”
The man looked almost amused. “Do I?”
“Aye.” Dravic lowered the point of his sword, though his grip remained firm around the hilt. “You stand on Scotara soil before the King of Scotara. You will take me to whoever commands you.”
“You are in no position to give orders.”
“I am king. I am always in a position to give orders.”
Adira’s heart pounded despite the fear gripping her. That was Dravic. Surrounded, outnumbered and with no idea where they were being taken, and still no man standing there could make him appear anything less than a king.
The warrior’s gaze shifted past him to Adira.
Dravic immediately stepped back closer to her. “Look at me when I speak to you.”
The man’s gaze returned to him.
“You want me?” Dravic said. “You have me. But no one touches her.”
“We were told to bring both of you.”