Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Perfect.
I push to my feet, dusting off my palms. The ivy twitches as I near it, tendrils recoiling slightly before creeping forward again, testing. Like it’s alive. Like it’s hungry.
“Real mature, Deveraux,” I mutter, stepping closer to the entrance.
The maze doesn’t just stand there. It waits.
Darkness yawns at the mouth of the first path, a black so deep it looks like it’s drinking the light. The ivy here is thicker, glistening with something that isn’t water. My boots stick slightly as I step forward, the soles making a wet, tearing sound when I lift them.
Perfect. Blood-ivy. Because why the fuck not.
I exhale through my nose, rolling my shoulders. Fine. If this is some twisted game, I’ll play. But I’m not playing nice.
As soon as I step inside, my movements stop as darkness swallows me whole. I spin around, but the entrance is gone.
“Dammit,” I whisper, cracking my neck. I take the first step through the narrow maze toward the distant echoing of crashing waves. Where is it coming from? My feet pick up, but the faster I go, the farther away it sounds. Frustration coils around my forehead as I halt, heaving in deep breaths.
I lean over my knees, when the ground gives way beneath me.
I hit water.
Cold. Fucking freezing. The shock steals my breath, lungs seizing as I plunge under, darkness pressing in from all sides. My limbs flail, seeking purchase, finding nothing but endless liquid void.
Up. I need up.
I kick hard, breaking the surface with a gasp that scrapes my throat raw. Water streams down my face, blurring my vision as I tread frantically, spinning to get my bearings.
Stone walls rise around me, slick and ancient, forming a circular chamber. No exit. No ledge. Just water that tastes like salt and copper, and walls too smooth to climb.
“Legend!” My voice echoes back, mocking. “This isn’t fucking funny!”
Silence answers.
The water shifts.
Not a current. Something deliberate. The surface ripples outward from a point behind me, and I whirl, heart slamming against my ribs.
Legend materializes on a platform that wasn’t there before—dry stone jutting from the water’s edge, high enough that I’d need to haul myself up. He crouches at the edge, forearms resting on his knees, watching me with an expression I can’t read.
“Get me out of here.” My teeth chatter despite my best effort to keep my voice steady.
“No.”
The word lands like a fist to my gut.
I swim closer, reaching for the platform’s edge. “Legend, I swear to fuck—”
He stands. Steps back. Away from me.
The distance between us stretches, impossible and wrong, and something hot and terrible claws up my throat.
“What are you doing?”
“What I should’ve done from the start.” His voice is flat. Empty. “Letting you go.”
The water feels colder suddenly. My fingers slip on the stone as I try to grip it, pull myself up. “Stop fucking around.”
“I’m not.” He crosses his arms, and the gesture—so casual, so dismissive—makes my pulse stutter. “This was a mistake. You were a mistake.”
I stiffen.
No.
The word screams through my head, but my mouth won’t form it. My hands shake as I grip the platform harder, nails scraping stone.
“You don’t mean that.” Why the fuck do I care? It’s not like I wanted him to begin with. So he’s hot, can kind of be funny, and is annoying enough to make me want to fuck him into submission, but I didn’t really want him.
“Don’t I?” His lips curve, but there’s nothing warm in it. Nothing Legend in it. “You’re worthless. You were never fit enough for a royal.”
My heart clenches, squeezing so tight I can’t breathe. Can’t think.
Fingernails bite into my palms. “Fuck you.”
“You’re not my mate.” The words carve through me. “You never were. Just convenient. Just there. But I don’t need convenient anymore.”
The platform shifts, rising higher, pulling away. Legend’s figure grows smaller, more distant, and I’m still in the water, still drowning in this impossible space.
“Don’t.” The word breaks on my lips, raw and desperate. “Don’t leave me.”
He turns his back.
Just…turns away. Like I’m nothing. Like I never mattered.
The walls start closing in.
Slow at first, then faster. Stone grinding against stone, the chamber shrinking, water rising as the space compresses. My pulse hammers in my ears, too fast, too erratic, each beat stuttering like it might stop altogether.
I can’t breathe.
Can’t move.
My limbs turn heavy, leaden, and the water drags at me, pulling me under. I kick weakly, but my body won’t respond right. Won’t fight.
Because what’s the point?
He left. He walked away. He doesn’t want—
My vision tunnels, darkness creeping in at the edges. My heart skips. Falters.
Flatlines.
I take a deep breath, flying off the floor with a rush of pain I never knew existed. I fucking hate this place. I hate everything about it.
“Well, I guess you don’t hate me as much as you thought, huh?”
Legend sprawls on his back like he owns this gods-forsaken void, grinning up at me with that infuriating smirk that makes me want to carve it off his face.