Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Pax fired at a woman who was clawing her way to me.
Though his hand on mine ensured that the reserves inside me built and built. A burn within that raged, pressing in on my psyche and gathering in my limbs.
One of the debased suddenly wheeled over me from above, propelling himself off a tree. His boiling skin had begun to peel. Sickness twisted through me. He appeared as if he were being burned alive, his screech vile as he launched himself toward me overhead.
Aiming high, Pax fired off another shot. The man howled as he was hit, and his body convulsed as he fell.
He landed on top of me, limp and heavy when he slammed against the back of my head and shoulders.
Gasping, I whirled to shove him off.
“Are you hurt?” Pax shouted.
“No, I’m fine.” It was haggard. Grating. Cutting as the energy that gathered inside me neared overwhelming.
I was consumed with the need to emit it.
To end the horrors that surrounded us.
“Keep moving!” Pax’s voice vibrated over the clamor. “We have to find Ambrose.”
“He’s still here,” I muttered. I could sense the distinct stench of vileness, which poured its toxin out on those who were slain because of his call.
“Fucker is hiding. Knows he’s met his match,” Pax grunted as he kicked a boot out to deflect the fall of a possessed woman who lumbered backward, already struck by a knife in the side by another Laven.
The battle raged on, the deviants and Kruen destroyed, one by one.
I could feel the belief being renewed.
Restored.
Conviction pulsed from the Laven, feeding into one another. Sustaining our strength.
“End her. End her. End her now. She must not prevail.”
It became a screech. A rash cruciality that stank of fear.
He was afraid. He was afraid.
And he was near.
For a flash of a second, I closed my eyes so I could listen to the call that had led me here.
And I felt it.
Spearing into me. A dark, bitter blade.
My eyes flew open, seeking its source, and my attention whipped back to the gazebo.
Though now he no longer stood on the steps, but rather atop the roof.
His arms were outstretched with his bellowing command: “End her! Bring her to me! The one who stands in our way.”
He didn’t need one of his servants to bring me to him.
I was already on my way.
Rage pulsed through me, and I shouted to Pax, “This way!” as I bolted toward the gazebo.
Pax was instantly at my side, one hand in mine and the other fighting off any beasts that got in our path. Our boots thundered across the snow-covered ground.
Ambrose’s focus turned to me. The deadened depths of his eyes filled with hate.
Pure, absolute hate.
His flesh was translucent, fiery veins curling up his neck and face. His short blond hair gusted with the storm that raged right above him.
The hole to Faydor was gaping and wide, throbbing and appearing as if it might swallow up the earth.
“Do you think you can defeat me, Valient?” His voice took on a different intonation. Curling and twisting with the otherworldly, then seeping back into his normal human voice.
There was something in it . . . something that nearly made me trip.
My head spun as I processed. As my spirit listened to the inflection.
It didn’t take much to realize that Ambrose had merged.
He had become an extension of Kreed.
Oh God.
Fear sent my knees quaking, but I refused to back down. Refused to succumb when I knew why I was here.
“Don’t you see that is exactly what we’ve been sent to do?” I did my best to keep the tremor from my voice.
The words grew brittle, though they were still filled with the determination that we could see this through.
Hollow laughter rolled. “So brave, little one. I see why she chose you. But Valeen is weak. Just like the rest of you.”
“That is where you are wrong. Do you not see what’s happening around you? How we are defeating the army you’ve gathered?”
In my periphery, I noticed Pax’s movement. He was slinking around to the back of the gazebo, slithering within the shadows.
Keeping himself hidden as he went.
It took everything inside me to force myself to keep my attention ahead.
Not to shout at him to stop or be careful.
Not to draw attention to my Nol, who had stealthily begun to climb onto the gazebo railing. Once he found his footing, he jumped high, his arms outstretched as he grabbed on to a beam on the edge and used it to drag himself up.
He threw himself on top of the roof, his feet light as he landed in a crouch.
“Pax.” It was a whisper from my soul, and my pulse stampeded when I realized his intentions.
He was suddenly charging.
Charging at full speed before he rammed a shoulder into Ambrose’s back.
Ambrose was so consumed by the spite he had fastened on me, on the challenge I’d thrown up at him, that he was caught unaware. He stumbled forward, unable to stop himself before he hit the edge.