AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then I’ll do it,” Sin interjected.
“If the ward is breaking—” Tía Celeste began, trying to hide the pain in her eyes, but the way her words caught in her throat gave it away. “We have to, Alvaro. You know what she protects is real. We can’t risk that.”
Jo placed his hand on Clara’s. “Me. I can carry it.”
A stifled cry escaped my lips. “No . . . Not Jo.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered, patting my hair. “I can do this.”
“No. It has to be a witch. That’s what Rosa said,” my dad said quietly. “Clara, are you sure about this? Once it’s done, there’s no going back.”
My cousin swallowed thickly, her throat bobbing as she gave a curt nod. “I’m sure.”
“Clara, no,” I cried softly. “Don’t do this.”
I lost your mother, Reagan. I won’t lose you too,” he said. “We’re cutting it out. We can try to transfer it once we get there. Clara, Jo, get ready. Nog, Sin, you hold her. That’s an order,” he said, the command in his voice ringing in the room.
I had no ability to fight back. My bottom lip trembled just as Nog held a leather strap to my mouth, a look of fear and apprehension in his eyes. “You’re gonna need this.”
Hot tears fell and there was nothing to stop them.
No one was truly immortal. We all lived on borrowed time, but the moment we realized how close we were to the end, our perspective changed. Regrets. Desires. Things we wish we could have done, places we would have liked to have seen, words we knew we should have said when we had the chance all came to the forefront.
I’d only just barely learned who I was, and it was all about to be ripped away.
I was going to die, and I knew it. That wasn’t what scared me. It was thathewould come after. They just didn’t believe that would be the outcome. They were holding on to hope and faith and magic with every ounce of their being.
It was all for naught.
Seconds later, my blood curdling scream rent the air. My teeth clamped down on the bite guard as moonshine poured over the wound and a rune-covered knife sliced at the decaying skin on my back.
As the end nears, the dying often call out to the gods. It doesn’t matter if they were devout followers or never believed in a higher power. They ask for mercy. Pray for forgiveness. Promise anything if only they’d be saved. They beg and bargain and plead, and they apologize for their transgressions.
In my final moments, I was no different.
I just never imagined a god would answer.
Chapter6
Caius
The perpetual pain the guardian was sending me sought an outlet, and my magic responded in kind.
Ancient power flowed through my veins, pulsing like the beat of a heart.
“Are you sure you want to open a rift between worlds here,insidethe castle?” My brother asked in a hesitant voice, watching while I whispered the incantation in a language nearly as old as the cosmos itself.
“I don’t know how long we have, Abyssian,” I said, watching an iridescent orb form above the palm of my hand. As the color shifted from a brilliant purple to a deep mauve, it continued to swirl and expand in size.
The ability to create a doorway between realms was impossible for most. Only primordials and a select few greater beings were capable of such a great feat.
“It’s a tear in the fabric of space and time. A true portal. What if people come through to this side?” Abyssian pressed as he watched the growing ball of light.
“Are you questioning my judgment?” I grunted, sweat forming around my temples.
“No,” he said quickly.
“Yes,” Pollux said at the same time.
