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And at last the Curse she’ll Break
Though it may invade your Dreams
Evil cannot Cross the stream…
The stream! I thought. If I can just get across the stream!
But just as I thought this, I felt long fingers snatching at my hair.
“Come here, little witch!” James crooned, using Rath’s voice—the voice I loved best—to taunt me. “Come here, I swear your death will be swift!”
The fingers snagged in the back of my cardigan. Without pausing, I shrugged it off, leaving it in his hands. Even running downhill, there was no way I could keep ahead of him! What was I going to do?
At that moment, I saw a furry gray streak coming out of one of the trees. Sebastian had been in a safe place but he wasn’t going to stay there when he saw that I was in trouble.
He dashed behind me and I heard James shout with anger and surprise as he tripped over my cat. There was a thud! that shook the ground and then the possessed Orc was rolling down the hill rather than running down it.
Rath’s big body was stopped by the Weeping Willow tree planted on the banks of the stream. I heard him make a “Whuff!” sound as his midsection collided with its trunk. The whole tree quivered, its branches shaking in silent protest, but it was old and thick and it didn’t break.
I kept running myself. My first instinct was to see if Rath was all right, but I reminded myself that it wasn’t Rath in there—it was Milas James. And my only hope to defeat him was to get across the stream before he could get up and grab for me again.
He was already starting to rise as I splashed my way into the frigid water.
“You filthy Satan spawn!” he croaked, reaching for me with one long arm. “Come here and admit you’ve had congress with the Horned One! I know you ride the Devil’s cock!”
I ignored him and splashed across the stream—which was deeper than it looked. The current tugged at me, stronger than I would have thought possible. I don’t know how I didn’t fall over and get washed away—if the stream had been even an inch deeper I’m sure I would have. By the time I got to the other side I was wet up to my armpits and shivering so hard I could barely walk.
Somehow I made it up on the bank and then turned to face my enemy. He was standing again and reaching for me, but it was clear he couldn’t get across the stream. He was stuck on the bank across from me and though he was only about six feet away, it might as well have been the Grand Canyon separating us—thank goodness!
Rath’s handsome face was twisted into a rictus of hate, making it almost unrecognizable and his big hands were balled into fists. He was shaking with rage.
“You little bitch!” he spat at me. “How dare you run from me? I must punish you as I punished all the other wicked women of your filthy Satan spawn line!”
I didn’t waste time answering him—I was already reaching for my magic. I found a thread and turned it into a glowing rope.
“G-grow thicker. M-make a n-noose,” I told it, my teeth chattering as I wound the magic rope with numb fingers. “And wr-rap around his n-neck—now!”
I threw the glowing noose—which looked exactly like a hangman’s noose you’d see in a show about the Old West—and it settled around Rath’s thick throat.
“Tighten!” I told the magic noose. At least doing magic seemed to be warming me up so my teeth had stopped chattering. “Not too much—just enough to keep him from taking a deep breath,” I added.
Rath’s face went suddenly dark green and his long fingers scrabbled at the noose wrapped around his neck.
“Let…go…girl!” he choked out. “How…dare you…do this…to me?”
“I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get rid of you!” I shouted across the stream. “Get out of him, James! You can’t have him!”
“If I can’t have him…you can’t either,” he rasped. “I’ll…kill…him! Kill you…both!”
“Tighter!” I muttered to my magic. “Knock him out!”
I hated to do this to Rath—it was his body that was possessed and I knew it wasn’t his fault. But I had to make things so uncomfortable for Milas James that he would leave voluntarily. Or else I had to knock out the body he was in so he couldn’t use it anymore. Either way, I hoped I wasn’t doing any lasting damage to the big Orc who was my Heartmate.
The glowing noose tightened and Rath’s long fingers clawed at his neck. He dropped to his knees, gasping and choking. Suddenly, his eyes turned from red to gold and he gasped my name.
“Sarah?”
“Rath?” I exclaimed. “Loosen but don’t let go!” I told my magic.
