AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I thought about asking her help—there was always a steep price to pay, but she leaned forward and took my hand, upending it in her palm. She slowly shook out one finger bone from the bag in her other hand, to land on my palm.
“Free advice, so listen well.” She gazed at the bone in my hand. “Do not stay in your home. Go instead to your husband’s abode—the barrow. It will be safer. The dragon’s fire is seeking you out. He is not done with you yet, but you can live through this if you are smart. As long as you wear his mark, he will find you—and you cannot undo it until his death.”
She removed the bone from my hand and dropped it back in the bag.
“We have to kill a dragon . . . How can we do that? Only Smoky stands a chance . . .” Feeling hopeless, I stared at the old crone, wishing for all the world she might for once intervene. But the Hags of Fate seldom took sides in the way of the world, letting events flow around them as they watched and listened.
“There is another . . . there is help where you least expect it.” And then she turned to Vanzir. “Young demon, fret not. You are not at the heart of this. And the gods can regift where they’ve taken away . . . hold hope in your heart.”
I turned to look at Vanzir. He shifted his gaze, but not before I’d caught the distress in his eyes—which spiraled like a vortex. I suddenly understood. He blamed himself for my condition. Any lingering anger I had toward him vanished and I moved forward, tears flooding my eyes.
“This wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t Smoky’s fault. Or mine. The only one to blame here is Hyto. He’s the one who hurt me.”
“But if I hadn’t . . . if . . . Smoky hadn’t chased you out of the house, you wouldn’t have been captured.” The words came streaming out of his mouth, and for once I heard his voice crack with emotion.
“No . . . no . . . sometimes life just happens. Sometimes the universe plays horrid practical jokes on us. And sometimes, the world just sucks. Events snowball . . . shit happens, Vanzir. I don’t blame you.” And even as I said the words, I felt something within myself lighten and fly away, a secret resentment I’d been carrying around since that night in the tunnels.
Vanzir sucked in a deep breath and met my gaze. “You don’t?”
“No, I don’t.”
Rozurial glanced around nervously. “I’m glad you two are all buddy-buddy, but we’d better get out to Smoky’s barrow. I’ll take you there through the Ionyc Seas, then come back for Hanna—”
“No.” Vanzir’s voice was so loud it sounded like a thunderclap. “We don’t dare leave Camille alone out there. I’ll bring Hanna in the car. You and Shade head out there with her. I’ll stop at the house and let them know—Delilah and Menolly are probably at home.”
“Menolly would have to be—we’re into morning now.” I shivered. The snow-covered wood was starting to get to me, and I was losing it fast. The next time I faltered, I’d probably pass out.
Roz and Shade agreed, and so, sheltered once again in Roz’s arms, we leaped into the Ionyc Seas, and the maelstrom of traveling between worlds raged around me as I leaned into his shoulder.
I opened my eyes to find myself in a huge rock chamber, where Hyto loomed over me, a steel whip in his hand, holding me around the waist with that damned hair of his. I began to scream as he raised the whip high.
“How did you find me? Just kill me now . . . please, just kill me.” I couldn’t go through any more. I wasn’t a rock, wasn’t as strong as everybody thought. “I’m weak, I’m so weak. I can’t be the anchor anymore. I can’t hold up everybody’s burdens . . . just let me slide into the darkness. Please.”
“Oh, the darkness will swallow you deep and never let you go, girl. When I’m done with you. But we’ve just started, Camille. You and I have a long, dark road to walk together.”
He laughed and the blows began to fall, one after another after another, white hot and searing into my flesh. As the skin began to peel back from muscle and bone, I cried out for Smoky, for Trillian, for Morio . . . for my sisters . . . not wanting to die alone at the hands of a madman.
“Camille! Camille, wake up!”
The voice cut through the pain, and I woke, screaming, to find myself in the mountainous four-poster bed that Smoky had in his bedroom, dressed in a filmy nightgown that floated away from my injuries. Slowly, groggy and feeling hungover, I pushed myself to a sitting position, wincing as I did so, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
A blur of movement startled me, and I scrambled back against the pillows, dragging the comforter up to cover me. My heart raced and for a moment I couldn’t focus, but then I saw that it was Vanzir who had woken me up. And Hanna was asleep in the rocking chair.
I tried to calm my breath and leaned forward into his arms as he wrapped them around me and held me quietly until the tears stopped flowing. He pushed me back then and offered me a handkerchief.
“I still have nightmares of my time with Karvanak,” he said softly. “I never tell anybody—after all, I’m a demon; I’ve done worse to others. But his treatment . . . he was a sadist through and through.”
“Like Hyto,” I whispered, staring at the covers. The pale blue-on-blue pattern was delicate, almost lacy. An odd choice, but Smoky had his elegant side that I’d always loved dearly.
“Like Hyto. I’m not sure all he did to you, but Camille . . . you’re going to need some help to get through this, I think.” Vanzir looked around, then picked up a bathrobe and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Can you walk? You should eat something.”
I stopped him. “I’m glad Smoky called truce with you. I didn’t want to tell him, but . . .”
“But you are married to him—and to Morio and Trillian, and they deserved to know. And you love them and wouldn’t hurt them by letting them find out accidentally. I know. I get it. Believe me. Come, let me get you food.”
I tugged at the collar. “I hate this. I hate this with a passion. And he can track me through it. I want it off; it feels like it’s choking me.”
“That was what the soul binder felt like, but that I went into voluntarily. This . . . you should never have had to wear this. I’m so sorry.” And once again, his voice cracked. He shook his head, the spiked blond shag barely moving.
