AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know,” he says quickly. “I did as you asked, spread the word with the others, and when I got back, Marie told me they’ve been spotted sweeping the woods just outside the city.”
Outside, someone screams.
“Now.” Fin rushes into the room, and Rafferty turns toward me. Eyes hard, he seems to be battling with something, though I can’t be quite sure what it is. Maybe whether to stay and murder his brother? Who the hell knows at this point? But the air becomes charged between us, so much so that the man he’d called Fin clears his throat.
“Fine. One minute. Then we’re out of here.” He shuts the door, and Rafferty continues staring at me as I get out of bed.
“We need to go, right?”
He doesn’t speak.
“Rafferty?”
Without a word, he crosses the room toward me and grips the back of my neck. I tilt my face up, heart pounding. “You cannot tell anyone of your connection to Taranus, do you understand me?”
“Why?”
“Don’t do it. Please.”
“But—”
“I will explain it to you later, but promise me.” His hand tightens in my hair.
“Okay. I promise.”
With a sigh, he releases me just as Fin comes rushing in. Heavy boots thunder on the wood outside, and he doesn’t say anything as he lunges forward and grabs us. “Deep breath!”
“Wha—”
Water surrounds us. I gasp for breath, my intake stalled by liquid filling my lungs. They burn, ache, and I scramble to reach the surface. Something grips my ankle, ripping me down, and I squint, barely making out Rafferty’s face in the murky liquid.
He shakes his head and points to the surface with his other hand, but I ignore it.
My lungs continue to burn as the need to breathe overtakes all rational thought. It doesn’t matter why he doesn’t want me to surface because, if I don’t, I’m as good as dead, anyway. I kick, trying to reach it, but he pulls me farther and farther down until I’m eye-level with him.
Then, he reaches forward, yanks me to him, and covers my mouth with his.
The contact is a punch to the gut as he breathes into me. A right hook that knocks me senseless even as I should be worried about what’s happening around us.
Then, we slam into the ground. I cough and sputter, rolling onto my back as Rafferty falls to his side beside me.
“What the bloody hell, Fin!” he roars as he reaches for me. I gasp for air, still unable to get nearly enough.
“I needed them to think we’d tried to lose them.”
Rafferty grips my arm and rolls me to my side. “By drowning us? Breathe, Ember,” he rubs my back.
“We need to go again, they’ll be here in a matter of time.” He reaches for us, and I groan, but before I can protest, we’re shooting toward the sky.
My stomach lurches, what little contents are in there threatening to come right the hell on up. Rafferty grips my arm as Fin holds my other one and Rafferty with the other.
“Fuck you’re heavy,” he groans. “Raffe, not you, Your Majesty.”
My eyes shut tightly. I don’t dare look anywhere. I’m terrified of heights already, and, well, we all know how my first flight went.
“Put us down,” Rafferty orders.
“Almost.”
