AllFreeNovel
Share Us
19
ADDIE
Fenrir shoved me away and turned towards the winding roots that bound the exit closed behind him. He stood with his hands on his hips, his broad form between me and potential freedom. Okay, so the roots were there, too. I knew that.
I was more worried about Fenrir, though. That was pretty reasonable, in my opinion.
Carefully, I stood and brushed myself off all while keeping one eye on Fenrir. I froze when he glanced back at me. He looked me up and down. The corners of his eyes pinched with malice. I watched his upper lip curl and reveal sharp teeth.
Before he could leap on me, I snatched several fate threads from the air. Howls erupted from prison cells all around us. Fenrir chose that moment to lunge. He shoved me back. I hit the jagged stone wall behind me. The impact made my teeth chatter, and the fate threads slip from my hands.
Fenrir kept his forearm pressed to my chest, pinning me in place. A sucking sensation grabbed at my skin, my hair, my clothes. My heart lunged into my throat. Panicked, I thrashed to escape his grip.
He laughed in my face. “Look at you. You’re a pathetic copy of Hel. I can’t believe this is what our union wrought.”
Ice hit my veins.
I blinked in shock. The fight bled out of me.
“Oh? You thought that Hel lay with just any mortal to start your blood line? I hate to break it to you, kiddo. I’m your sire. Your family starts with me…and ends with me.” He pressed his forearm into my exposed throat.
Air cut off, I couldn’t tell him off. Instead, I spat in his face.
Fenrir’s eyes went wide—not with anger but with pleasant surprise. “There it is! There’s the hint of my lineage. All this time, I thought you were nothing more than Hel’s mousy little servant.”
Though I could barely breathe, I managed to say, “F-fuck…off…grandpa.”
Fenrir threw his head back and laughed. He clutched the front of my shirt and whipped me to the ground. All the while, I could feel him feeding off my arcana. It reminded me of how Bastien tried to trap me within his rosary beads.
I gripped my own rosary and let Fenrir think that he could drink me dry. I was a sea as endless as the world’s oceans. If he wanted to feed, I would give him a meal.
I righted myself and drew my knees up while I watched him stand over me. A small smile crept over my own lips, but his expression never changed. I realized then that I’d been played. This was what he’d wanted all along.
My head swam like my air had been cut off even though Fenrir had removed his arm from my throat. I blinked, confused, and tried to ask what he was doing.
Fenrir crouched before me. He raised his open palm and flexed his fingers. They changed, flowing from human to wolf claws like water. His eyes flashed bright when he dragged a claw along my chin.
“You were brave,” Fenrir said. “I’ll give you points for that. You’re no match for the likes of me, though. Now…where is the thread that will lead me back to that old hag? I’m going to devour her entire domain right before her eyes.”
I reached out to grab ahold of Fenrir before he could get away, but my lethargic hands caught empty air and nothing else. The man stood and carved through the roots of the world tree.
When I turned inside to my sea of power, I found it nearly empty. Sad waves lapped at a rocky shore—a shore that hadn’t been there before. Fenrir had drained so much from me that I could see the rocky bottom of my soul. I nearly recoiled from the sight of the dark stone, so similar to the walls of Hel’s domain.
This couldn’t be it. This wasn’t the bottom. I’d had so much power. It’d been endless. I refused to believe that Fenrir could have cut me down so easily. He was voracious and all-consuming, but that had happened too quickly. There’d barely been time to do anything.
Fenrir took one step out of the prison cell before I called out to him.
“Hey, Grandpa!” I said, my voice hoarse.
He paused and looked back.
I let loose the barriers that I’d kept around my arcana. Though nothing rushed out, something rushedin. The shadows came towards me. They molded into the shapes of hands and arms, all reaching for me. The spirits of the long dead gave themselves to the sea of arcana inside me.
The sudden rush made me laugh. My head spun again, but from the exhilaration of what I’d done. A part of me mourned the souls that I’d devoured. I shouldn’t have done that. Another part of me recognized that I hadn’t asked anything of them. All I’d done was open a door. The souls chose me.
That’s when I felt him. A crooked smile twisted my lips as I shoved most of that power towards my husband. Nothing more than a blur, Maddox slammed into the unsuspecting Fenrir.
Let us help you.
