AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was the first time I’d seen Cyrene, and she was a creature of dread. Her black dress was ripped and ugly, hanging from her like rags. Her black hair was tangled, and her pale skin looked dry. Her long nails were broken in strange angles
Her eyes were pure black, like they were filled with oil.
“You just had to get involved, didn’t you?” she snarled at me, and it was the first time I’d heard her speak with her own voice. The sound was dreadful, as if she was all around me and in my head at once, and I shivered with cold and fear. “Stupidity is what gets a lot of people killed.” She looked me up and down with loathing. “It’s a pity. I would have been able to use your power. I know a rotten apple when I see one, and you…you will never work for me.”
“That’s right,” I said. “I won’t do a thing you ask of me. I won’t turn away from the light.”
Her face twisted with rage, but then she laughed, and the sound was like sandpaper against my skin.
“That’s why I’ll just kill you and get it over with. You’ve been a problem for far too long, meddling where you don’t belong.”
Cyrene’s power was suddenly so strong around her, her black hair rose as if the air was loaded with electricity. She lifted her hands upward, her bony fingers curled, her nails creating claws. Her face twisted into an ugly mask, and her power hummed around me.
I let my power come to the surface to meet hers, but she was so much stronger than I was.
“This is the end, little Fae healer. You thought you had it all figured out.”
Her power washed toward me, and it was so strong, there was nothing I could do. I cried out as it washed over me and flattened me.
32
EROL
“NO!”
Cyrene was going to kill Hazel. She wanted her out of the way, and Hazel had been on the verge of saving me.
I jumped onto Cyrene, wrapping my arms around her to tackle her to the ground. She’d manifested into a physical being, and physical fighting was my natural warrior’s reflex.
Cyrene was still a goddess, and when I grabbed onto her, my arms grabbed nothing, and I fell to the floor. I rolled over and pushed up, getting to my feet in a flash. I stood over Hazel, sinking into a battle stance. I would protect her, no matter what. She wasn’t conscious, and I worried something serious was wrong. Before I could check her pulse, Cyrene appeared before me again. She stood tall, towering over me. She’d made herself look bigger in the hopes that it would scare me, but I wasn’t scared of her. I was sick and tired of this game.
“I won’t let you kill her!” I yelled, looking up at Cyrene.
“You want her dead,” Cyrene said. “You came here with that exact purpose. It’s the only way to save your family.”
My family was safe. I’d seen them escape with Vanya, Zita, and Nylah.
“I never wanted it,” I countered. “Youwanted it. You took over, but it was never my own will.”
“Don’t you get it?” Cyrene asked, her face mocking. “You belong to me. I am you.”
“I’m my own person!” I shouted. “And you were right, everything is a choice. I don’t want this life; I don’t want this darkness. I want to be free.”
Cyrene guffawed, throwing her head back, and the sight was a terrifying one.
“Did you really think saying those words would change anything? It’s not as easy as you think it is. You can’t go back, Erol.”
“I can,” I said. “Conjurites have been freed before. I’ve seen it.”
“You’re not like the rest of them. You have nothing left in you that’s good, and turning to the light will only ruin the bit of what’s left.”
“I’d rather have nothing and be free, than have all the power in the world and be your slave! Terra!”
Cyrene frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, Goddess Terra, please, if you’re out there…I need you!”
Cyrene shook her head. “It’s not going to work.”
