AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Joseph's body shook with laughter, but a dark shadow fell over us and his half-skull flickered over his face. "Wrap your legs around me, my sweet, hold on tight. Can you do that for me?"
When he released my legs, I coiled them around his waist and linked my fingers behind his neck, playing with his hair.
"This is nice," I murmured, snuggling into his cuddly chest. I'd missed being close to him so damn much; I'd never take a single moment for granted again. "Did I tell you that I love you? Because I love you."
"Love you too, Avie," he replied, his voice strangely tight.
I lifted my head and blinked at the giant snake as it dove down at us. Joseph's brown arms bulged as he swung his scythe, executing a cool as fuck series of jerking slashes that bled a crisscross of wounds on the snake's body.
"That was hot," I murmured, squeezing my thighs around him when he arched his scythe again, pushing the snake back—ohhhhh, to where the wraiths waited with a net of shadows. Fancy. "But why are we attacking the snakey?"
"The snakey is trying to stop us from getting the sceptre."
"Right." I nodded, watching the snake bite right through the shadows and munch down a wraith. "The sceptre. Got it."
"How hard did you hit your head, sweetness?" he murmured, meeting my eyes for a second before shadows rippled from his long black cloak and he opened another vicious cut on the viper. Blood splashed over us and I blinked as it drenched my hair. "Now!" he boomed at someone I couldn't see.
Wings beat hard and warriors dove down from the ceiling, the sharp tips of spears burying in scales. Taj and X rushed at the snake from either side of us, shiny weapons driving into the viper's soft underbelly while it was distracted.
I whimpered. "They need to be careful; they're not fully healed."
I jostled, grabbing Joseph's neck with a whimper when he surged forward, joining X and Taj in attacking the snake. Poor baby. But if my mates said it needed to die, it probably needed to die. And the sceptre …oh.Oh,shit,how did I forget what the sceptre was?
My head must have been clearing, because there were no glowing stars on the ceiling, and my heart thumped fast as I processed just how dangerous this situation was. The magical viper was five times our size, and power thumped from it strong enough to burn away my eyebrows.
The viper had obviously been put here to stop anyone reaching the sceptre because the moment anyone tried to sneak to the podium, its powerful tail lashed out and sent them flying into the walls. Ouch. I winced at the loud crunch of a warrior’s body smacking stone. I knew how that felt. I held onto Joseph with one hand and felt the back of my head for blood.
Oh, good, no bleeding. Just a sizable dent, and probably a crack through my skull. No big deal.
"You can put me down," I told Joseph, sinking into my magic and finding a maelstrom of power and rage. It was crazy how in tune my magic was with my mate bonds—their violence and determination riled my own soul and power.
"You'll get yourself hurt," he protested, growling and jerking us abruptly left. I looked to see why and wished I hadn't; venom dripped off the sharp fang aimed right at us.
I held onto Joseph with one hand, a fistful of determination, and sheer thigh power, and threw up my other hand, releasing a plume of red and black fire. It took me a moment to realise it wasn't simply fire that blasted out of me, but my other magic too—the pain-fuelled magic I could mould into anything.
I grinned, baring my teeth, and grabbed hold of the fire the moment before it reached the mega-snake bearing down on us. Taking inspiration from our winged friends, I shaped the flames into a spear and drove it through the snake's mouth and out the top of its skull.
The intelligence and light bled out of its eyes, leaving them dull. Victory pumped through my blood—for a split second before I realised the snake was crashing down to the ground.
"Move!" Taj boomed beside us. "Circles in the air; everyone else against the walls!"
Our mini army scrambled to obey their prince heir, and I clung to Joseph as he swept us across the room. But the snake was falling faster than we could escape, and its shadow was close enough to blot out all the light. A drop of venom fell, in slow motion, and landed on Joseph's back.
His roar of pain drowned out every noise in the world. I couldn't breathe, couldn'tthink.All I felt was the searing agony that erupted through his soul.
I unwrapped my legs from around him, boots slamming clumsily into the ground, and I fought to keep him upright when his knees buckled.
"It's alright," I breathed, trying to hide my panic. "Shh, shh, it's okay."
It wasn't. It was far from fucking okay. I couldn't hold him up and get us out of here at the same time, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the snake’s huge body dropped, too close for comfort.
We were going to be crushed. Broken bones at best. Instant death most likely. A scream built in my throat, but I throttled it and dug my heels into the stone floor, heaving us a step, and then another.
Joseph screamed as I jostled the venom-burns on his back, but I couldn't be gentle when my hair fluttered in the wind caused by the falling viper, and we were going to die,we were going to fucking die—
I gripped Joseph so tight he screamed when blackness closed around us, my whole body braced for pain. I refused to let go of him, tried to absorb the worst of the blow.
A tremor went through my soul, strong and terrified enough to make my legs buckle, but something held me up. Thedarknessheld me up. The darkness—had hands.
