AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’s like there’s an invisible force pulling me between them, and either way I choose, I’ll end up ripped in half, a fragment of myself.
“Nox, just go,” Zora says. “Who knows? If I die, I might just wake up.”
Farin’s grin splits. “Who says I’m going to let you die?”
Rage splits my skull. I don’t think. My limbs pump for me, and I launch myself toward Farin.
At least, he’s my target.
I don’t make it to him.
Because out of the shadows jumps an enormous creature, barreling on its eight legs.
Several things happen at once.
Farin glimpses the creature, just in time to yank Zora out of its way.
The spider’s legs skid on the ground, thrown off by missing its bleeding target.
I don’t have time to pivot before one of its flailing legs collides with my torso, sending me flying backward toward the cave wall.
Except my back never hits the cave wall.
The last thing I see is the spider lunge for Zora, and then the eyelet closes, taking me with it.
CHAPTER 41
BLAISE
I force myself not to look into Asha’s eye as I plunge my teeth into her wrist.
It’s not that I need to taste blood to trigger the bloodlust that enables my compulsion, but it certainly accelerates the process.
She winces, but only barely before the toxins in my fangs numb the pain.
“That’s enough,” Az snaps, swatting me away from Asha’s wrist. Like he’s worried I’ll take too much blood.
I do as he says, unlatching my fangs from her skin and retracting them into my gums. Quickly, as if he’s concerned the wound won’t bind fast enough, he wraps her wrist in white gauze that turns scarlet in an instant.
“Don’t be scared,” I whisper to her, and her trembling settles a bit. I should probably feel guilty for that, for taking away her fear. It’s a reaction she has every right to possess, but guilt isn’t going to get me Nox back, so I dull it with the roar of my desperation.
“Now,” I say, “I’m going to ungag you, but I need you to stay quiet until I tell you what to say.” I reach for the gag, but Az puts out a hand, stopping me.
“Tell her to do as I say before you take it off.”
“How about you relay to me what you want her to say, and I’ll make sure it happens?”
Az shoots me an acidic glare, but he offers me the instructions, apparently not in the mood to argue.
“Okay, Asha,” I breathe. “I’m going to take off your gag, and I want you to tell the Rip to open. And then I want you to call forth the Others, so they know where to flock to.”
Asha’s eye goes wide with fear, but in them I sense no defiance.
It’s a stab to my gut to watch her comply like this.
For Nox, I remind myself. You’re doing this for Nox.
I let myself glance at him. Give myself just a moment to examine his limp body, laid out on the grass like a corpse.
