AllFreeNovel
Share Us
From my periphery, I see Devyn dancing. The corset of bones moves with the flicker of firelight, the sheer material follows her elegant movements. She weaves around Riddick, and I feel his tarry eyes on me. His sick lust crawls beneath my skin.
As Devyn returns, she walks a slow circle around us, now holding Riddick’s dagger in one hand. She reaches with her other to touch us, prompting. “As they looked upon her, she lectured on the great work, and they declared they’d fallen into ecstasy at her revelations.”
Kallum clenches his teeth, a muscle tics against his tight jawline. “Misinterpreting seems to be your only specialty,” he admonishes her.
Devyn stops her progression, coming to a halt at his side. “Fuck her, sorcerer, or I’ll let Riddick do the honors.”
A dangerous growl rumbles from deep within Kallum’s chest. His body vibrates with the strike of the drum as it rises in unison with the chanting. His hold on me tightens painfully, as if he can feel my desire to flee.
“This can’t be happening.” I shake my head against his forearms, then I look up to find the sky. The gnarled trees climb within a helmet of branches and moss like gods overseeing their offering, the moonlight their seduction.
The masks once again cover their faces, and the figures move like the reeds sway. The people are shadows in the marsh, taking on the elements themselves, the bones of stags that tramp the ground like bloodthirsty animals, awaiting the kill.
“Say the words,” Devyn commands of Kallum. “Speak Cleopatra’s words and transmute the elements to the divine substance.”
Savage fury lit within the depths of his eyes, Kallum slowly removes his arms from around my neck. He drops his bound wrists between us, where he gently takes my face between his splayed fingers. “For he who fled entered into the one who did not flee, and he who controlled entered into the one who did not control, and they were united with each other.”
An ache burns at the back of my throat, my body trembles uncontrollably. I feel the vulgar press of their eyes on us as their chant climbs into an urgent entreaty, calling forekstasis,rapture, frenzy.
I curl my fingers against the solidness of Kallum’s chest, trying to fight the fear as it becomes tangible, suffocating. I turn to escape, immediately caught as Kallum drops his bound arms around me, welding my back to his chest.
“You can’t run yet,” he whispers in my ear.
“They’re watching us…”
He captures my jaw with rough fingers and tilts my face up, forcing me to stare into the fierce intensity of his eyes. “Don’t look at any of them,” he says, his voice gravel. “Eyes on me—look only at me, sweetness.”
He lowers his hands, his thumb traveling down the center of my body until he reaches the clasp of my jeans. He flicks it open, summoning a hard shiver from my body. Then his descent resumes, his hands roving below my pelvis and pushing between my thighs.
A dizzying sensation sweeps over me, and I shut my eyes against the onslaught.
“Stay with me,” Kallum commands. “I need you to stay with me, Halen.” His fingers touch the sigil on my inner thigh, snatching my breath. Compelling my eyes back on him, he anchors me with the seductive cadence of his voice.
Emmons breaks the protective haze with a command to drink from the cups.
As I sink into Kallum’s strong embrace, I feel myself tunnel under, losing equilibrium like I’m in that torture chamber all over again, hearing the flutter of the moth’s wings, seeing the flicker of the firelight like the swaying bulb against my eyelids. Then the erotic feel of Kallum’s hand stroking between my thighs envelops me in torrid heat to tempt me to the surface.
The seductive rock of his hips against my backside urges me to push back, lured into him. “Don’t slip away,” he says, his breath a heated caress over my neck before his lips find the throbbing pulse point. Then he’s kissing, tasting, and I’m fading under his spell.
“I trust you,” I tell him—but I can’t be present for this, my mind already delving below.
He unleashes a dark groan as his teeth sink into the soft curve of my shoulder, brutally awakening me from the trance.
My eyes open to chaos.
A shrill scream splits the air. Jars drop from their hands, murky glass rolling over the stomped reeds. The cloaked figures around the fire fall to their knees.
And amid the disorder, Devyn stands before me, her hand gripped to the hilt of the dagger.
My chest heaves, the wick of fury lit within me as I drag air into my constricted lungs. Kallum tenses around me as she raises the knife, her threat clear—but I don’t look away.
“Is to die what you want?” I ask her as I slip my fingers into my pocket.
“We all die eventually,” she says, her voice soft, her words meant just for me.
Anticipation threads my muscles as I grip the sharp antler, and my fingers brush the pendant of my necklace. My heart stalls.
He won’t even let me die.Devyn’s words fill my mind.
