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The voice seemed to multiply and strengthen, otherworldly and consuming. I found myself drawn towards this fixed point, getting closer and closer until the light dimmed and the voices calmed once again until the cave became utterly silent… as if whoever's the voice it was holding their breath. Waiting.
A pythos sat atop a tall stone pedestal. The energy around me seemed to hum and vibrate in anticipation as my hand reached toward it. A distant voice roared as the skin of my physical body appeared to burn and evaporate away the nearer my hand drew to it. Muscle and tendon were seared away to reveal bone that burned away until all that remained of my hand was the silhouette of my hand and forearm, revealing my energy body and, within that, the cosmos as I'd travelled from…
The voice encouraged me forward as the chanting returned and grew in volume. Biting back the pain, I pressed forward, my fingertips only millimeters remained between my fingertips and the pythos…
My eyes blinked open, squinting at the sliver of dawn rising above the horizon. A current of energy still poured through me from the reoccurring dream I'd had on and off since I could remember, though it had grown far more frequent over the last year.
It had begun to drive me mad despite it being something of a reprieve from my usual reoccurring dreams. Or, more accurately, nightmares.
For the last ten months, I'd spent countless hours haunting The Queen's Library to no avail. I'd even snuck into her vaults that contained priceless artefacts that were thousands of years old, and nothing had come close to the pythos in my dreams.
Accompanied by an all-too-familiar ache that permanently settled between my shoulders, a thread of anxiety wove through me as reality settled in. What I knew the coming day held.
Execution day.
Chapter
Two
MAREINA
Each step felt like the passing of long seconds as I approached the entrance to the amphitheatre. A hulking fae male, Galvor Laith, with bright blue eyes and light brown hair, stood in front with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. He'd always been one of myleastfavorite of the few guards I was forced to interact with due to his crass and smug manner in which I'd frequently found him interacting with others. If anyone deserved to be stuck in Leilani's time loop, it was him.
He was also one of the few guards who dared to meet my gaze and the only one who had ever dared to make sexual advances. Perhaps because I'd known him for too many years… We'd fought in the war together, and whereas I had risen in rank… He had not. The only reason a horribleaccidenthadn't yet befallen him was the fact that he had once saved me from a nearly fatal wound, and he clearly still felt like I owed him something.
His voice sounded like a boulder scraping across stone.
"Lovely Mareina…"
My annoyance rose swiftly, there before he even spoke.
"Galvor."
He stepped in front of me just before I could cross the threshold, making me bump into his wall of muscle. My lip curled as my gaze lifted from his pectorals to his face - generically handsome in that fae way but did absolutely nothing to inspire my libido.
"Unless you want to face Zurie's wrath becauseyoumade me late, I suggest you step aside."
"Now, why would you want to do that? You know I always look forward to our interactions. I just wish I could do something more to show you the… height of my desires for you."
Galvor's hand drifted over the front of his trousers, drawing my gaze to where he then gripped his cock. The thick outline of which I could clearly see.
"Come on, Mareina… After all these years, you can honestly say you feelnothingfor me? Even after I saved you?"
A scowl twisted my features as I gradually drew my gaze to his heavy-lidded one. My hand lashed out to fist the low knot of his brown hair, yanking his head down and to the side to expose his thick throat to me as I drew the dagger sheathed at my thigh and pressed it against a thick, pulsing artery.
"Do something like that again, and I'll forget that you suffered that blow for me."
The whites of Galvor's piercing blue eyes widened with surprise before he raised his hands in surrender, and a smug grin tilted his lips.
"Understood."
His grin fuelled the flames of my ire, inspiring me to press the blade firmly. Blood trickled.
Before my hunger got the best of me, I released him, and he stepped aside. I licked the blade before spitting his foul blood onto his boot.
He chuckled, entirely nonplussed.
"You let me know if you change your mind… Just… ugh… Don't say anything to the General about this, please."
