Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Fear bristles through the leaves that swirl around my feet, and for whatever reason that I do not know, I don’t run. She looks up at me, the skin around her eyes softening as she slowly shuffles to her hands and knees. “Forgive me, Queen. For we did not know.”
“What?” I breathe, the world tilting sideways until I lose my balance. The ground growing closer and closer to me is the last thing I remember before everything goes black.
Sweat drips down the side of my face and my heartbeat slows. I suck in a deep breath and try to open my eyes, only they refuse to part. Fuck. What the fuck is happening now.
Hands lock around my ankles, shaking me. “Wake up, London. Wake up.” I try again, but nothing’s working. The voice is familiar, but not enough to touch the sides of my brain.
“London!” A loud screech pierces my ears and I fly up from where I’m lying, my eyes wide open.
With my heart stammering and sweat sleek over my skin, I take in my surroundings. A long dark corridor sits in front of me, with nothingness on either side. A small red dot sits at the other end, and I stammer to my feet slowly, careful not to fall. It’s like the inside of a dream, one that isn’t quite a nightmare, but isn’t exactly pleasant.
“London... follow my voice, baby...”
“Knight?” I whisper, the hairs on the back of my neck raising. This could be a trick. Those stupid fucking vamps and whatever games they’re playing, and not to mention Haide.
“It’s not, baby. Follow my voice...”
“I don’t believe you...” I answer through a soft whisper, unable to fight the magnetic pull that’s directing me down. As much as I want to fight it, the red dot expands the more I walk, and I know I’m getting closer to whoever it is.
“The last time I fucked you, I took your memories.”
It is him.
I gasp, annoyance drowning out the noise. “I hate you,” I whisper, unsure if it’s true.
“I know, baby. But walk to me.”
I allow my feet to take me to the end, as each passing minute goes by the more my body relaxes. It’s Knight. I know it is. Finally, the red dot is now large, a single door sitting on the other side. I reach forward, squeezing the handle to push it open but it doesn’t budge. I try again, this time more forceful and calling on my Ethos to help me. I crash forward when it gives way unexpectedly, stumbling to the ground. Filtered a brilliant red, tears prick the sides of my eyes when I see the carnage around me. Blood and brain matter splatter the walls, as I count the bodies on the floor.
One.
Two.
Three.
“Knight!” I scream so loud my throat burns—
I fly up from the ground, dust whipping around my face in a tornado as the stones bite into the palms of my hands. Heat rolls over me in waves, as I take in the vamps surrounding me. There’s more this time. Twenty or so, all gathering around me. I turn to break away but stop when hot flames lick the dark air. Burning embers crack through the night and I turn back to the monsters in front of me. I’m not entirely sure if they’re all vamps, but they’re all something.
I can … feel them.
“Villaina...” Her voice drifts in from behind me and I shift slightly, the gravel beneath my boots crunching. Haide emerges from behind the flames, coming into full view. Her dark hair is slicked down perfectly but left in a sleek wave that travels down her lean back. Black charcoal stains the rims of her eyes, her makeup so polished it’s undoubtably magic. There’s no question how beautiful Haide is, even though I don’t quite know if the right word is beautiful, since she’s slightly terrifying. Her cheekbones are as sharp as the sword she carries strapped to her hip, and her lips remain stained with her signature mauve shade.
She clears her throat, just as she lowers herself down onto a chair made of a tree stump, gesturing to the other beside her. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were checking me out.” She holds my stare. When music starts playing in the background, and the monsters all busy themselves with whatever else they’re doing, I slowly take her offer.
“Maybe you don’t know better.”
She hands me a glass filled with a thick white substance, and I take it. “Well, if you’re going to poison me, I think I’ve got no more fight in me.”
She sighs, crossing her leg over the other until the slit that stops at her hips from her tight leather pants falls open slightly. “I’m not going to poison you, Villaina.”
I bite my tongue, wanting to correct her with London, only I almost lose myself in the why. Why does it bother me that she’s calling me Villaina? I preferred it to London for so long... until I heard what it sounds like coming off Knight’s tongue. I let the silence sit between us, as some Lana Del Ray song plays. The fire cracks beside Haide, and I lose myself in the embers, the color deep inside reminding me of the nightmare just moments before. Do I tell her about that? I don’t trust her, but I don’t not trust her either.