The room was hazy from the burning incense and the smoke made her want to sneeze. She took a few steps closer, calling out to Pytho.
The next moment, Pytho stood before her, holding Terena’s face between her ice cold hands as she continued to mutter in a language Terena did not know.
“I don’t understand,” she said, but Pytho’s hands squeezed, her nails biting into Terena’s jaw.
Pytho’s muttering became more forceful. Those strange black eyes stared back at her as if she hadn’t heard.
“Pytho,” she said.
Terena’s eyes widened as she watched a line of red appear at Pytho’s throat. The wound gaped and Terena screamed.
But Pytho’s hold on her face hardened.
“They’ve found me,” she hissed.
“Who?” Terena asked as she sobbed. Her hands clutched at the oracle’s arms.
Come find me come find me come find me come find me
Terena’s scream echoed in the smoky chamber as blood covered her hands and raced up her arms.
“….your father’s blood.” Pytho gurgled, blood now seeping from her mouth.
the heir the heir the heir the
“FIND ME!”
Terena jerked awake,thrashing away from arms trying to pin her.
Was she drowning?
Was that blood coating her throat?
What were they doing?
Why—
“It’s me,” a familiar voice said. “Terena stop, please! You’ll reopen?—”
She flailed again when someone forced her mouth open, slapped at hands too close and cried out when the movement sent an arc of fire racing down her arm and through her bad leg.
“It’s me, Ren, it’s me. It’s Croak. Stop. Stop!”
Her body shook and she blinked furiously as bile rose in her throat, the liquid poured down her mouth now coming back up.
She lashed out again but someone had hold of her arms. They were like vices.
When she finally focused, she saw Melanos, his enormous hands bracing her as he stared back with concern in his eyes. Croak was on the couch at her side, panting, his face pale and eyes bloodshot. He was holding a glass away from her.
Terena willed herself to calm down as she looked between the two.
“Was it—was it another dream?”
“Where am I?” Terena mumbled, her voice raspy.
Croak sat back. “We’re in Melanos’s sex cave.”
Melanos flashed him a flat look.
