“I don’t know, but something’s?—”
“Wrong. So you’ve said. Care to elaborate?”
She couldn’t.She wished she could. The answers were back in the village with the woman who tried to kill her. Selene only knew that Gus was agitated, and it had started when they’d both sensed Augustus—Michail—cross the Llinunae Stone’s boundary line.
She calls.
Selene knew a warning when she heard it, even if the words held no outward meaning.
“I hear the waterfall,” Petrina said. “Our boat is close. Selene, wait, that’s the wrong way.”
When Selene didn’t stop, Petrina did and threw up her hands. “This is madness. We have to get off this island, and you’re heading right back into the middle of it.”
“Stay if you want. I have to find Augustus.”
Only minutes later, the forest began taking on an unfamiliar shape. The ancient trees became more gnarled and decrepit, as if the weight of universes pushed down on them. The roots twisted from the ground like skeletal fingers, clawing the soil. Moss hung in heavy, wet sheets, and every now and then, a drop of water landed on Selene’s hot skin.
The forest here was a thick, tangled mess of shadows and humidity intermingled with spearing shafts of light. Each step gave way to softer and softer ground, and soon, her boot sank into suctioning mud.
Selene stopped at the edge of a land of murky pools buzzing with insects. A glimmer of red eyes blinked out beneath the surface, then vanished.
Petrina came up fast behind her, her breath sawing from her chest. “Oh, look. A swamp. Wonderful. It smells…lovely.”
If you liked the mix of decaying leaves and rotting vegetation. The earth smelled sour here and clung to the back of Selene’s throat. Somewhere off to the left, hidden among the tall reeds, something shifted and splashed lazily into the black water, leaving only the faintest ripples in its wake.
Selene lifted a brow. “I thought you were leaving.”
“I am,” she said. “After I save your ass from whatever trouble you’re getting yourself into. Again.” Petrina sighed, then glanced around. “You’re sure you want to go this way?”
Ahead, Gus alighted on a branch to wait.
“I don’t have a choice.”
Augustus chased Lili and Roslyn, leaping over roots and skirting around trees. He had his cutlass out and swiped ruthlessly at the vines and moss hanging from the branches.
His mind raced with only one thought: save Selene. Her voice continued to call, frantic, and Lili wanted to kill her. He wouldn’t let that happen.
Soon, the ground turned soft and patched with plains of moss and black pools. He battled the suction of his boots as much as the bite of the gnat swarms.
“She’s here,” Roslyn said from ahead.
“I don’t hear anything,” Lili said.
“You won’t, but that doesn’t mean she won’t kill you. Stay vigilant.”
Selene wouldn’t hurt anyone. Not ever. Lili had to know that. The woman he loved was pure and kind and?—
Golden light opened up in the clearing ahead. Swirls of mist clouded around Selene—she reached for him, fingers long and tipped with mud.
“Augustus.”
She was naked and caked with dirt, and her hair hung in drabs.
Augustus’s heart lurched. No one could see her like this.
Every man appeared to have the same idea, but Augustus was determined to reach her first.
She washis.
