My stomach twisted with terrible cramps and cold sweat crawled across my forehead. I felt sick, dizzy. The book too hot against my skin. Mary and Hemlock were talking—no, fighting—arguing about broken promises and lies. I could focus on nothing, just the pinpoint of an intense fiery need deep in my belly.
“Let me have one last minute with my daughter, then. Let me beg forgiveness and mercy from her.” It was her plea that snapped me back to the scene in front of me.
“Pretty words, such a pity they’re empty and heartless,” Hemlock said to her. I tried to make sense of what was going on, but I couldn’t focus. My thoughts pulled at the book.Open the Book. Open the Book. Set Us Free.
Hold out a little while longer. Please. Just a little more. I wanted to hear what she would say. I needed to save everyone. I needed to save myself.
Mary ran to me. Suddenly, like a light switch flipped, she was my mother. Her eyes were full of concern and something I couldn’t put my finger on.
“Please,” she said, grabbing my hands and squeezing. “Find mercy for none of us.”
Behind her, Hemlock exploded with howls of anger and rage. Then he lunged forward, and a curved blade thrust out from his sleeve, slicing across my mother’s neck in a straight thin line. My stomach dropped, and for a small second, I stood staring at her throat thinking, she’s fine, just a little graze, a shallow scratch. Until beads of red bubbled out of the scrape, then more and more bubbles popped up and cut across her neck where that thin trail of the blade traveled. There was a sound that escaped from her mouth, wet and gurgled, just before a rush of deep red blood poured down her body. It sounded like she was still trying to say please, as her body staggered forward and collapsed at my feet.
Her fingers were still entwined in mine, ice and flesh and something more.
I locked my eyes with Hemlock’s as his lips curled up into a sinister smile.
“Are you ready to serve me now?” Hemlock asked.
“Yes, My King,” I whispered.
My mother’s body wilted and grayed. It shriveled into itself and darkened until she was nothing but a pile of dust as high as the hem of my skirt.
“I will have the decency to give you a few moments to grieve. Let this be your final lesson, my pet. The only people here of any importance are you and I. Everyone else I can destroy without a single thought.”
“I understand, my lord.” I said the words without moving, too afraid he’d change his mind. A few moments to grieve was all I needed. Just a brief little amount of time to be alone, to look down, to open my clenched fists.
“Thank you,” I said, quickly, hoping he believed my lie. “I appreciate the time to grieve and collect myself.” I needed him to leave. You see, my mother’s hands dried and turned to ash in mine, yet when she turned back to the earth and was no longer holding my hands in hers, she did not leave my closed fists empty.
Chapter 21
Ifell asleep, hands clutched tightly, waiting for the king to return. Waiting for my fate. When I woke, it was from Mathias gently shaking me.
I blinked up at him through a haze of dreamy images.
“Come, let me help you up.” His voice was a broken whisper, heavy with concern and emotion. “Raine, I—I’m so sorry for what my father did—”
“Never apologize for him. Never.” I shook my head, remembering the blood as it spilled a scarlet red, then pooled to blackened ash as it hit the stones of the floor.
He nodded, pressing his forehead against mine. “If I could only change this. If I could only have kept you upside, safe.”
“I dreamt of you, just now.” I looked up into the endless sea of his eyes and again find myself wondering what we could have been if we met where both of us were born. Did he know I was half mortal? I was just like him, wasn’t I? His father was a god, which made him half mortal too. Not that any of that would make a difference to Hemlock.
Mathias looked down at me with sad eyes. “We don’t have dreams here.” His eyes darted back and forth between mine. “I wish we did, then every night I would be with you.” His hand reached up to my face, his fingers gently touching my cheek. “In a dream world where our bodies weren’t strangers, and we could destroy each other in the sweetest of ways.
“Well, I did have a dream,” I said, pushing closer to him, feeling his hands press warm against my face. “I dreamt of you and me in the bookstore, and we were safe and alive.”
“I was always there with you,” he whispered. He laid his thumb on the corner of my lips and my mouth opened in response.
“If I had a wish, that’s where we’d be. Alive and together, in a place where our kisses wouldn’t bring down a kingdom.”
“I want so desperately to bring down this kingdom,” he whispered, smiling.
“Then let it fall,” I said, pushing up onto my tippy toes to close the space between us.
He kissed me with tenderness, groaning softly against my lips. His touch sent shivers over my skin, making my whole body tremble.I would never have enough of him, would I?We kissed like it was our last, like we were saying our final goodbyes. His tongue slipped inside my mouth and his hands were everywhere—on my back, over my neck and arms, like he couldn’t get enough. I melted into him, touching him the same way, and it was like nothing I had ever experienced with any other person before. His fingers gripped into my hair, my hands slid under his shirt, and I knew without a doubt in my mind, I never wanted to be without him.
We were so perfect together I wanted to cry.
