My gaze snaps back to Titus, who is kneeling over his brother a few feet away. It happens so fast, like stubbing a toe. We are seized with the pain of our misstep.
Snap!Magic expands, splitting the air as a portal rips open next to me. The blast tramples me, shoving me down, as the portal opens directly where I stood. Before I can stand, hands grab me, cold and hard. Titus’s roar snaps my head up. His eyes darken to cold brown dirt, too hard to be tilled.
The air crackles. Behind Titus, everyone is frozen, but I’m not, nor are the hands holding me, dragging me into the portal. Titus time-weaved, but my captor is safe inside the bubble with me. I dig my heels into the stone, reaching my arms out for Titus.
My feet lift off the ground.No!The portal swallows me. My ears pop. The impact of the toss has my ribs slamming into the unknown destination. The side of my head is next to strike.
Darkness. Numbness. My mind screams,Do not succumb to passing out!
My first attempts at clearing my vision paint only black, then shades of dark shadows, until I realize stones surround me. The same stone was used to build Blackthorn Castle.
Am I still in the castle?
My teeth clench as I roll over. Over me is a firm, arched tunnel. That’s odd. Blackthorn consists of high stacks of cut stone. This tunnel goesthroughstone.
“Selene!” Titus barrels through the portal right before it closes.A solid mass of muscle painfully pins me as he lands. I can’t breathe from the weight, but instead of trying to roll him off, I hug him closer.
Why did you come for me and risk everything again?
This, whatever this is, is my turn. You slayed Galen. I must win the next round of this sinister game.
Footsteps reverberate within the tunnel. “Look what we have here. A two-for-one special,” a dreadfully familiar voice purrs.
Titus pushes up, looming close. Our eyes meet, lost in a turbulence of emotions.
“Oh, this is perfect!” Hands clap. It sounds like the thread of my fate has been sliced. “Sister. It’s about time you proved yourself useful.”
Sable crosses her arms and smirks down at us.
Chapter
Forty-Seven
Titus
I’m a violin out of tune. A string deep within my chords splintered and broke.
When that portal opened, I panicked—made a deal with darkness, handing over my heart to save Selene. I used all my magic to kill Galen.
I don’t know how I time-weaved. It lasted but a second, but that was all I needed to reach the portal and dive inside. One second was all it took for my mate to be ripped from my arms. One second of using my magic when I had nothing left weakened me in a way I fear is irreparable.
I spring forward, hands reaching for the flesh of Sable’s neck. Shock turns to joy when my fingers wrap around her skin. But then joy erodes, crystallizing into a plague of decay.
I’m a wooden ship left in the harbor: salt gnaws at my hull, and my stomach twists with pain. Sable’s smirking eyes tear me plank by plank down to the keel, crumbling all my hopes that Selene and I can find safe waters.
Sable’s face reddens from lack of air, but her grin punches me as hard as an anchor drags and tears into the ocean floor, forcing me to halt. Magic tears my ribs, breaking, bending, pushing two of them into my lungs.
It’s her death magic! If I don’t release her, it will spread, taking root.
I let go, coughing up blood. My breath is too short. My subconscious scrambles to heal me, but it’s like licking a plate you savored. Nothing is truly left. I need my mate’s blood so I can have the power to heal, but feeding from her would alert them to just how strong we are.
I reach out ready to cover Selene, but her abductor presses a dagger to her chest.
Sable rubs her neck. “Titus, ever the noble guard protecting my sister. Galen must love you. Jumping through portals into the unknown to save my twin.”
She doesn’t know I killed Galen.
Selene swallows and looks at me with eyes that lie.It’s okay; this will be okay. I’m fine. She silently blinks.
