Page 49 of Wraithwound

Giving him one last glance, she turned and walked across the clearing, coming to stand directly in front of Taryk. She saw as understanding formed in his eyes.

“Do it,” she said to him.

Taryk didn’t bother looking at Cross. Instead, he gave her a curt nod, adjusting the grip on his sword. At his silent acknowledgement, a black glimmering mass appeared in her mind, forming inside her consciousness. The wraith.

It knows.

She saw Taryk’s expression harden as he took in her face, and then his piercing green eyes settled on hers. And she knew her eyes must be glowing. A perfect golden ring alight between her pupil and irises. He sank into a fighting stance, his muscles tensing with the anticipation of the movement he was so familiar with as a wraith hunter.

“Taryk, don’t, she’s—” but before Cross could say anything else, a powerful blast sent him flying backward, away from them.

Lena hadn’t even glimpsed where the blow originated from. He landed several feet away in a heap on the rocky earth.

When she turned back to Taryk, his sword was already in position.

Perfect.

As her mind seemed to do when she couldn’t cope with the events likely to unfold before her, time slowed. Light glinted off the intricate design etched into the sword, calling attention to the sharpened edge of the blade now being held at the exact angle that would release her from this hell. Eyes locked onto hers, Taryk tightened his jaw, the veins in his neck visible through the strained flesh there. The defined muscles of his arm worked in perfect harmony as he moved to oblige her request. Lena couldn’t help but see it all, while at the same time inside her own consciousness, she was being dragged into the expanding black cloud, losing more of herself to the wraith as the milliseconds ticked by.

Lena exhaled a sigh of relief, the air vacating her lungs in a smooth, fluid stream. She was ready for it to be the last she would ever take. But before the sword reached its mark, an ear-splitting screech pierced the air, and a ball of black shadow erupted from the trees at Taryk.

The force of the impact sent him crashing into the hard stone, his sword clattering to the ground. It wasn’t a ball of black, but a creature that now clawed at him. It shrieked violently, exposing small, pointed teeth before turning on her.

Lena was so stunned; she felt the shock halt the wraith’s attempt.

The furry creature the size of a large house cat had large round eyes that were wholly black, pointed ears, a small snout, and a long, striped tail. An eleuth. It sat, unmoving, on Taryk’s chest.

Lena felt rooted to the spot, but she didn’t know whether it was from fear or from the wraith having taken over her muscles. Just as the edges of her vision began to turn black, she saw the small animal transform. It seemed to wrestle with the transformation, its eyes changing rapidly between wholly black and blazing orange with a slitted pupil. The claws slowly retracted, and its teeth shrank, revealing a normal row of less-sharp teeth behind them. It chittered at her, and she thought she noted a look of concern on its face. Lena was certain she was mirroring the expression right back before she felt intense pressure on the side of her neck, and her world went dark.

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

Lena stood in a darkened room, bright golden light visible in the distance. The space around her felt hollow, like if she spoke, it would echo back at her. A sun-kissed wind caressed her cheek in the darkness, warm and familiar. She turned, and the light seemed to flare in response. She walked toward it, surprised she was unafraid in the otherwise impenetrable dark. She didn’t know how long she walked, but eventually, she began to glimpse a golden dome. She could make out something underneath it; a flame, burning red hot with glimmering orange edges, sat suspended beneath the dome. Underneath the flaming orb was a man with golden hair and silver-plated armor. He was down on one knee, holding onto the pommel of a sword that’d been embedded in the ground beneath him. His head was bowed, as if in prayer. Lena gasped as she realized who she was looking at.

Henry.

As if sensing her, he looked up. He wore a pained expression; his jaw was clenched, and sweat beaded his brow. Lena tried to run to him but was kept away by an invisible barrier. She put her hands up, trying to feel for a way to gain entry or get closer. At this, Henry tried to smile and failed.

“Look to the eleuth,” he seemed to say, although his mouth did not move.

The words wrapped around her mind before disappearing into a fading echo. Just then, her shoulder began to prickle. Henry’s face snapped to the side, and when he looked back, fear shone in his expression. He lifted a trembling arm and blasted Lena away from the dome and back into consciousness.

He was alive. Henry was still alive, and he was fighting for his life. No. Fighting for her. To keep her safe. She didn’t understand how it was possible, but she could sense it, his strain and discomfort in holding his position. Powering the dome of light. To protect something, that burning blaze suspended above him. A protection spell. Which meant that there was something else in the darkness with him.

The wraith.

Lena thought she had failed, that Henry’s soul had been lost, and it was only a matter of time before the wraith took over for good, but she’d been wrong. So wrong.

She had given up. It was what she’d always done. And she’d tried to . . .

“Look to the eleuth,” he had told her.

Lena bolted upright. She spun around, looking for the small creature that had attacked Taryk and immediately clenched her neck. It ached fiercely in two different spots. Pressure points, she realized.

In her frantic state, she’d missed Cross, who was sitting on a log several paces away. He gripped his sword tightly, muscles tensed, but upon noting there was no danger, he released his grip. He was covered in a thin layer of dust, and blood was crusted at the edge of his hairline, and he looked . . . well, even angrier than before.

Furious, actually.