I coughed as the burning on my stomach continued to thrum. It was painful, but I also knew it meant my family was on their way. I just had to hold out long enough until help arrived.
The grinding rumble grew louder, and my odds of holding out had just dropped dramatically. The compass emblem was spinning, in a blur of speed too fast for me to track. Within seconds the mark was unrecognizable. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this compass was a doorway to somewhere else. I was just praying the damn king didn’t step through. I’d hold on to the faint hope the bitch twins had made a mistake.
The portal opened and natural light flooded over the dirty stone floors. I was transfixed, staring into the land which lay on the other side. It reminded me of the otherness of Faerie, but not the Faerie land I had been to. This one was desolate, barren, dead. The heat which had been alternating with the cold winds was now more pronounced than ever. The small section I could see … flashes of black glinted off the red planes, and then … roars exploded across the hall. Oh God, it was so loud, my eardrums felt as if they were about to explode.
The hole in the wall was widening, the landscape beyond becoming clear. I could see out into the fiery world of red rock and lava falls.
“Where the hell is that?” I bit out, not really asking anyone in particular.
Lemon answered. “That’s the land between, the dead zone. It is the place of banishment for those too evil for the prisons.”
What the actual freak? I swallowed loudly. “You’d better shift your ugly old ass up and get that shit closed. What sort of creatures will you be letting in?”
“We only allow the king. He was called.”
Our conversation was cut off when Orange dragged herself across the floor, halting beside Mischa. She reached out a hand and touched my sister’s ribs. In a rapid movement I shot out my free hand and gripped her around the throat.
“What, the eff, are you doing?” My voice was low, soft. I was already planning her murder in my head.
“Sealing the wound,” she choked out around my hold. ”I’m tired of slipping in her blood.”
I tightened my grip enough to leave a decent bruise. Orange said nothing. Eventually I had to let her go; I wanted Mischa repaired. I kept a close eye, making sure she did nothing but close the wound.
She was fast, her power leaving tingles on my tongue as it coated the room. But she did as she said, the wound was sealed. My sister was deathly white as I reached out and felt for her pulse. It was weak, erratic. I hoped she would be okay now that her blood was staying on the inside. Plus she was marked, she couldn’t die from blood loss, could she?
I must have murmured something about that out loud, because Lemon snorted. “The king is free, all marked can now die.” She took great delight in telling me this.
Say what? What happened to our immortality? And more importantly, if the marked could die…
“I guess that means you both can die now too.” I gently set my sister aside, standing in a smooth motion. Shit was about to get real.
I was preparing to launch in their direction when a deep voice shattered the room. “You might be my beloved, but I cannot have you hurt my daughters.” The powerful timbre echoed off the rock and froze my feet to the spot.
Dread settling heavily in my gut, I turned, hoping like heck I was wrong, but somehow I knew who would be stepping through that portal. Sure enough, as I faced my fear, a massive male filled the gateway, blocking the burning world behind him.
He was tall, bigger than any of the Compasses, with dark honey-blond hair and piercing eyes of undetermined color … maybe gray. Dressed all in black, like a weird armor made from … fuck, it looked like scales, which shimmered as he moved. He stepped into the room and I fell to my knees. His power was strong and it was sweet, like a river of honey washing over me. I knew I would drown if this continued, but it was so sweet and tantalizing, I didn’t even care.
Something tapped at a corner of my mind. It took me a few heartbeats to realize it was my dragon. She’d crawled out of her space in my center, her energy now prowling around my head. I didn’t hesitate, reaching for her, knowing she might be my one chance to fight the king. With a flash of ancient energy – power which felt methodically cold, but with a touch of dragon heat – clarity returned to me, clearing the vestiges of the spell I was under. I regained thought, and remembered who I was.
Jessa Lebron, daughter of Jonathon, mate of Braxton, and nothing to do with this imposter.
I rose, my movements calculated. That bastard had rolled me good, but he wouldn’t catch me off guard again. First thing first … had he said Lemon and Orange were his…