Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
With my skin spangled by orange fire, I stuck to one of the white gravel paths, pulling the thick long coat I’d found in the wardrobe around me. I’d traded my worn flip-flops for lavender-coloured sneakers and did my best to be stealthy.
Overhead, a few drones flitted past like mechanical birds, hovering over areas of the garden before continuing with their patrol. My heart quickened as a girl appeared, her steps equally light and sneaky. Her blonde hair gleamed metallic, her movements elegant as well as menacing.
I paused, hugging myself as she cut across the path.
Where was she going?
What was she looking at?
I followed her stare and—
Him.
I gasped as my eyes landed on Lucien where he sat at one of the many tables and stools throughout his estate. A bottle of liquor rested in his hands, his elbows wedged onto the marble tabletop, and his head hanging low.
The panther wasn’t with him, and the aura of depression and rejection seemed to ripple, seeping out of him like a disease.
The girl sneered as she kept inching closer, careful not to make a sound. Dressed all in black, she became one with the night, gilded by flaming torches.
I inched forward, drawn against my will to get a better view as she pulled something sharp and shiny from her jacket pocket. Firelight glittered off the metal.
My heart stopped as she slipped behind the willow tree drizzling its fronds around the table where Lucien sat.
He didn’t look up or show any signs of hearing her as she ducked around the tree and tiptoed closer.
The urge to cry out and warn him came strong.
The reminder that we were all trapped in here because of him kept me silent.
I fought two polarising feelings.
Half of me wanted to stop him being murdered, the other wanted to run far away so I wouldn’t have to watch.
Her arm rose, her fingers wrapped tight around the dagger.
He raised the bottle and drank, his head tipped back, his throat perfectly exposed for a slice from behind.
She noticed the opportunity.
And took it.
With a flash of black and steel, she launched from the darkness and landed on his back. With a screech, she brought the knife around to his front and—
—in a whirl of power and speed, Lucien feinted to the left, tossed her off him, and avoided her slashing blade.
She pivoted on the spot, horror widening her eyes that she’d missed.
I rushed forward to do...what?
Too late.
With a snarl, Lucien spun to stand behind her.
His body so fluid, so lethal—exactly like the panther he’d tamed. His hand snaked around her, and with a brutal grace, jerked her back against his front. With one arm wrapped tight around her waist, he snatched the dagger from her hand. It flashed in the firelight just as her shrill scream split the night.
A wet, red-black waterfall poured from her throat as he slit her neck.
She moaned, choked, then collapsed at his feet.
My hand flew to my mouth.
A tiny gasp escaped me.
His head snapped up.
His eyes locked on mine, smouldering black and burning with hate. Out of the shadows, the panther stalked, growling low with its back arched.
Run.
I spun, pebbles scattering and my coat whirling around my legs.
My sneakers dug for purchase. I managed to flee for a few horrendous heartbeats, but then he was on me, shoving me into a young sapling and slamming me against its trunk.
Spinning me to face him, he locked one hand around my throat. Throttling me against the tree, he pinned me in place, his breath fast, and nose almost touching mine.
“Were you in on it too?” he growled, his voice ragged and rough. “If she failed, are you the back-up plan?” He smirked, his eyes almost alight with insanity. “Go ahead then. I’m waiting.”
His fingers tightened, making my pulse flutter. The torchlight etched his face with gold and orange, glistening on the scarlet streak over his cheekbone.
Blood.
Her blood.
An instant migraine pounded in my skull. My vision turned grey. My knees threatened to buckle and my body—well trained in cases such as this—reached for the nearest thing to stay upright.
My hands landed on his hips, my fingers digging into the hardened muscles and bone.
He froze, his eyes locking onto mine. “What are you doing?”
I licked my lips to answer but his hand on my throat flexed. I tried to let him go—to stop touching the very man who wore the blood of the girl who’d tried to kill him—but I really didn’t want to collapse at his feet.
“Well?” His gaze wasn’t steady as he studied my face. Deep in his almost-black pupils, madness seemed to flicker. But beyond that was something else. Pain.
Leaning over me, his lips pulled back in a sneer and any signs of agony vanished. “Answer me. What the fuck are you doing touching me?”
Did he think I could talk with him squeezing my voice box?