Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Become one of us...
I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing desperately that I could reverse time. Go back to the last peaceful moment before Lucien had stupidly gone up the mountain without me.
The sound of him tearing into the apple filled the silence. I opened my eyes, and for three stressful seconds, he looked triumphant—as if all it took to overcome the disgust for food was sheer willpower, but then...
His body revoked everything.
Lurching off the mattress, he slapped a hand over his mouth. The half-eaten apple rolled across the floor as he staggered to the far corner of the cell. He barely made it before he vomited. Everything he’d just forced down came roaring back up in violent, gut-wrenching heaves.
“Lucien!” I tried to sit up and go to him. I fell back down instead.
I hated, hated being so weak.
He continued retching, bracing one hand against the wall, shoulders shuddering. When he finally straightened, he looked so much worse than before. Grey skin, glassy eyes, his chest heaving as if the dregs of whatever energy he did have were now completely gone.
“Well shit,” he sighed, half swaying, half stumbling back to me.
I attempted to catch him as he collapsed beside me.
For a long moment, we just held each other, shaking and hurting and breathing each other in. The bond felt paper-thin—every fear, every regret, every scrap of love laid bare.
“I’ve already gone through the pain of almost losing you,” he whispered. “How am I supposed to survive it again?”
“Don’t live in the future. We’re both still here...for now.”
“Barely.” Rolling onto his side, he brushed my bottom lip with his thumb. “We’re both barely here. And if we stay here, who the hell knows what they’re going to do to us come morning.”
The stacked bones and echoes of the dead tried to trap me in their memories again.
What would happen when they came for us?
Would they bleed us like they had with Lucien in Cinderkeep? Would they torture us? Maim us?
“I won’t let them,” Lucien hissed. “I’ll kill every last one of them before they lay a single finger on you.” His voice tightened with promise, even as his weakness festered like an open wound.
I could feel how close he was to breaking. How close we both were.
We might not even make it until morning...
Lucien sucked in a breath, his eyes widening with horror.
I scrambled to make him feel better—to change my thoughts so I didn’t make us morbidly depressed before the sun came up. “Ignore me. I don’t—”
“You truly don’t think we’ll survive, do you?”
I flinched.
I had no reply.
All I had was the comforting knowledge that I wouldn’t die alone. I’d met him, loved him, and had him for such a short while, but...it was enough.
“It will never be enough,” he snarled. “I will never stop wanting more of you.”
Same. I smiled, resorting to talking without words because it took less energy. If I’d known how quickly it would all be over, I would’ve gotten you into bed back in Cinderkeep.
I waited for him to chuckle at my lame joke, but his eyes turned stormy.
Sorry... I cupped his cheek with trembling fingers. I didn’t mean—
“Fuck it.” He captured my hand and pressed it against his face. “If you think we might be dead by morning, then....”
Falling over me, he kissed me.
Sweetly, deeply, desperately.
The moment our lips met, our hearts slammed wide open. Our souls crashed together with all our love and pain and need.
The scent of apple surrounded us—
And the cell vanished.
Chapter Twelve
SNOW EXPLODED AROUND US IN A GLITTERING storm.
Golden embers danced in the flakes, blurring silver with gold, looking like broken stars in a blizzard.
The sensation of Rook in my arms was as real as anything. Our lips pressed together, my fingers entwined with hers on my cheek, just like we’d been on the mattress.
The only difference was we’d materialised into this private dreamscape standing and strong instead of lying down and weak.
Rook squeaked with surprise, her eyes shooting wide.
Breaking the kiss, I frowned. “That’s twice now. What exactly is this place? And how the hell do we keep tripping into it?”
“You’re asking me?” She shivered as she stepped out of my embrace. “I had no idea the first time, and I’m even more confused now. How are we doing it? Where are we?”
“Your parents never documented anything like this before?”
“No one lived long enough to question them.”
“Do you think it’s death?” I turned slowly on the spot, the light from the swirling snowflakes and embers danced over my skin like smoky starlight. “Is it similar to what people see when they’re dying? You know? Like the light at the end of the tunnel...but for us it’s a snowy purgatory?”
“Maybe?” She padded away, stretching out her arm as mist ribboned around her wrist. “So you’re saying the longer we stay here, the faster we’re dying in the real world?”