Page 75 of Lich's Mate

They sound a little too real, like screams of… terror.

I hear her scream again, shaking me to my core when I realize it’s coming from outside the mansion.

In half a second, I run as fast as my feet will carry me. Each turn at the end of every corridor seems to take longer than normal, frustratingly so. Meera’s scream rings out again, louder now that I’m drawing nearer.

You’ve failed her, I hear the voice in my head say. You couldn’t even protect her.

“Shut up!” I yell, fighting off the horrific thought that the worst is coming to fruition.

I turn the final corner and see the doors in the distance. Sprinting for them, I can’t help imagining what horror awaits me on the other side.

Meera’s shriek at least lets me know she is still alive. I only hope she is in one piece. Hurling a shadow orb at the doors, they fly open just in time for me to burst through the threshold.

“The carriage!” I blurt out, seeing it tilted with two of the wheels broken off.

I look around, spotting no sign of Meera.

“How?” I snarl. “I heard her just a moment ago!”

But a blinding light flashes in front of me, distorting my line of sight for a brief moment. Through the gaps in my hands, Gorran materializes, and in his grip is Meera, held by her hair.

“Meera!” I yell.

At that moment, every ounce of blood within my body turns to ice. She cries out in agony, tears running down her face like a burst dam. The skin beneath her hairline is as red as the sky, flushed red from the pressure of Gorran’s grip.

The xaphan bastard stands across from me, his free hand dangling over the hilt of his sword. He wears the dirtiest smirk I’ve ever seen, the smile of a xaphan who knows he has his opponent right where he wants him.

“Gorran! Let her go!”

“But you didn’t say the magic word,” he quips.

Clenching my fist, my hand begins to swell with the force of my magic as I take a valiant step forward. Gorran’s smirk drops, coiling into a vicious seething glare of anger as he grips Meera’s neck like he’s about to break it.

“Stay right where you are, Kavian! You’re lucky the bitch isn’t already dead.”

I spread my fingers, releasing the buildup of magic. It dissipates as I raise my palms, hesitantly showing the intention not to attack.

“Leave Meera out of this,” I call out. My voice wavers and threatens to break, my throat closing at the sight of my girl inches from death. “Your problems lie with me and me only.”

“Don’t you dare mock me, demon scum! Those slaves we recaptured spilled all of the details, including the name of this little whore.”

He pulls back on her hair, forcing Meera to look up at him.

“She’s quite a treat to the eyes, though I’m sure you already knew that. Maybe I’ll have some fun with her first.”

“You fucking bastard…”

Redirecting his stare toward me, the vexation in his eyes grows, now baring his teeth like a feral animal.

“Did you really think you could get away with disrupting my slave trade? That was my business, my livelihood that you fucked with! What on Aerasak convinced you that was a good idea?”

I want to argue back, but my mixture of anger and concern for Meera’s life prevents any words from forming.

“Both of you will suffer for that! But maybe, just maybe I will give her a swift death if you offer your life first without resistance.”

It’s a choice no one should have to make. The xaphan’s abhorrent words slip in one of my ears and out the other, I’m too blinded by the building rage to even consider his deadly offer.

“I will rip the flesh from your bones!” I yell.

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