Page 19 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

There was no transition between here and there, no collapse of the timeline, no crashing of the rest of the house. I sat up in a rush, my heart cracked into eight pieces, and immediately drowned in agony. I gasped, unable to breathe around the pain in my soul.

Wane?

I twisted, my blurry vision enough to see this was obviously the island where we'd landed when we fell through the liquid shadow. Wane knelt in the grass a few metres from me; I stumbled to my feet and dropped down beside him, my knees weak and my chest unable to contain his pain. My head spun, lungs begging for air.

"Wane?" I rasped, my head pounding as his pain moved through the rest of my body, so vast my soul couldn’t contain it. "What—?"

But I didn't have to finish; I knew instantly. He bowed over himself in the eerily still grass, brown hair hanging in his face as he stared at his empty arms.

Kaida. She wasn't here. She wasn't real.

"Such a shame," a smug voice taunted, as sharp and sudden as a whip. "You're prone to losing children, aren't you? Will you lose this one too, I wonder?"

I snapped my head up, and went completely still, even the pain freezing inside me at the sight of Verena with a knife to her freckled throat. And the bastard holding it there.

Iapetus—a titan, Cronus's brother, and the vile man who'd threatened to rape me.

CHAPTER TEN

The blue vein of Cronus's magic writhed where it was trapped between my thumb and forefinger; I felt it even as I didn't dare take my eyes off Verena and Iapetus. The things he'd threatened to do to me… And now he had a thirteen-year-old in his grasp. My stomach turned, twisted.

I sank deep into my bonds, tugging on each one, screaming a warning, a plea for help. Growls and hisses answered me, but I felt no relief. Not with a knife to Verena's throat.

"Wane," I breathed, remembering the last time we faced this bastard, when my mate’s shadows had weakened him. Iapetus looked exactly the same, tall and slim, with brown hair slicked back from his face, green eyes lit with cruel amusement, and something ugly in his smile. Even his heartbeat was quick with excitement and thrill; he didn't act like we'd weakened and wounded him at all.

Which meant he was far stronger than he'd been in Aphrodite's prison.

"Wane," I breathed again, hauling on the bond between us. He could take the titan down; he'd done it before. He needed to summon all his darkness and—and he was too empty, too grief-stricken to even try. But this was Verena.

"Let her go," I ordered Iapetus instead, my voice softer, shakier than I intended.

His smile hooked deeper into his harsh face. "And give up such a pretty prize? I don't think so." Not removing the knife from her throat, he slid his other hand across her waist, and bile clawed up my throat. "Young, untouched cunt is my favourite to defile."

I reached for my long dagger and came up empty. Fuck.

"Looking for that?" Iapetus asked, jerking his chin to his left. My breath caught in surprise when I saw twenty people draped in thick robes, hoods concealing their faces. One of them held my dagger out in a clear taunt. "I'll be taking it to my brother. But not before I—"

A sword rang through the air and—no, not a sword. A bright shard of magic, sharp enough to sever Iapetus's arm when it drove through his shoulder. The limb tumbled into the eerily still grass and I launched across the distance for Verena at the same moment Em and Kai hurtled at Iapetus. Wyn and Harvey were close behind them. My heart skipped in a mess of relief and terror.

We were outnumbered and heavily outmatched.

But Verena threw herself against me, and I snapped my arms around her, magic roaring through my blood like a storm. I couldn't shut out his words; they drove through my mind like knives.

Young, untouched cunt is my favourite to defile.

"Are you okay?" I demanded, dragging my stare away from where my mates engaged Iapetus, the robed minions standing and watching, not intervening without direct command. Like good little dogs.

Verena shook her head, paler than she'd been back in the house. The house that wasn't real. Pain slammed through my chest like a wrecking ball. Kaida was gone. She was never real.

I kept Verena close, assessing the situation. Iapetus drove himself at Wynvail, not seeming to care he was missing his right arm. Power lashed the air when he lifted his other hand, and I only remembered his vile title when Wyn staggered back with a grunt of pain. The Piercer.

"Don't touch him," I growled, my voice deep and resonant. I wanted to jump into the fight, needed to be alongside my mates, but Verena was shaking, gasping, and I couldn't leave her alone. "He won't touch you," I swore to her, knowing the oily fear she experienced. Even words without actions could be a violation. I dropped a kiss on her head and squeezed her tighter, magic howling through my blood. "I won't let him."

"I'm fine," she rasped, even though she’d already admitted she wasn't okay.

We both flinched when Iapetus swung his good arm and magic splintered the air in a clear slice. It drove into Harvey, sending him to his knees with a bestial growl. Fur erupted over his skin, his body grew to five times its size, and whatever injury the titan bastard dealt was concealed beneath black fur. But I knew it was there; the pain tore through my soul, and every throb of it echoed a command.

Make him pay for his crimes. Avenge his victims. Exact justice, no matter the cost.

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