Page 127 of Bound By Roses

“I’d like to see you try.” A single step forward gives me all the momentum I need to drive it straight into his chest between the letters ‘A’ and ‘L’ before he can even move to stop me. He gasps, though this time it has nothing to do with his broken ribs. I could pull it free and end his suffering sooner, but I have places to be. “You can keep that one. I have more.”

“Fucking bitch,” he spits as he grips the hilt and pulls my knife free. He knows what this means as well as I do. He’s chosen the quicker death, but it’ll take minutes at least.

I don’t bother to reclaim my blade as I turn towards the palace. He’ll need it more than I do. “Watch out for the pigs. They’re hungry.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

QUINN

“What do you mean we’re on the wrong path? What have you seen?”

Arabella’s face is ashen, and the fear in her eyes is unmistakable. If we made a mistake in coming here, in risking everything to get her out, then I need to know. “There’s no time to explain. We have to go before—”

The torches around the room go out all at once. In the time it takes me to blink, the room goes from a soft yellow-orange to total blackness. Even with my enhanced sight, I can’t penetrate this darkness. It’s unnatural, and something about it thickens the air like smoke. It smells of death and decay and everything wrong with this world.

As suddenly as it fills the room, the darkness dissipates and the golden glow of firelight returns. The torches are still lit, but even their flames couldn’t cut through this blackness. We’re no longer alone in this room, either. A man leans casually against the wall in front of us. His short hair is black as night and his eyes are a striking violet.

Void.

But not the Void I remember from the beach mere months ago. This Void is much older. Not quite my age, but at least eighteen. He’s a man now, and judging by the ease in which he chased the light from this room and slipped inside without my notice, he’s come into his full powers.

“You played your role so nicely, sister. But aiding our enemies?” He raises a finger in front of him and wags it while clicking his tongue.

And then something moves. Not him, but his shadow. As if it were a living entity all its own, it darts towards Arabella and wraps a hand around her throat. Her hands fly to her neck, but they slip through the shadow as if it were nothing.

“Let her go!” I shout as she gasps, readying to move for the non-corporeal being myself, but I can’t. My feet are locked in place, and, to my horror, I realize it’s my own shadow, pooled around my feet, that holds me there.

What kind of power is this?

Arabella chokes again, and then her body goes limp. The shadow vanishes into mist and she slumps hard to the stone ground. Ty darts for her side, and his shadow makes no move to stop him. “She’s breathing!” he says, and it’s an immediate weight off my heart.

Thank the Gods.

“Of course she is,” Void says, as if mock offended. “Do you really think I would murder my own sister?” His eyes flash to mine and then he smiles. “Well, maybe I can’t blame you, given your history.”

He’s baiting me, so I rein in the rage those words spark. I spent nearly six years thinking I’d killed Kaylee. Six years living with that guilt and waking up each morning wishing I were dead instead of her. That particular pain is like an old friend, and the thought of it now wants to have me spiralling back into that place of darkness.

‘Void found us.’I made a promise to Abby and even though I don’t want her anywhere near this man, I won’t break it.

Her gasp fills my mind and I feel the fear that fills her.‘I’m coming.’

Void’s smile grows. “Is Abby on her way? I’m so looking forward to our reunion. We have so much to discuss.”

I raise my sword. “You’ll be dead before you get the chance.” I lift my foot, testing the binds he had on me only to find that they, too, are gone. I’m fast—probably faster than he expects—and should be able to reach him. Ihaveto reach him.

He laughs off my threat as if it were the funniest thing someone has dared say to him. “You have no idea, do you? Steel can’t pierce shadow.”

The second his gaze breaks away from mine, I run. If his shadows—or mine—are trying to stop me, I don’t notice because I’m focused entirely on him. I force my arm forward and feel the blade penetrate his gut. Where blood should spurt, shadows rush out from the wound and wrap tightly around my sword. They snake up to the hilt and then wrap themselves around my wrist. The sensation of them on my skin is colder than even snow, and I rip my hand away. The sensation follows, and when I look down at my hand, it’s devoid of colour.

The sound of tearing fabric fills my ears and at first I think it’s me shifting, but then a wolf rushes forward.Ty.

“Don’t!” I shout at him, but it’s too late. Ty lungs for Void in the same moment shadows move again. The room falls into darkness once more, but this time I feel it around me. Like a thousand hands grabbing and pulling me every-which-way. Darkness fills my vision entirely, blocking out all light as the phantom hands push and pull. I feel weightless and my stomach turns as the solid stone beneath my feet becomes nothing.

When light returns, it’s not the golden glow of fire. Or, at least, not entirely. We’re outside now, on some kind of terracethat isn’t unlike my garden in Rosewood, though it’s clear nothing grows here in the soil patch beneath us. Silver light from the full moon shines down from the open sky above, battling with the raging fires in the city below. It seems impossible that someone could have to power to move us through shadow, but here we are. Void, a still unconscious Arabella, and…

Wait. Where is Ty?

My gaze settles on Void, my sword still protruding from his belly. The shadows still swirling around him move, yanking the blade free and sending it skittering across the terrace. His smile only grows as the shadows finally dissipate to reveal the damage I caused. Or lack of damage. There’s a distinct hole in his black tunic, but the skin beneath it is unmarred.

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