Page 79 of The Soul of the Dragon

I knew it was impossible, but if there was some chance she watched me from beyond the veil then she would find a way to encourage me.

“Kitra? What’s wrong?”

At the sound of Isaac’s voice behind me, the warmth disappeared and I was left wondering if I’d imagined it. I refused to accept that.

“Nothing. It’s all good. Are you coming?”

“Aye. I told you I have to see this through.”

I nodded even though he likely couldn’t see me. He was as devoted to his needs as I was to mine. I pushed forward, forcing myself to keep my mind on the task at hand. Getting through this forsaken tunnel and hopefully not dying in the process.

I had no idea how long we crawled, but the further along we went, the closer the walls got until I worried I wouldn’t fit, let alone him.

“Your heart’s racing, Princess. Take a deep breath. Take it easy.”

“I’m scared. It’s getting really tight in here.”

“Tell me about it. My arms and legs have been scraping the walls since we entered. So much for the magic.”

“I believe we’ll make it and you should too.” The sound of the dragon rumbling echoed through the cavern as I picked my way through what I hoped was mud and nothing more than a dead rat or two. I shivered thinking about it but refused to let my mind imagine anything worse.

Ten minutes later we hit a foul smell and I began to gag. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Sure you can. We have got to be almost there.”

As if his words conjured the magic from thin air, a soft green glow lit the space around us and magic tingled and washed over me. One second I was crawling through a nightmare and the next I was on my hands and knees in the middle of a murky forest, inches deep in a foul swamp.

“What the hell?”

“Oh shit. We need to move.” I stood to my feet and tried to run. But the thick goo around my boots was like moving through lead.

“Why? What’s wrong?” He didn’t sound any happier than I felt.

“This is the black bog. It’s supposedly where the demons bury the dead and diseased. All manner of creepy crawlies live in here and I don’t want to know what happens to a demon after death, do you?”

“Fuck no.”

Before I could respond, Isaac had his arm wrapped around me and lifted me into the air. He didn’t exactly run either, but he did still move twice as fast as I did.

“I think I’m sinking.”

“What?” I tried to look down at his feet but they were too deep and it was too dark. We’d gone from the overcast gray of morning in one realm to what looked like the dead of night in the dark forest. I didn’t think time moved differently between fae realms, but I couldn’t be sure. “Let me down. You’re probably sinking because of me.”

“Hardly.” But by the time we’d gone ten more feet the dark mud had risen to my butt.

“If you don’t let me down, we’re not going to make it.”

“If I let you down, I’ll lose you to this nightmare.”

I wanted to rail at him for making decisions for me, but this wasn’t the time to fight. He was making headway to the embankment—slowly.

A wail sounded behind us and I started to look over his shoulder.

“Don’t. Whatever the hell it is, I don’t want to know.”

I nodded tightly, my muscles tense as he pushed harder to get through the sludge. Another wail sounded from my right side and I twisted.

“Don’t. Just close your eyes or look at me. I need everything I’ve got working to get us out of this mess. I cannot worry about what kind of dead demons are trying to reach us at the same time.”

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