Page 47 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

Within seconds, the dead appeared through the trees. Hundreds of them, thousands. There were the soldiers who she’d seen when they’d entered the woods, but there were so many more. And there… still covered in blood, a disdainful snarl on her face, was Claire.

"Claire, I’m so sorry…"

"You left me!" she spat.

"I had to. We were under attack," Emma stuttered as the dead drew nearer. Emma felt eyes on the back of her neck, on every inch of exposed skin. She looked over her shoulder to find that she was completely surrounded. Some of the dead looked emaciated, as if they’d starved to death. Some had fatal wounds and were covered in blood. Others were missing body parts… arms and heads.

"Please, let me know how I can help, and I’ll do it," Emma cried as the nearest dead stopped only feet away from her.

"There’s nothing you can do for us. Nothing, except join us," the man said with a rattling laugh.

A scream tore from Emma’s throat as the mob descended upon her, their hands tearing at her hair and clothing. She gagged on the stench of rotting flesh as pain encompassed her, the weight of the dead climbing on top of her, squeezing the air from her lungs as she fought for her life.

Chapter 28

Janelle

Thetemperaturedroppedquickly.Along with the rush of cold air, the snap of footsteps upon dry, crackling branches met her ears.

"We know you’re there!" a gruff male voice called through the trees. "If you run, we will be forced to kill you. Do not attempt to use your magic, or we will have no choice but to use our own."

"Shit," Janelle cursed, her stomach sinking. "What do we do?"

"You do nothing." The voice cut straight through Janelle’s memories. Sweat broke out along her neck, her stomach jolting and threatening to release its contents. She knew that voice. It lived in the back of her mind, tormenting her.

"Useless, worthless," that voice taunted her in her darkest moments. "Human," it said with disgust.

It couldn’t be. Surely ifhewas here, her magic would have warned her of the danger. But there was no mistaking the pure vitriol with which he spoke.

"What are you doing here, Stefan?" Janelle asked with false bravado, squaring her shoulders and tilting her chin up as she waited for the man who had tried to kill her to show himself.

"You’re so very predictable, you know." As if reading her mind, Stefan sauntered forward, his steps cocky. He hadn’t changed at all. His black Royal Army uniform was pressed and immaculate, and his medium length dark hair was slicked back, highlighting his smarmy eyes. "When the king read off the names of the traitors to our kingdom, I knew that you would be on it," he sneered. "We never got to finish what we started before. Such a waste. So we personally volunteered to find you."

"We?" Janelle felt the blood drain from her face.

The soldier snapped his fingers, and three men emerged, coming to stand behind Stefan. Janelle knew those faces well, but one was missing. Her hand subconsciously rose to the scar on her hip.

"And where's Jakob? Was he too afraid to look me in the eye after what he did?"Or what he didn’t do, Janelle thought bitterly. She forced her voice to remain steady.

"I did love you, Janelle." Jakob appeared as if out of thin air, stepping forward and placing a palm against her cheek. Janelle flinched, pushing him away.

"What the fuck is happening?" she hissed, wishing in that moment that her magic was something more useful, like the ability to make people explode into a million pieces. "You proved your point already. All of you!" She pointed between them, beginning to panic as Stefan’s lips spread into a wide, malicious smile.

"You are a traitor. I will not allow my brother’s name to be smeared by his connection to you, worthless human trash."

Janelle cringed. That wasn't the first time she'd heard those words leave Stefan’s mouth. But unlike last time, she wasn’t in severe agony as he said them while beating her senseless.

"I told you I would find you again."

He had. The night that her lover’s brothers-in-arms had discovered them in a compromising position. After Jakob had scrambled off her in shame, they’d started kicking her in the chin. Once she was unable to speak from the damage to her face, his friends had held her up while Stefan punched her repeatedly in her stomach. They’d laughed as they tortured her. And Jakob had stood by, allowing it to happen. That is, until Stefan had pulled a jagged piece of glass from the broken vase on the floor.

"We can’t afford a half human bastard child," Stefan had hissed, plunging the shard into her lower stomach and slicing sideways across her hip and side, the searing pain almost as torturous as Jakob's inaction. He’d told her he loved her. And then he’d allowed them to harm her, embarrassed by his relationship with a human.

Janelle had curled into a ball and was bleeding out onto the floor. Satisfied that she’d been taught her lesson, Stefan had looked at her naked body from head to foot with a disgusted grimace on his face before spitting at her feet and walking away. "I will find you again. And I will finish this," he’d promised.

"And I told you I would kill you if you ever tried.Bothof you," Janelle hissed back, aiming her words toward Jakob.

"And yet I stand before you, as does Stefan, still alive." He grinned. "You won’t be able to say the same soon." He shot toward her, wrapping his hands around her throat. Janelle kicked as he lifted her off the ground, scratching at his arms so hard her fingernails bent and bled. Jakob threw her to the dirt, and she gasped in a painful breath.

---