Page 85 of Visions & Shadows

Unable to suck in a full breath, my heart is pounding wildly, my skin clammy with fear.

It’s happening.

“Alchera!” Luna cries, and I watch as Lucius draws light from the sun before blasting it my way.

Ares easily deflects it with a wave of his hand, dark smoke curling around his fingers. Then he hisses, “Stop, or I'll kill her right here.”

They all freeze in their tracks.

No!

Fear soaks into my bones, and with every bit of training Roark has given me over the past few months, I start to fight to free myself from Ares’ brutal hold.

“Please, let her go,” Luna begs, her face torn with horror.

A sickening feeling comes over me, and the group starts to blur in front of my eyes.

“Nooo!” I hear Blair scream before everything turns black.

An icy chill spreads deep into my body, and when we materialize again, we’re back at camp.

I’m shivering even though we’re still in the desert. Ares’ grip is so tight on me that his icy, dark aura coats my skin.

“Ares, finally, you’re here, and I see you’ve brought me a gift,” My eyes snap to Adeth, and intense horror fills every inch of me. “My dear Alchera, how kind of you to join us.”

My eyes dart to the others, and when they lock with Brenna’s, and I see the same horror in her gaze that’s gripping my heart, I just know I’mgood as dead.

When I see Raighne, I whimper, “Raighne.”

Raighne makes a move toward me, but then Adeth shouts, “Any closer and Ares will rip her head from her body, nephew.”

Raighne stops dead in his tracks and glares in the woman’s direction. “You won’t get away with this,” he growls.

She lets out an evil chuckle. “We’ll see about that.” She walks closer to me then smirks at Raighne, “I just wanted to see your face when I take her from you.”

My eyes dart back to Raighne, and it sinks in there’s nothing he can do to save me.

A tear escapes, trickling down my cheek.

The next second, Raighne’s arm darts out, and I’m ripped from Ares’ hold while a blur that can only be River shoots toward me.

As I fly through the air toward Raighne, I reach out my hands to him.

A bolt of electricity zips past me, coming from Finian, and Brenna charges toward Adeth with a warrior’s cry.

They’re all fighting for me, but just as I’m about to touch Raighne’s hand, a frosty sensation creeps over me.

“No!” I gasp, and my fingers brush against Raighne’s. Our eyes lock, and I see the worry etched deep into his face right before I’m grabbed from the side and ripped away from him.

A sickening feeling whirls in the pit of my stomach, and I know what’s coming.

“Raighne,” I cry as he lunges for me, his face is torn with emotion.

And then he’s gone, and darkness swallows me whole.

A few seconds later, we materialize somewhere else, and I’m thrown to the floor, landing on all fours.

Terrified, I keep my head down as I suck in desperate breaths of air.

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