Page 120 of An Inheritance of Monsters

Juno chose that moment to plunge back down.

Her eyes widened with horror, and bubbles flew out of her mouth as she shouted something at the Dagonites, fists clenched and face pale.

I opened my claws, and the boy’s body drifted away limply, floating over the rocks with his pale hair waving like weeds.

I reached out to take Juno instead. I would bring her back to the human world, comfort her, tell her none of this was her fault.

But the Dagonites were spreading out, surrounding us in a circle, and Juno was already swimming towards the boy’s body, her hand outstretched.

I swiped at the first devotee who tried to snatch her, cutting through its body like the wind through clouds. Its mouth opened, and blood seeped out and dissipated as another grabbed for the pieces of its corpse.

Juno kicked hard, her hair fluttering behind her as she reached the bottom, nearly vanishing behind one of the massive boulders. She grabbed the boy’s hand, tugging him upwards, and one of the Dagonites darted in.

It snatched the boy from her grasp, and I reached out to gently grasp her, bringing her back to me.

She was furious, shaking against my palm, her mouth set in a thin line. Again she pointed at the boy, making herself clear: she wasn’t leaving the Sea without him.

The Dagonites, once human themselves, understood as well.

One made a screeching noise that might have been a laugh, and the two dug their claws into the boy’s body and shot towards the abyss.

Juno made as if to follow them, kicking hard, and I released the power of the Void, allowing myself to grow smaller. I was afraid to chase her when I was in full Elder form; I could destroy her as easily as I’d torn apart that Dagonite.

He’s gone, Juno. He’s dead.

She ignored my mental call, but that was just as well.

Because the Dagonites had vanished, and below us, several boulders had formed a triangle.

Between their three walls, darkness flickered into being, displacing water and glimmering with light at the edges.

Juno stopped, her hair floating above her head as she looked down at the triangular doorway.

It was the movement of her hair that told me seconds before she was sucked into it where she was going, the blue and peach strands spiraling towards it.

The rest of Juno went as well, her struggles failing as the doorway pulled her through.

I shot through the water like an arrow, plunging after my mate, and slipped into the darkness before the door closed behind us.

Chapter35

Juno

The doorway that had flickered into existence below me sucked me in before I could try to swim away.

Tears of rage that had slipped from my eyes and mixed into the sea vanished, giving way to a whirlwind of panic as I was pulled downwards, vanishing into the black triangle.

And then the warmth of water gave way to the cold.

Icy, arctic cold, bone deep and cutting to the marrow.

It froze my lungs as the doorway flung me through darkness into still more darkness, and then I hit stone so hard I was dazed, my mouth full of the coppery taste of blood.

Where was I? The smell of stone and moss filled my nose, unlike anywhere else I had smelled on Duskwood Island. I didn’t remember any part of the manor having stone floors.

I laid there for what felt like a small eternity, glowing water from the Sea of the Void raining down around me as I shivered—had the doorway opened on a ceiling?—and then something larger came through.

Zirin hit the floor much more gracefully than I had, which didn’t seem fair as he had only had legs for the first time in his life mere minutes ago.

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