Page 110 of What Lurks Between the Fates

“Kill them all,” she snapped, ignoring Mab’s protest behind her. Mab and I both knew I was worth far more alive than dead if she could find an efficient way to control me.

I raised a hand, grasping the woman’s thread of life between my fingers and plucking it like a harp. She jolted forward the moment she felt me pull on it, raising a hand to signal the men back. They paused, hesitating as they studied me.

“What do you want?” she asked, her voice dropping into the quiet of a whisper.

I grinned as her cheeks flushed with humiliation. “I should think it was obvious. I want all of you to suffer for your part in your people’s suffering.”

***

My body was on fire—burning from within.

But I remained silent as two witches stepped into the ballroom, making their way to Mab without hesitation. Neither of them was Imelda, and I craned my head to find the witch. Shestepped in front of me, appearing from the crowd as if summoned. She dragged me from the center of the chaos, taking me to the edges of the ballroom. I couldn’t believe that we’d not been dragged to the dungeon following my outburst.

We’d stoked the flames of rebellion, but I didn’t know if it would be enough. If Mab’s lack of reaction would somehow hinder our cause.

Imelda’s fitted forest green dress clung to her shoulders, showing off a line of cleavage that I couldn’t help but wish Holt had been around to see. It was fitted through her like a glove, hugging the flawless curves that defined her body.

She touched a hand to my cheek, flinching back the moment her skin touched mine.

Caldris stepped closer, concern filling his face at whatever lingered in Imelda’s gaze when she turned her attention to him.

“She’s burning,” Imelda whispered, glancing around the ballroom.

Most of the partygoers were distracted, too fixated on the spectacle of Mab shouting at the witches who fought to stem the bleeding.

“What do you mean, she’s burning?” my mate asked, touching his hand to my skin. He didn’t flinch back, didn’t seem bothered by the heat filling my veins like slow poison.

It stemmed from my hands, spreading up through my forearms and reaching my body in a languid fluid. The threads of fate clung toeverything, surrounding me like a temptation. The beast within me wanted to pull on them, to see what I could change about the world around me with a flick of my fingers.

“There are too many,” I murmured, staring into Imelda’s mismatched eyes.

“She’s channeling too much, too fast. Magic has a price, and she is spiraling. If she keeps using like this, there will be nothing left. Her magic needs to be nurtured. It needs to be trained and fed and taught to obey her,” Imelda explained, rummaging through the small pack she’d kept at her side. “Right now, it is wild. It’s untamed. If she can’t find a way to leash it, it will consume her. She’ll become nothing more than a vessel for it, and there’s no telling what it will do.”

“Help her stop it,” Caldris said.

I could hear the panic in his voice even as my sight glazed over. Bright white flooded my vision, blinding me to his plight as his chest pressed into my back, shielding me from view. The spectacle we’d created was at risk, but I suspected there were far greater things to worry about.

“Estrella, look at me. Look at me, sweetheart,” Imelda said, the gentle tone in her voice setting what remained of my nerves on fire.

Worry slipped through my fingers. Only the spark of golden threads surrounded me. I couldn’t find Imelda, couldn’t focus on her face when she was lost to me.

The man from my dreams emerged from the light, stepping through the threads. His golden eyes sparkled with worry as he leaned in front of me. Imelda’s voice still pleaded with me in the background, as if she couldn’t see the beautiful man who’d stepped out of the light. Shadows clung to him, protecting him from the brightness as he leaned over me.

I couldn’t detach from reality, couldn’t silence the worried voice of my mate trying to pull me out of the haze that had claimed me. I saw myself standing between Caldris and Imelda, the latter chanting with her eyes closed as she tried to draw me back to myself.

In the same breath, I saw myself kneeling at the feet of the man with the golden eyes. There was something familiar about the curve of his mouth, about the bow of his lips, even as they pressed tightly with worry.

He reached out gently, grasping me by the chin and tilting my head back so that he could meet my stare.

“You’ve taken too much,” he said. There was sympathy in his voice, something soft hidden in the words. As if he understood the pain of burning from the inside, knew the fire that lit my blood and made me want to die.

“Make it stop,” I begged, shaking my head from side to side. I would have cried, but my body was lit aflame so thoroughly that the tears would have dried the moment they touched my skin.

That pulsing golden light seemed to glow brighter, sparkling off my skin as I whimpered.

“Give it to me,” the man said, holding out his other hand. I hesitated, meeting his gaze as I held onto the power that threatened to consume me. I couldn’t give it away, not knowing that it could be used to commit true horrors.

“I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t know who the man was or how he appeared to me so often.

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