Page 192 of Monsters in Love

“You can’t kill me!” I said desperately. “Elfhame will ask questions.”

He cackles. “No one cared about the other aides, and they died long, horrific deaths,” he said. “It takes a lot of blood and magic to keep this mortal flesh alive. A lot.”

The floor beneath us gave way, and in the next moment, I dangled on the edge of an abyss. A black nothing yawned beneath me. My heart clenched in terror and fear. I was staring at the labyrinth, and there was something here that stared back.

I cobbled together some base spells to keep me anchored to Snowden’s office. “People will look for me!” I screamed at him as he stomped on my hand, trying to cast me away. Scraping what spells and craft I could, I made an anchor to keep me in this world, where I belonged.

“Let’s be honest,” a voice echoed in the darkness and pressed into my mind. “No one will come for you. No one has before, and no one will come now.” Something cold and slimy wrapped around my ankles and pulled me down.

My fingers slipped, and I shrieked. Snowden’s maniacal laughter echoed in my ears. When the crazy man was suddenly ridiculously happy, bad things were about to go down. I knew this.

My breath rushed out of me when I stopped in the middle of my free fall. The magical tether I created held, and I grit my teeth to hold on to that sliver of power. Desperately, I reach toward the ever-shrinking circle of light.

I gave everything I had to the thin line of potent energy that kept me tethered between worlds. Intention was important. Words were important. These all fueled magic, and I needed it now.

“Please,” I said desperately as the labyrinth’s darkness seeped itself against my skin, forming a shroud.

Memories rushed to the forefront of my mind. I clung to the ones that filled me with the most joy. Declan, Rothgar, and Jalen appeared in my mind’s eye. None of the hurt, shame, and embarrassment that I had felt this past week came up. Only the way they felt, the way they held me, the words they spoke to me. All I wanted now was to feel their strength around me. Their warmth.

The darkness wanted inside of me, needed me to accept it, and I refused, still clinging to the tether, which had stretched into a filament as fine as spun gold.

Please.

As the threshold between worlds sealed, and as the darkness wrapped itself around me in ever thickening layers, Declan’s face came into view. Frustration marked his face, as it looked like he searched for something.

Or someone.

Me. He was looking for me. He was here; I wasn’t just hallucinating about him.

I gathered up the last bit of strength I had and poured it all into the only name in the universe that mattered.

“Declan!”

Declan Tharraka

“What about the fact that she might not want to see us at the moment?”

I glowered at Jalen. “She only thinks she doesn’t want to see us because she does not understand what had happened.”

I did not fully understand what had happened, either. Females usually demanded to be viewed as desirable. It was another reminder that though she was not human, their unfortunate sensibilities have corrupted her. Yet another thing to be annoyed at them about.

What was so shameful about experiencing pleasure, especially when that pleasure was with your mates?

There were females who could not experience pleasure, and she had had an entire night of it. What was so wrong about that?

The way Boudica described it, made me believe this entire theory was a way for human males to control their females. Considering its effect on Capricorn, it was a kind of powerful spell indeed.

We returned to the faculty aide’s office, the library, and finally, Professor Snowden’s office. Empty once more.

“Look here.” Rothgar pointed to an area on the floor where there was a peculiar arrangement of spells. “There are spells underfoot. Something to hide from tracking.”

Jalen considered them further. “Based on their uniqueness, I believe Capricorn laid them down. Let’s look at what he was researching.”

“Whatever he is researching is under lockdown. He even spelled his damned books to be gibberish.”

Gibberish? I picked up a book. Indeed, the words were formless and would not stick to my mind.

What strange lengths to protect academic research. The elves were secretive as well, butthis was, to another degree.

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