Page 26 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

How has she survived this long? She’s barely skin and bone. The thought of her no longer around sends me spiralling into the darkness.

No. You can’t do this. Not here. Alana needs you.

Focus on…

Something you can feel.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I rub the fabric between my fingers, rolling the soft woolly loops of texture back and forth.

Something you can smell.

Keeping my eyes shut, I take a deep breath smelling the slight floral smell that is Alana. The slight tremors in my body recede and stop.

Something you can see.

Opening my eyes, I focus on Alana, and her shy smile as she shrugs her gaunt shoulders. The darkness flickers as it struggles to hold on.

Something you can hear.

“I…” She shakes her head, not finishing her sentence.

“Alana?” My voice sounds raspy, but strong.

I can do this.

She gives me a sad smile. “King let it slip about the new agreement he made.”

As if remembering something, she reaches up to a large nasty purple bruise on the side of her jaw.

“Did he do that to you?” Rage bubbles inside me, clearing some of the shadows, and giving way to a hazy red.

She looks down, playing with the hem of her sleeves. “I… I shouldn’t have asked about you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Something you can taste.

I bite down on my tongue hard enough to taste blood. The salty metal aftertaste, releases me from the nightmare of my internal thoughts and ending the panic attack and the last of its hold on me.

My hopelessness and pain turn into rage, finding its true target…

King.

She reaches out a cold, shaky hand and grasps mine. I clasp it, hoping some of my body heat will warm her up.

“I’m so sorry you had to do that. I’m not worth it.”

I try to breathe through my anger, knowing it won’t help Alana or me right now and I’d just be wasting our time together.

“You’re worth so much more.”

She shakes her head vehemently. “No, I’m getting old and have little left in me.”

“Don’t say that! We’ll get out of here.”

“Kiarra, you're young. Get out and live your life and not worry about an old woman like me.”

“Wewillget out of here.” I look at Alana desperately pleading with her to trust me, but she’s too lost in her own hopelessness. I need to give her something to hold on to. I quickly check around before whipping out the small, round purple ball and squeezing it between my fingers. A pink smoke seeps and disperses around us. Alana tries to pull away from it, but I pull her back. The spell needs us to be close for it to work.

“Wha… what was that?” Her frightened gaze follows the pink smoke warily. I pull both her hands into mine, squeezing softly.

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