Page 46 of Shadows Lost
I grinned and blew a kiss back at her.
Screaming again, the ocean heaved in response to her shrilling voice and I thrusted my shadows deep in the sand, deeper still into the rocks below. Preparing and bracing for the tsunami of water that threatened to crush me.
I swallowed down my cry of pain, feeling my shoulders dislocate under the harsh grip of the shadows anchoring me against the storm. A glint of red caught my periphery through the crushing ocean waters. It was the blood crystal tumbling rapidly across the sand towards me.
Dropping my anchors, I weaved shadow to scoop up the blood crystal at the same time as Kira wielded the waters to do the same. The two locked in a deadly game of tug of war.
Burgundy power crawled over the crystal and along my shadows that shuddered at the tainted power before snapping away. Desperately, I clawed at the rocky ocean floor to stop another surge of water from crushing me to certain death.
I screamed when my spine snapped horribly against an unforgiving surface. Shen’s wall crumbled beneath my body, groaning and creaking while I was being forcefully embedded into its rocky mirage. Pink tinged the water in the shadow bubble when my head slammed harshly backwards, splitting open my skull. Additional debris sliced open my scales, and I raised my torn webbed hands in a pathetic attempt to shield myself.
Chipped green paint on my hands blurred in and out of focus. Lovingly and thoughtfully put there by a vibrant water fae I barely knew but was dead for meeting me all the same.
I blinked hard against the cruel fate of darkness and the sunburst pattern of the brightly lit burgundy power in the distance. Showcased in the center and laughing cruelly was Kira’s silhouette…a small shadow casted over her face by the tainted luminous glow.
I smiled and flicked my hand. The crazed laughter cut short by a loud slap of shadow across Kira’s face, snapping her head to the side and cutting open her black lips.
I choked on my own blood sniggering. “You never did master the art of silence. Consider this a review.”
Kira’s head turned slowly back to me, touching her lip with disbelief, the power of the crystal burning brighter in her eyes. “I…will…kill…you.”
There was no stopping the force of her power slamming deep into me, burrowing harshly into my body. A scream ripped from my throat and my body contorted against the wall, attempting to find a way to escape the pulsating burgundy power sucking my life essence from me just like it had before—one hundred years ago.
Only this time, the power of the Sanguine wasn’t being wielded by the queen, but a mere pawn of a fae that would die just like all the others who played Deirdre’s games.
“Enough!” I roared and drew the remaining shadows around my entire body, wrapping myself layer by layer into darkness, cutting off the burrowing of the Sanguine power.
“You won’t be able to beat itRemi darling!” Kira cooed loudly.
I grunted against the savage power slamming repeatedly into my shield of shadow. Weakening and stripping them layer by layer. I breathed in the darkness and closed my eyes, a lone tear escaping into the swirling ocean waters. I was going to die here…and for the first time in a long time—I didn’t want to.
“I'm sorry I wasn’t enough.” My apology was a broken whisper from my cracked bleeding lips and then…my shadows shattered.
Breathing in my final breath, I opened my eyes to see the remaining shards of shadow being swept away by the violent seas only to be replaced by thousands of burgundy tendrils ravenously tunneling straight for my tortured soul.
Chapter 22
“Iknewyouweregoingto get us killed.”My beast growled irritably.
I grunted, my shifter side tingling with a warning that had nothing to do with the wall of churning water at my back nor the armada of water fae ready to impale me beyond that.
No, it had everything to do with what was in front of me.
A lifeless ocean with murky gray waters and the putrid stench of disease. A large lochness carcass could be seen mere feet away, its rib bones protruding out of the black rotting sand—a warning from its shallow grave.
Remnant would have tried to bury the poor creature if she were here to see it.
I snarled at the deep ache growing inside me. The longer she was absent, the more irritated I became. Shaking out my claws, I glared at the direction Kira had gone, where I knew my soulmate wouldbe.
A place I was unable to go.
Instead, I prowled the water, hissing and snarling, sheathing and unsheathing my claws. A fucking sitting duck—prey. I was prey.
“Ducks don’t live under the water, fairy boy and I don’t plan on letting these foul water fae execute me. Get it. Fowl.”The cat chuckled deeply.
I stilled, groaning.“I should just shift and let you drown for that. Your humor will surely make me go feral one of these days.”
“You were feral before me, fairy boy.”
