Page 32 of Lera of Lunos
“Get to it, then.” Griorgi waved his hand. At the other end of the leash, Leralynn drew a rasping breath, as if granted a tiny sliver of air. “I’m attempting to let her live so as to keep you from throwing a tantrum in the middle of Slait and killing hundreds of my people. But putter about too much longer and I will snap this pretty little pet’s neck and find another incentive.”
Leralynn’s face darkened again, all sounds of breath stopping.
River could feel Coal, Tye, and Shade’s rage and panic from across the room, pulsing off them in waves. They wanted to do something—something dangerous, possibly fatal for one or all of them—and they would. If River didn’t do something first.
His throat closed, his hands obeying. There was no choice, not if Leralynn was to live. All his plans, his shields, his ideas—how quickly none of them mattered any longer. Eyes on the girl’s neck, River snapped the odd metal around one wrist and then the other, shuddering as a cold rush chilled his core. As if liquid Gloom had spilled into his blood.
On instinct, he reached down for his magic, seeking its comfort to fend off the darkness. The power blazed to life—and struck that dull metal around his wrists. For a moment, an utter absence of sensation raced through his body. And then a shock wave painful enough to drop him to his knees.
“Don’t touch your magic,” Coal yelled, though it was much too late.
Leralynn gasped, stretching toward River.
“Quiet, pet.” Griorgi yanked on the girl’s leash so hard that she fell backwards. “It’s time for us to be leaving.”
As Leralynn’s back connected with the floor, a bloodcurdling roar echoed off the stone walls. That roar was the only warning anyone got before a seven-hundred-pound tiger streaked across the room at Griorgi. The large cat’s green eyes flashed with wildness, his teeth glistening murder—his mind oblivious to any defenses the king had in place.
23
Lera
Iscream into my gag as Tye’s tiger rushes for Griorgi. Scrambling to my feet, I throw my hands forward to ward off the animal—as if such a gesture could possibly halt the male before he meets whatever Mors-backed shield Griorgi has around him. Pain shoots across my ribs.
The great cat pivots, changing direction with a predator’s practiced grace.
A breath of relief fills my tortured lungs—only to freeze again.
Pushing off the marble floor, Tye’s tiger pounces. Seven hundred pounds of muscle shove intomeso hard that my bones scream. The leash Griorgi has around my neck snaps in two, nearly taking my neck with it. Staggering beneath Tye’s force, I crash into the nearest wall, the room blinking in and out of darkness. When my eyes clear enough to focus, I find the tiger crouching over me, his maw flashing all his flesh-tearing teeth.
No fear. No fear. No fear.I force myself to inhale slowly despite my racing heart.
“Lera!” Shade shouts.
Tye’s tiger whirls on him. The low, menacing rumble coming from the cat’s chest carries nothing of his fae partner’s reason. Twisting his great head around the room, the tiger roars the same warning to all the males in it.Mine. Stay away.
“Stay back, Shade,” I call, careful not to look at the dark-haired male. To do nothing to give Tye’s tiger reason to worry for his territory. My mind races. With River shackled, we are all at Griorgi’s mercy.
“Well, this is intriguing, isn’t it?” Griorgi straightens his blue jacket cuffs, watching the scene unfold with an arched brow. His corrupted resemblance to my River fills me with sick dread, his dark bulk and sour scent as disturbing now as when he snatched me up from the bathtub, leering at the naked parts of me meant only for my males. The rising scream he clamped inside me with one hard hand feels like it’s still there, tearing at my throat. As are the lupine whimpers I heard through the door when the bastard stepped out, leaving me bound. Griorgi examines his fingernails for a moment. “One mindless beast, one mortal whore, a princeling with a bit in his mouth, and two sets of damaged goods. Quite an army. Tell the brains of your operation to stop braiding her hair and get out here.”
“Autumn isn’t he—” River’s protest dissolves into a bellow of pain. I flinch. The normally smooth planes of his beautiful face are contorted, his large hands pulling at the bracelets with such force that I fear he’ll break his bones.
I realize I’m moving only when Tye’s tiger roars his displeasure, forcing me back to the ground. River’s howl of pain continues on and on until he slumps unconscious to the floor. I hold back a scream. Blood drips from his wrists and mouth, a puddle of viscous red slithering across the white marble floor.
Griorgi sighs. “Well, one can’t have everything he desires all at once.” He crooks a finger, beckoning Coal and Shade to him. “I will take only those with a full set of wits, small as they might be.” He points to River. “Pick that up and let’s move. You know what will happen to your commander if you even consider disobeying.”
Terror races through my veins as Coal and Shade hold the slumping River between them, Griorgi herding the trio into the Gloom. As Coal steps into the rippling air, he turns toward me long enough to mouth, “Stay away, mortal.”
* * *
“We have to go after them.”My mouth is thick, my swollen face moving sluggishly, as one of Kora’s quint sisters helps me out of the throne room. With Tye’s tiger on alert, it took the female an hour just to get to me without being eaten, and twice as long as that to help me into the corridor. I may not have my own magic or be able to sense the bond as acutely as they can, but I canfeelmy males growing farther away from me with every minute that passes. Dull panic spreads through me with each heartbeat. They’re gone. I can’t believe they’re gone. I grab the woman’s clothes, clutching the material in my stiff fingers. Image after image of horror races through my thoughts. “Where is Autumn?”
“In her bedchamber. Shouting loudly enough to wake the stars.” Putting a hand around my waist, the female guides me to Autumn’s room. I barely register the richly upholstered walls or gilded sconces, the thick carpet that swallows our footsteps. When she opens the door to unleash Autumn’s shrieking, I realize the place is warded for sound.
“There was no choice,” Kora shouts over Autumn’s cries. “He’d just have snatched you as well.” Sitting on Autumn’s bed, Kora holds my flailing friend in a bear hug, the gouges along Kora’s skin betraying signs of a battle. Seeing me enter, Kora turns Autumn to face me. “Look.” She shakes Autumn’s shoulders. “Griorgi would have killed her. There was no choice. There isn’t one now.”
Autumn gulps a breath, her puffy eyes widening when she sees my bruised face. “We have to go after them.”
“You can’t go after them,” Kora snaps, plainly not for the first time. Her blue eyes flash at me. “We go after him now, and the bastard gets everything he wants. You. Lera. The males. Everything. Wewillwin the war, but we lost this battle the moment those shackles snapped onto River’s wrists.”
