Page 65 of Shadebound
Varl lifted a hand and placed it on my arm. Much to my disgust. “Close your eyes. Let my magic into your mind.”
I obeyed, jaw clenched.
The moment his magic touched me, it flooded under my skin. It pushed through muscle and bone, cold and wet and invasive, like ice water laced with shards of glass. My spine locked. My knees wanted to buckle. My heart tried to climb into my throat.
The beach vanished.
Rain slammed into my face. The temperature dropped so fast it hurt to breathe. I stood in the forest behind the Draconis family estate, just beyond the edge of the clearing. Trees groaned under the weight of the wind. Every step through the mud sucked at my boots.
“Bells!”
No answer.
Branches tore at my sleeves as I ran. My breathing turned ragged.
The clearing opened ahead. Moss-covered stone, soaked with rain. She was already there.
Already dead.
My sister lay crumpled at the base of a great tree, pink hair fanned out across the ground like some cruel parody of sleep. Blood stained the soil in wide, slick pools. Her throat hadbeen slashed, the skin flayed in a jagged tear. Carved wounds punctured her chest—six, maybe seven, deep enough to expose the white glint of bone beneath torn flesh.
Her skin had gone pale and blue. Her lips were gray. Her eyes, half-lidded and unseeing, looked past me.
I fell to my knees.Reachedfor her. My fingers brushed the skin of her neck—it was cold, not cooling.Cold. My hands shook as I pressed against her wounds as if pressure could reverse time.
With each panting breath, I tried to call her name, but the sound stuck in my throat.
And then my magic answered.
Shadows erupted from me in violent waves. They poured from my chest and limbs, carving black lines through the clearing. The grass curled in on itself, crumbling into ash. Trees twisted as bark split open, revealing decay. Even the stone beneath her body cracked and groaned under the weight of the death leaking from me.
And as the world turned dark, I pulled her to my chest, cradled her against the only warmth left in the world. I whispered her name, again and again, until my voice collapsed.
I begged Death to take me instead.
Nothing answered.
He didn’t come.
And then she moved.
Her lips parted. Her mouth formed words.
“You let me die.”
The voice wasn’t hers. It was warped, like it had been dragged from the bottom of a well.
“You were too slow. You’re always too slow.”
Her face contorted. Blood rose like water, climbing up my arms. Her eyes opened, pitch black instead of grey, glassyand wrong with darkness. Her mouth widened into a cruel approximation of a smile.
“You’re broken. A monster. The reason I’m dead.”She snarled at me.“I hate you.”
I didn’t scream. I couldn’t even move. My magic lashed in every direction, drowning us in shadow as I listened to her words.
Then came another voice. One I hated for how well I knew it.
You are not broken.
