Page 58 of Unbroken
Ves grabbed both of her wrists with tentacles, yanking her onto her back. He couldn’t trust his mother, of course he couldn’t—but he had no choice. “Get Sebastian and the Book out of here!”
Sebastian’s head spun. Weakness gripped his limbs, even as a strange woman cut away the bindings holding him to the bench. What was happening?
“Get up,” she said, sliding an arm around his shoulders and forcing him to sit up. There was something familiar about her, but a wave of dizziness swamped him and drove away the thought.
“What? Who?” He blinked—and saw Ves, outlined against a blaze of firelight, dragging Victoria across the clearing and away from him. “Ves!”
The woman’s nails dug painfully into his arm and shoulder. “The smoke from the burning oleander hedge will kill us,” she snarled in his ear. “Now, move!”
Somehow, he made it to his feet and staggered after her. She scooped something from the ground, tucking it beneath her arm, and dragged him along with her free hand.
They plunged into the maze, putting as much distance between them and the burning oleander as possible. At last they came to a small bench tucked into a dead end, and she guided him to sit on it. His head still spun, and he felt as though he could lie down and sleep for days…but no. Ves was in danger, fighting Victoria. He needed to help.
“We have to do something,” he managed to say.
She studied him thoughtfully with dark eyes. “We will.”
Another question belatedly occurred. “Who are you?”
“Lenore Rune. I expect you’ve heard of me.”
All the air left his lungs, and he jerked back, reaching for the power of the Books. This woman would have ended the world; she’d tortured Ves, abused Noct, slain God-only-knew how many people in her quest for power. She had her sons’ olive skin and dark hair—was that why she seemed so damned familiar?—but her mouth was cruel and her eyes cold as the marble beneath him.
“St-stay back,” he said. “I’m not going to let you hurt Ves.”
She arched a brow, seeming utterly unconcerned. “My son is in danger, but not from me. Victoria is strong and has the power of the Book burning in her blood. He might be able to out-fight her, but knowing Vesper, his heart isn’t in it. But you…you’d do anything to save him, wouldn’t you?”
What did she want? Why was she even here to begin with? “Yes. I would.”
“Good.” She smiled, and displayed what she’d picked up when they fled the Dark Young’s clearing.
The Book of Blood.
The engorged veins stitched across the cover throbbed. Its malevolent power seemed to call out to him with every pulse, and the scars on his forearm beat in time with it.
And Lenore Rune had it in her grasp.
“Let it go—give it to me,” he insisted, though in his weakened state he didn’t know how he could force her.
“Of course.” To his shock, she held out the Book. He snatched it from her; the cover was unpleasantly warm and soft, like fresh, bleeding meat. “You are the Hollowell heir, after all. These Books belong to you.” She paused. “But right now, you can’t do anything with it, can you? It needs to be Bound to your body.”
He tried to stand up, but a wave of weakness poured over him. Thunder roared nearby, and the first sprinkle of rain fell from the sky, not yet heavy enough to douse the fire. “I have to do something—I have to save Ves!”
“Agreed.” She reached into a pocket and removed a cruel steel needle with a length of cotton thread already attached. “That’s why I came prepared. Let me Bind you to the Book, and its power will belong to you alone.”
Alarm bells rang in his mind—but at that moment, there came a terrible crash, like shattering stone. A strange, shrieking cry went up—the tree-like Dark Young, howling through its many mouths.
Victoria was winning. If he hesitated, Ves’s life might be forfeit.
Lenore watched him expectantly. Bracing himself, Sebastian pushed up his sleeve, exposing the three sets of Binding scars already there. “Do it.”
Clouds of stinging smoke blew into Ves’s eyes, and even though it wouldn’t kill him, it still hurt. He dragged Victoria across the ground while Mother and Sebastian fled. He had to make her see reason, to understand that he wasn’t her enemy. She’d done terrible things under the influence of the Book, but terrible things had been done to her as well, and he truly didn’t want to hurt her.
Thousands of fine, needle-like hairs sprang from her bark-like skin, piercing his tentacles like glass shards. He let go, instinctively jerking away from the burning pain, but the poisonous hairs broke off in his skin and stayed there. They didn’t cause the deadly reaction that had killed Fuller and the Chancellor, but it hurt like the skin had been dipped in acid and then set on fire.
Free, she spun to face him. “You’ve ruined everything!” she shouted, and flew at him.
He brought his tentacles up again, but she was ready for him now. Her own vine-like tentacles whipped out, wrapping around his, tangling them together. He heaved her to the side, smashing her into the tree, which shrank back from the combatants as well as something rooted to the ground could.
