Page 79 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood
Yelping, I darted out of the fog, smelling burnt fur.
I jumped back into my circle and scanned the area, looking for the next attack. Luckily, there was no fog here. But the body of the assassin was swallowed up by it. Dark particles from the fog spread over his body, covering him more and more until something jerked the body back into the darkness. Heavy, sloppy crunching sounds followed, as if massive jaws were devouring him. Then more red eyes opened, blinked slowly, and slithered away.
What the hell wasthat? I panted, and even in wolf form, I couldn’t see anything through the haze. My back legs still stung.
Cold fear flowed through my body.
What kind of a nightmare was this third trial?
The fog swept around the circle and moved, gathering together farther away as the water continued to run in the well, making my mouth drier than ever.
If this was all I’d have to deal with, I could endure.
I paced the two steps I could, back and forth in the circle, taking deep breaths, trying to calm my rising anxiety.
Where was the promised rescue? Many-Greats hadn’t told me what to expect. Just that I would know it when I saw it. Great. Well, I also knew when I wasn’t seeing it. What fresh horrors were waiting for me in this hellhole?
“Help!” A woman who sounded eerily familiar screamed in the dark. My ears snapped forward, and the fur on my back lifted.
Then it hit me who it was.
Ember.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Briar
Terror locked me in place. I shook my head, trying to bring myself back to reality and the task at hand. It must be an illusion because Ember couldn’t be here.
But it sounded exactly like my sister.
My mouth was so dry I could no longer swallow. But that wasn’t what worried me in that moment. Every nerve in me tightened, and I couldn’t push the echo of her voice from my head.
Vyraetos had said that we might feel compelled to go running out of the circle in this trial. One way to lure me was to use the voice of someone important to me.
It was working. I wanted to bolt out of the circle and search for Ember.
The real dilemma was that I knew my sister. She’d already nearly died protecting me. I had no doubt that, if anyone could find a way to this realm, she’d be the one.
But she wasn’t here, right? Many-Greats had told her I was safe. He would do anything in his power to keep her from coming here.
Still...what if whoever was behind all this had gone through the portal and grabbed her to hurt me? That sounded like a sadistic thing they’d do, especially that asshole over the guards at the prison.
“Briar, please!” she whimpered. “If you’re out there, I need you.”
No. Ember wouldn’t ask me to come out there to help her in an environment like this. It had to be a trap.
“It’s Ryker.” She sobbed loudly. “He’s hurt. He rushed to attack the man who tried to kill you, but something dark swooped over him.”
My heart skipped, and my hackles rose. That was what had happened to the guy I’d just killed.
If Ember were truly here, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t help. I crouched and lunged onto the stretch of stone leading toward the mountain. I sniffed the air, searching for any hint of her scent to help me locate her faster.
My paws struck uneven stone as I cleared the circle, a jolt of heat running down my spine. Thank Fate that my wounds had healed, because that horrible shift could’ve done the opposite and ripped them apart.
I barreled up the mountain, focusing on my surroundings. If this was a trap, I wanted to be smart about it.
The terrain was worse than it had looked, the layers unsteady under my paws. Pillars of stone and boulders jutted out at odd angles, but just as many sat on sand or soil, likely unstable despite their size.
