Page 12 of Rage of Her Ravens

Thorin used the lastof his energy to crawl across the moss-covered floor of his mistress’s den, stopping when he reached the hem of her long robes. “Mistress.” He heaved a weary breath, trying to keep the note of desperation from his voice. “I need your help.”

She let out a low growl before squatting beside him, the long, crusty nails on her blackened toes curling into the floor.What happened?she asked through thought, her raspy voice echoing in his skull.

“It was Flora.” A lone tear slid down his cheek and splattered on the ground beneath him. “It took her too long to succumb.”

She touched his cheek with a sharp talon, and then recoiled, her sibilant hiss rattling his bones with dread. “Your demon is gone.”

Too afraid to look into her dark, fathomless eyes, he hung his head. “Where did he go?”

“Off to a stronger host, no doubt.” She stood, the rustle of her robe gently grazing his cheek and displacing the cavern’s stagnant air. “How could you be so careless?”

He frowned down at his brittle, splitting nails, caked in grime. “Love makes us careless.”

“No, love makesyoucareless.” Her robes swished again as she turned her back to him.

“Find me another demon.” He blinked at her backside, at the sharp points of her curved, bony spine visible even through the thick robe. “I have to get back to her.” A note of desperation slipped into his voice.

“You think it’s that easy?” Snarling, she spun back around, her grotesque features hidden beneath the dark hood of her robe. “It took us more than thirty years to break you and make you again.”

He let out a keening wail. “I don’t have that long. I have to get to Flora now!”

She let out an otherworldly screech that shook the floor beneath him and sent tremors racing across his spine. “You should’ve thought about that before letting her drain your magic!”

Tears flooded Thorin’s eyes. How could he live another thirty-two years without Flora? Malvolia might find and kill her by then. No, he wouldn’t accept it. He’d try harder, work faster. He’d do anything to get back to her, even burn the world down again.

Chapter Three

Shirina Avias

23 years later

Lying in the loft bedI shared with my twin nieces, I stared up at the warped wooden slats. Another night of restless sleep. The feathers from our thin, coarse mattress poked my back as I contemplated how I loathed my mundane life. For my entire twenty-three-year existence, I’d spent it hiding in various forests or caves, but the depressing shadows of the Periculian Forest had to have been the worst. Maybe because of the unnatural chill. Maybe because everything smelled of mold. Or maybe because two years ago my twin sister had been killed by a bear in this very same forest. I grunted when Aurora rolled over and elbowed my ribs.

“Ouch!” Turning on my side, I glared down at my four-year-old niece. Pushing back her dark, chin-length hair, I looked into her silver-blue eyes shining like portals into the summer sky, even in this low light. “That wasn’t funny.”

“Sorry, Auntie,” she pouted while tucking her hands beneath her smooth cheek. “I can’t sleep. Em keeps talking to her friend.”

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