Page 34 of Shadows so Cruel

“No.” Sebian’s eyes found mine, his glistening gaze filled with such agony, it sent shivers cascading down my spine as he said, “You deserve to know what happened that night.”

ChapterFifteen

Sebian

Past, a burning forest

It started in my calves, that violent tremble that rooted me to the blood-soaked ground before it crawled higher. It dug into my thighs, wrapped around my torso, twisted along my arms until the wood of my bow stuttered against the leather sheath on my hip.

I clenched my eyes shut.

Not real.

The stench of singed hair and feathers climbed into my nostrils. Someone screamed with a violence that stirred the bile in my stomach, high-pitched and strained, as if the vocal cords were about to snap. The air clung, wet and sticky, to my fingers.

I opened my eyes, nausea rising in my throat as the infernal nightmare continued before my eyes. Long black hair. A red ribbon gathering the strands at the top of her head. A silver earring shaped like a teardrop dangling from her lobe. In front of me, the world tilted and warped around Zaima’s listless body, my little sister going in and out of focus as her heart thudded strangely.

No, not her heart.

Thelaolstone on her necklace jumped with each thrust of the man hunched over her backside,clankingagainst the barrel over which he’d draped her. Her heart was… quiet. Why was it so quiet?

My upper body swayed.

Not real. Not real. Not real.

My ears twitched at the crack of a bone—a rib, maybe. Flesh tore under crackles and wet gulps as the man forced himself deeper into her body. Dark red cape, maybe purple. Chest piece embossed with beastly eyes, one to each side. They stared at me.

After a final grunt, the man stepped back. Zaima’s body slipped off the barrel and out of sight. She didn’t scream, didn’t cry. I should have caught her; I should help her up, but…

My feet wouldn’t lift.

Seconds passed. Minutes? Hours? I just stood there for what felt like eternities. Stood there and did… nothing, my body entirely frozen.

But I had to pick her up, get her off the cold ground. She always caught fevers way too easily…

I strained every muscle, propelling myself toward her. Tears blurred my vision as I swayed past shifting tree trunks, everything around me moving in stuttering frames and twitching motions.

Metal clanked against metal.

Flames roared.

Something bumped into me, sending me stumbling sideways into a flare of heat. My legs snapped like twigs beneath me. My knees hit the ground.

Ahead, a shrouded figure sprinted toward me, his glinting sword held up high. Cold sweat doused my entire body beneath my fur-lined armor as I conjured a shadow dagger. I aimed at the head, but it hit the soldier’s stomach instead, making him drop his sword and cleave through his shoulder before he collapsed forward to the ground.

“Zaima.” Glancing around, I lifted my arm, warding off the flames beside me. Where was she? Where was—

My eyes locked on her motionless body, my feet pushing me up to stand before they stumbled toward her. “I’m here. I got you.”

I carefully slid my arms beneath her body. Still, her broken rib ground noisily as I lifted her.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I turned. Turned again. Turned a third time, my entire world painted in fire that engulfed the huts and corpses that littered the ground. Here and there, distorted figures moved about. Human? Raven? “Where is Ravenna? Have you seen her?”

Zaima didn’t answer.

“I have to find her.” Had to keep my vow. “Did you see where she went? Did she shift and flee?”

No answer.

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