Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
“You know I can read your mind, right?” Adan said with a shaky chuckle. “The anxiety in your head is clanging an alarm loud and clear in mine.”
“Ahhhh…my beautiful boys!” Her chilling voice interrupted our exchange. “I’ve waited so long to have both of you in my kingdom.” I turned around to see her behind me. This time she was wearing a long green gown that swirled around her, floating up around her white legs in the water. She was in her Hag form then and her long hair, like single strands of seaweed swirled around her head in long swaths of dull green.
“Such a shame to make your mother wait.” She smiled, baring her teeth. She had huge incisors where human-like teeth used to reside. And her eyes were flat and dull, like a shark’s eyes.
“Your father kept your from me for so long. I’ll make sure he pay for that transgression when I finish with the two of you.”
“If you go anywhere near Atlantis, you’ll be destroyed!” I shouted at her, immediately worrying about my plans to keep Alyx and Keion safe. I worried about my father, as well, but my soulmate and his brother were on the top of my list. The rest of Atlantis could crumble into the sea for all I cared.
“Not after I’ve gathered the strength from you two lovelies. Nothing will be able to stop me once I’ve consumed the hearts and crushed the bones of my twins.” She swirled around again, like this was all a fun game to her. “You do know that your murders will happen so quickly that you’ll be alive long enough to see your still-beating heart pass my lips…see me chewing on it with gluttonous hunger.” Her hands clapped together. “For a moment anyway. It will most certainly be horrifying for the both of you, and your fear will be simply delicious.” Tapping her chin, she asked, “But who should go first? My eldest? Or my youngest. You were only three minutes apart, you know. Does it really matter?” She laughed. “I think it will be you, Kailar. You’re the strongest at the moment. Adan…well, he’s simply about to fall apart on me.”
She started moving in my direction, her eyes glowing like red embers. I grabbed Adan’s hand and whispered, “I know she’s weakened you, brother, but give me everything you have. Linking our magic might give us an edge she didn’t anticipate.”
He clutched my hand, and I squeezed it tight. I began to chant the words to a destruction spell low and just under my breath. It was one I’d learned from my mother, when she first turned to dark magic. I’d learned the words and they came back to me now. They were terrible words, and I couldn’t believe I’d remembered them. But I did. I had a clear memory of her sitting by the window in the cave we called home, gazing out at the open sea and saying them over and over to herself.
May the sea devils take my enemies, and may they never prosper. May Poseidon cause them to have a thirst that is never quenched and a hunger that is never satisfied. May that hunger boil in their bowels. May the flesh rot from their bones and fall away. May their limbs wither and may they fade into nothingness, like sand into the sea. May they be accursed in the sight of the gods and hated by all they meet.
I shouted the words at her now and she actually flinched away from them like they were little arrows hitting her flesh. Maybe they had some power after all.
I took Adan’s hand in mine, and we tried blasting her backward with all the magic we had left. I felt the power flowing through my body. Adan added what he could, but it barely slowed her attack.
She moved forward, a horrific smile on her face. I forced everything I had—every ounce of my power flowing through my hand, shooting it toward her. This time it significantly slowed her attack. The surprise was written all over her terrible face. I knew in that moment if I had ever doubted it before that there was absolutely nothing left of my mother. This was a monster, hell-bent on destroying everything she couldn’t bend into submission.
My power slowly faded, and she pressed forward again—more confident now. She had to feel that Adan and I were growing weaker by the second.
That’s when Alyx and Keion winked into the space in front of us, between Beathag and us.
I saw the shocked expression on her face and I sagged with relief. Alyx was somehow here, against all odds.
My lover and soulmate…in danger…but coming to try to save me. I wasn’t sure if I were horrified or grateful.
“You won’t sit down for a week after that stunt, lover,” he barked at me. “Keion and I had to blow up a wall in the prison in Atlantis because of your stubbornness. The flooding was pretty epic, and we may have destroyed a part of the city—all your fault, and don’t think I won’t tell the king.” He didn’t give me time to reply. “Now, link all our magic and let’s blow this Hag to oblivion.”