Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 99529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
I am not evil, Ian. Kill this mage. Then, feed me his blood.
Xander turned to me. “Is she talking to you now?”
I slowly nodded.
Camille stepped forward. “What does she want?”
“Your blood and the Ground Mover’s blood too.”
“The Quiet King must have a very wicked bond with this. . .cursed spirit.” Ground Mover shook his head. “I imagine that he will bring the full force of his violence our way due to her absence.”
Camille widened her eyes. “We think so.”
“My daughter must marry soon.” Ground Mover let out an exasperated breath. “Because war will come earlier than we thought.”
Xander crossed his arms over his chest. “We should handle this before the sun comes up.”
My nerves flared. “Or. . .perhaps. . .we could wait a day or two to maybe assess the corpse and find out—”
“We cannot, Ian.” Camille shook her head. “Remember. . .this isn’t Phinova.”
“Pure evil moves in that body.” Ground Mover spat at the ground. “There will be no need to assess anything.”
Xander frowned. “And even if it was Phinova. . .would that be a good thing?”
Camille scowled at him.
Xander cleared his throat. “I am sorry.”
An evil eagerness slid over Phinova’s voice. Bring me this blood mage, and many more. Kill them all.
Silent, I went into the wagon to get the love of my life.
Once inside, I couldn’t help but stare at the corpse, remembering how beautiful she had been.
I must say goodbye to you, Phinova.
No, Ian. We are to be together forever.
I’m sorry, but I have a new queen.
No!!!
I gently lifted her up, cradling her stiff body in my arms.
No!!! Think of our love. Do not have me die again, Ian!
My eyes watered as I carried her out of the wagon.
You already died, Phinova.
I did not!
Several minutes later, Camille, Xander, Ground Mover, and I stood around a bonfire.
Phinova burned within.
Clouds of red smoke hovered over the bonfire as the wood tied to Phinova’s arms and legs crackled and snapped and her skin sizzled into a husk of ash that had begun shifting from brown to black then to white and gray.
Ground Mover had placed amber stones around the fire to keep in any evil that strayed from the body.
Orange flames lapped at Phinova’s rotted flesh and chewed through. Her hair rose high above her head in one long light that pointed toward the moons. Those fiery strands shifted to hot blue, then streaks of red and yellow, until the fire eventually melted away the hair into black liquid.
No! Please, my love! Phinova’s voice echoed in my skull as she burned. I’m alive! It’s me!
I thought back to my mother.
She used to say, “Ian, goodness! There are times when a joke is not proper. There are times when people don’t want to laugh.”
For years, I believed she was wrong, until the day I lowered her body into the ground.
The day of my parent’s funeral, tears had fallen from my face and landed on her burial’s metal box, and I whispered she was right.
Later that day, I sank even deeper into depression when I realized my queen and brother were the reason my mother and others had died.
That night was the only night no jokes ran in my head.
Until tonight.
I am your love! No, Ian! Don’t do this! You’re killing me!
Sorrow encased my heart.
You’re killing me! No!
Streams of violet smoke rose in the air and then danced in swirls toward the stones.
The amber stones lit up and sucked the smoke in. To my shock, the stones began to expand and get bigger and bigger.
“That body held great evil.” Ground Mover kneeled by one stone that was slowly enlarging. “My enchanted amber stones are eating a lot tonight. They haven’t feasted this well since the Great War. Years of evil were in this corpse.”
Many years.
Nai kept Phinova’s dead body for close to a hundred years and propped her on a diamond throne.
How many times did you seek her evil counsel, Nai? How many times did you make love to her dead body? Whose idea was it to kill the vampire prince babies—hers or yours?
I bet that had come from her corpse too. At least now I understood where the need to enslave dominas came from. Nai used the dominas to make babies, but also to feed Phinova. Wickedness grew within Phinova’s dead flesh.
No doubt she’d already possessed some while she lived. It hurt me to admit that. Yet when she died, the malevolence festered into a corpse that spoke to all who dared to listen.
Or did it just speak to Nai and me?
I thought more about my brother.
Was she the reason for killing all the other vampire kings and starting war after war?
Ground Mover rose from the ground and turned to Camille. “Have you ever had an Emerald Elixir?”
“I have never even heard of it.”
“Dear Ressi.” Ground Mover shook his head. “We must solve this problem immediately.”