Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
He didn’t answer.
I slammed my head hard into his back and made him jerk forward. “Answer me.”
“Fuck.” He fell forward over the neck of the horse then slammed his elbow back into my side. “Sit still, bitch.”
“Bitch?” I slammed my head again.
He gave an angry groan then brought the horse to a halt. To my surprise, he untied my wrists.
Once my hands were free, I immediately leaned forward to my ankle, trying to get free as quickly as possible.
A man came up from behind and smothered my face with a cloth, a cloth that reeked of death.
I threw arms and elbows, but it was no use. The cloth stayed right in place, and I was pulled into darkness once more.
And I still had no idea where I was going.
I came to again, but this time, it wasn’t cold anymore.
It was mild, just the way it had been in HeartHolme, the breeze pleasant rather than choking. When my eyes opened, all I could see was the ground, dirt instead of snow. My ankles and wrists were still bound.
I was alone.
I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself to my knees. “Hello?” I looked to the right, and in the far distance, I saw them. Men on horses. They stayed where they were and watched me.
Okay…that was weird.
I looked down at my wrists and started twisting and pulling, doing whatever I could to fray the binds. There was a sharp rock a few feet away, so I fell forward and started to crawl. The sky was blue and purple, with just a tinge of pink, so the sun had already set. In a few minutes, I wouldn’t be able to see at all.
I reached the rock and pressed the rope against the sharpest edge. My arms moved up and down as fast as I could, trying to produce both friction and heat to force the threads in the rope to snap apart. “Come on…”
Footsteps. Loud. Distinguishable. Coming from behind me.
“You motherfucker…” I rubbed harder, only a couple threads breaking even though I was producing the speed of someone fighting for their life.
The footsteps stopped.
A black boot was right beside my face. I could feel the piercing stare on my back.
“And if you manage to break your binds, what will you do then?”
I kept going, watching more of the threads become frayed. “Kill your ass.”
His boot moved forward and kicked the rock away.
“Hey!” I immediately crawled for it.
His heavy foot pressed into the small of my back and pushed me down. “Get up.”
I turned over onto my back and looked up into the face I’d seen before, his teeth withdrawn into his mouth and throat. Eyes black like molten rock, they were empty of a soul. I clenched my jaw tight as I swung my leg as hard as I could, hitting him right in the shin.
He shuffled slightly and gave a slight grimace, but he didn’t make a sound. “You don’t want me to hurt you. Trust me on that.”
“I’m not afraid of pain.”
“But you should be afraid of blood.” He stepped away, and that was when his men appeared behind him. I recognized one of them from months ago. They both grabbed me and dragged me to my feet.
I looked over my shoulder, seeing the Runes already turn to leave on their horses.
I faced forward again and pictured feathers in dark hair, coldness in her tight lips, evil in eyes that I looked into every single night.
It was so different from HeartHolme and the outpost.
The sweltering heat—that was new.
A river ran to a large lake, the water sparkling and bright, reflecting the sun high in the sky. Pine trees were everywhere, their branches unencumbered by piles of snow. It allowed the leaves to breathe, to let the smell of pine dissipate in the air. It was uphill from where I’d been dropped off, and when I looked behind me, I had a distant view of the snow on the top of the mountains.
I was far away from home.
Both homes.
Their city was built into the side of the mountain, the streets rising higher and higher until it flattened against the wall. It had a view of the forests and the lake. Along the way, I’d noticed all the outposts where the guards stood far down the hill. If an attack was imminent, they would have plenty of time to retreat into the safety of their city.
It’d been a long time since I’d felt sweat on my brow, felt it down the curve of my back. It’d been cold most of my time down here, and I didn’t remember life in any other way. Without the fire in the hearth, the heavy furs on top of the bed, my husband’s warm body next to mine…I didn’t know who I was.
My husband.
I hoped he was okay.