Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“You were right, Alora. They share a Cold Tether.”
Alora nods, as if she knew it all along.
“It’s been so long since I’ve encountered this kind of Tether though,” Beatrix goes on, a dip forming between her brows. “What you two have is powerful. I—I haven’t seen this kind of Tether in so long. The kind pulled from two universes. “You can hear his thoughts.” Beatrix is still flipping through the pages. “And the longer you’re around him, you’ll eventually begin to feel his pain. And he will feel yours. Here.” Beatrix lands on the page she’s been looking for and places a finger on it. “The Cold Tether,” she says. “The Cold Tether is so powerful, so extreme, that within only a few days, things can become fatal for both of you. The more you two are together, the more dangerous it will become for you to be around one another.”
“How?” asks Caz.
“Yeah, how?” Because last night, Alora made it seem like a Cold Tether was a beautiful thing. Now this Beatrix woman is telling me it’s a fatality?
“There is a Vakeeli being who hunts for Cold Tether mates and harnesses their energy because it’s pure and still has the power of the Regals. It wants to keep it for itself, use it for to grow stronger. And it has, with time.” Beatrix flips the page, and a chill runs down my spine when she reveals an image of something I’ve seen before—something from my nightmares.
It’s a figure in all black, wearing a hood. It’s sketched on the page in what looks like charcoal, so the image is smeared, but the crescent eyes are as red as blood. It’s similar to the grim reaper, but deadlier, scarier.
“They call it Mournwrath. It isn’t defined by gender, and according to legends, it does not have a face, yet it can turn into anyone it wants to get what it needs. It has hunted the Cold Tethered since they were created by the Regal, Selah. It was over a century ago that I last encountered a couple with a bond like yours. Two days later, they were found dead. Their bodies were pale, their faces sunken in, as if all the life had been drained out of them, and their skin was cold. Colder than the ice of Luxor.”
I work hard to swallow. I don’t know what Luxor is, but the way she describes it sounds serious.
“That sounds like the couple from Vanora,” Alora murmurs, her face ashen. “No one could explain their deaths.”
“Yes,” Beatrix goes on. “I warned that couple; I knew that if they stayed together, they’d probably not see the next week—that Mournwrath would look for them, absorb their Tether, feed off of them like a leach, until they were no more. They didn’t listen.” Beatrix looks between us. “I get the sense you two don’t very much care for each other, so the sooner you separate, the better.”
“Okay, but how do I get back home, to my world?”
“Right. Here.” Beatrix flips the page again, revealing a paragraph written in very small script. “You’ll say this chant in the place you dropped. Wherever you landed is where your portal home is. You’ll see it open when you say the words, and it’ll take you back. But when you return, he cannot be there.” She turns her eyes to Caz. “If you’re near the portal, there’s a possibility that a trace of you may trickle into her world, making it much easier for Mournwrath to find her. And believe me, it will haunt her, if it hasn’t been already. It’ll get inside her head, make her think crazy things just to get her to open the portal back up. It can only feed when you’re together and in love—which will happen, whether you want it to or not.”
“Trust me. We won’t have to worry about that,” Caz declares, and I roll my eyes because I knew a smart-ass remark from him was coming.
“Is there no way to stop this thing regardless?” I ask.
“There’s always a way to stop something,” she says, smiling a bit. “But whatever method is used is not heard of. You see, the Cold Tether is so rare that when one encounters it, it’s too late to learn what to do or where to go next. Many believe Selah had a way to work around it before her disappearance—a possibility for the Cold Tether to last without being attacked by Mournwrath—but after so many centuries, Mournwrath has only become stronger and is practically unstoppable. We can only learn when the Tethered are together, and when they agree to become one, or as I said, fall in love. That’s when the bond is most powerful. I believe you two have been safe thus far due to your clear disdain for each other.”