“You failed us. You didn’t test the young rune-
dragon as we wanted you to. You didn’t make him
free us.” It steps so close I can smell its sour breath,
like decaying meat. “You will pay for this with your
soul. We will devour you. We will eat your flesh and
drink your blood, suck your eyes from their sockets,
and you will still be living as we tear you apart.”
“Then your strength will be ours,” they all chant
together, their voices chiming through my head.
Angel, don’t leave me. Fight them. Don’t give
into them.
Hunter?
With a screech, the one in front of me leaps on
me and opens its mouth wide, as if it could swallow
me whole. I scream and writhe to get away, but its
fingers grip me tight, digging into me.
“Yes. Scream. Your terror tastes sweet.”
They swarm me, covering every inch of me,
smothering, squeezing, biting, burning. I try to
break free, but they only laugh. Oh God, save me.
She’s shaking like she’s having some kind of
seizure. She’s turning blue, and her hands are so
cold. You got to help me. Please.
Bring her in here.
A murmur moves through the crowd of shadowy
creatures. A few slink away, but the one clinging to
the front of me shrieks at the others.
“She can do nothing to us. She has lost the key
and can no longer control us.”
“That is where you are wrong.” The blue woman
steps into view. “I forged the bracelet with my own
magic, but I still have plenty of magic left within
me.”
“We have the girl.” The one in charge grabs my
hair and yanks my head back. I yelp.
The blue woman smiles. “Do you? Only so long
as she believes your lies. The moment she sees the
truth, your hold over her is gone.”
Lies? I only have to find the truth to be free? But
I don’t know what the truth is.
“Every emotion you forced on her, convincing
her it was her own.” She shakes her head. “Once
she listens to the voice of truth she will see her
own strength.”
Find my own emotions. Listen to the voice of
truth.
Truth, I refused to obey when I helped Brianna.
They begrudgingly let me but promised to make me
pay. I thought there was nothing I could do to stop
the pain later.
But I had pushed them away in the first place, so
I could have stopped them again. All this time, I
thought they were in control, but all it took was a
little truth.
If I saved Brianna, I could save myself too.
“You’re not worth saving.” Those fiery red eyes
look into mine, and its saliva dribbles down its chin
and drips onto my face, burning me. I grit my teeth
against the pain.
“That’s not true, is it?” My voice shakes as I say
it. Even as I speak, it’s hard to accept because I
believed them for so long, that I wasn’t worth it.
“That’s the lie that held me under your control for
so long. You made me question my self worth, and
that’s all you needed to control me.”
“Look at you. You’re pathetic. A miserable little
creature nobody can ever love.”
“Hunter loves me and he barely knows me.”
“That’s right. He barely knows you. Once he
knows the real you, the weakling we see, sniveling
and cowering like you are now, he’ll reject you.
He’ll sneer at you. Laugh at you as he rightly
should.”
“My sister loves me.” My voice is stronger now.
They laugh. “Not after what you just did to her.”
“If everything you say is a lie, then I can believe
the opposite. My sister will forgive me, and I will
make restitution. Hunter watched me try to seduce
another man using magic, but he still came to
rescue me. And you—” I stand up and shove it off
me. “You are a bully, using pain and pleasure to
control me. Just like I said to Brianna about Tyler.
The answer has been staring me in the face for
weeks. How could I have missed it?”
“You enjoyed being under our thumb.” The
I don’t need to pretend to be Emma as I lift my
chin and square my shoulders. “You will stay out of
my head.”
The dark shapes fade, and I find myself staring
up into Hunter’s eyes. “You’re awake. Are you
okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.” I bury my face into his soft fur and
breathe him in. Wild. Strong. Real.
“You two can’t stay here.” The blue woman sits
on the other side of me. “The child is vulnerable
here. Once the False Emperor learns how strong of
an empath she is he will want to acquire her as
quickly as possible. You must take her somewhere
safe.”
She stands and offers me her hand. I take it and
she pulls me up.
“I will find you again, child. You will need
training before you are ready to live among
humans again. Now go.”
Hunter wraps a coat around my shoulders and
leads me out into the night.
“Brogg, let me in.” Hunter pounds on the door,
his other arm holding me up, and when I shiver, he
pulls me closer and rests his chin on the top of my
head. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll get through
this.”
“I know. I trust you.” I hadn’t been able to say
that when he asked me if I did. I wanted him to
know my silence hadn’t meant I didn’t.
He sighs. I can feel the relief coming off him.
The peephole in the door slides open, and black
eyes—even the whites are black—stares out at us.
In contrast, the skin is so pale, like maggots. “We’re
closed,” he says, his icy voice sending chills down
my spine.
“You never close. I know, because I’m here
every night.”
“… and day,” another voice, this one husky, little
more than a growl, says from deeper inside. “Go
ahead. Let him in.”
Bright light breaks through the alley’s darkness
and stabs my eyes. I bury my face in Hunter’s chest.
Growling, Hunter scoops me up and brings me
inside. The chairs are turned upside down and rest
on the tables, the floor is wet, and the glasses and
bottles gleam on the shelves behind the bar. The
room is empty, save for a handful of strange people
clustered around the back door.
“Who is this?” A man with green skin growls
down at us—his voice so deep, I can barely
understand him. His ears point up like a dog’s, one
flopping over. He smacks his thick lips as he glares
at me. Clinging to Hunter, I cower away from him.
“Help us,” Hunter says. “I need to hide this girl
somewhere until I can come for her. She needs
healing and a peaceful place where the dragons
can’t find her. Do this for me, and I join the
resistance, although we need to talk about the
amulet you wanted.”
“She means that much to you?” The green
man’s eyebrow twitches.
Folding his arms, Hunter only scowls in return.
“Fine. Have it your way.” The big green man
runs a hand through his hair, and I can’t help but
stare at his hands—long and thick with an extra
joint per finger. His hands look more like tree limbs,
but his face looks more like … like Shrek’s, but
rougher as if made of tree bark. “All right, I’ll help
the girl and I won’t ask questions, but you’ll be our
scout.”
Hunter’s hands tighten around me. “Somehow
the dragons have been manipulating her. She
needs someplace where wizard magic can’t reach.
Can you do that?”
The Shrek snorts. “All that alcohol make you
stupid? Dragons don’t have wizard magic. That crap
about the mad ‘rune-dragons’ is just nonsense they
use to scare younglings who misbehave.”
“I know what I smell.”
He sighs and turns, motioning toward the
cluster of people watching us. “Fine. Lily, come look
after this girl. Keep her safe until Hunter fulfills a
mission for us.”
“Is she trustworthy?” Hunter says sharply.
“I am a druid; I have a sanctuary where the girl
can hide.” A blanket in her hand, a woman with
tattoos steps out from the door and pushes her
way through the group. Her tattoos, blue and green
swirls and strange symbols, cover every inch of her
skin, and her red hair falls in silky waves down to
her knees.
“Warded?” Hunter asks.
“Yes, I have blood stones placed around my
sanctuary.” The woman turns to look at me, and a
sense of deep peace falls over me, like a soothing
spring of water bubbling up from deep in the earth,
healing my desolate soul. Her mouth twitches as if
she’s suppressing a smile. “Aaah, poor child. I will
help however I can.”
Her hand on my forehead is cool and soothing. I
feel as though I could finally be at peace.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Hunter says
suspiciously.
Brogg steps forward. “Lily is the head of the
Druid order. She is both knowledgeable and
powerful enough to protect your woman here. You
need to give us a little trust.”
“Trust is for fools.”
Brogg places a hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “All
of us here have lost people we cared about at the
hands of the Usurper, and we all want to see him
taken down as much as you do.”
Sighing, Hunter extends his hand toward Brogg.
“All right, Brogg. It’s a deal. But I will see her safely
taken to this sanctuary and make sure she’s
comfortable. In exchange, I’ll track and scout for
you and the resistance.”
“Deal.” The ogre shakes Hunter’s hand.
“Sleep now, child.” Lily places her hand on my
forehead, and the world spins and goes black.
Thousands of invisible hands lift me, carry me,
set me in the water. I’m not sure if I’m dreaming or
floating in some ethereal lake. Closing my eyes, I
drift through space, my mind melding with the
water around me until I feel spread across the land
and reaching deep into the earth.
I am safe. Nothing more can hurt me.
“Are you awake?” The voice is childlike.
My eyes shoot open, and I sit up, sinking under,
splashing water, and spluttering. I’m in the middle
of a small pond, and in front of me, a human face
made of water peers into my own.
“Where am I? What are you?”
“I am a water elemental. What are you?” She
touches my hair with her watery hand. “An earth
elemental? You smell of earth. Or are you a tree
fae? Are these your roots?”
“That’s my hair. I’m a human.” I look around.
The water is so blue and calm. Soothing to my worn
soul. Twilight hangs over the sky and a golden
moon rises on the horizon.
I could live here forever.
Closing my eyes, I sink into the water. Soothing,
cleansing. As if it washes away every pain. “What
am I doing in here?”
“We’re healing you. You were broken inside.”
I try to figure out what she means, but my mind
feels too sleepy to care. My eyes drift shut, and I
try to remember how I got here.
Hunter brought me. I was in trouble and he
saved me. The memories are hazy—me pointing
the gun at my sister, me making Jason eat the cake,
me failing to do what the voices wanted. I can’t
believe I really did those awful things.
And through it all, Hunter was there to stop me
from doing the worst thing I’ve ever done.
But I don’t remember much after that.
I need to find him. I don’t know what he might
think of me after all this, but I want to tell him the
truth—every secret of my heart that I never told
anyone.
Splashing, I turn to swim toward shore.
“Please don’t leave. I thought you might play
with me.” She flips up and then dives into the
water, her bottom half shaped like an otter’s.
“I’ll come back later,” I say over my shoulder.
Her head pops up, and she flips onto her back to
swim beside me. “Do you really have to go?”
“I have to figure out where I am.” Where’s
Hunter? How do I get home? I have to get back to
school. I had a test in my psychology class, and my
grades have already slipped. I need A+’s for the rest
of the year to keep my scholarship.
Do I even want to go home? Do I even care
about my scholarship anymore?
Emma will be missing me.
With a pang of guilt, I remember once again
what I had done to her and Jason. The voices in my
head are quiet, and without their whispers, I realize
how cruel my actions were. I tried to take away
Jason’s free will and hurt my sister in the process.
And for what? Jason is a nice guy and all, but …
But I’m not sure I really want him. I’m not sure I
ever loved him. Of course not. Love wouldn’t hurt,
manipulate, and destroy.
I was so, so wrong to believe their lies. To let
them manipulate me like that.
“I know some wonderful games. The druid gave
me a ball and showed me how to throw it and
chase it. We could play together.”
“Another time, maybe.”
“Okay. Tomorrow. We will play tomorrow.”
My heart warms as she dives back under the
water, her tail flicking behind her. I can’t remember
the last time someone wanted to befriend me.
I step out of the water and onto the sandy bank.
My clothes and a towel lay folded on a bench, and
for the first time, I realize I am naked. Naked and
free.
I throw my head back and laugh.
A world of possibilities stands before me, and I
can make my own decisions. No one controls me
anymore.
“You all right?” Hunter steps out from behind a
tree, his voice wary.
“Hi.” I stand before him, my every secret laid
bare. Naked. Spirit, soul, and body. I have nothing
left to hide. Part of me thinks this should bother
me, but I can’t remember why.
“I was worried you would never come out of the
water. Lily said the water elementals would watch
over you and that you needed to sleep and heal.
But I … I worried about you.” His eyes are kind in
his wolf face. His beautiful wings are folded in
against his body, and his strong arms cross over his
muscled chest.
I realize I care about this wolf-man, and maybe I
could come to love him.
In time.
Right now, I don’t even know who I am.
Chapter 30
~ HUNTER ~
“Was any of it real? Our night together.” I take a
step closer. Her brilliant, green eyes warm my
heart.
Naked and beautiful, she steps toward me. That
warms other parts of me. “It was the only real thing
I’ve ever had. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
I’m messed up. I’m broken. But you reached into
my brokenness and gave me something I’ve never
had before. A bit of peace.”
Forcing my eyes to meet her gaze, I take
another step toward her. “I’ve put you in danger. I
have … things to deal with, unfinished business.
Until then it’s too dangerous for you to be around
me.”
She digests my words, her head tilted as she
studies me. “What could be more dangerous than
the problems I already have?”
“My real name is Ryne.” I swallow back the knot
in my throat from saying my real name. “Ryne
Ashverdi. But I gave that name up and my life in
Drakon to hide here in your world … There’s a
tyrannical emperor, a dragon, who rules over the
seven Allied races of Drakon—halflings, elves, orc,
dwarves, gnomes, giants, and chimera like me. He
usurped power by killing his brother the rightful
emperor and all his progeny. He destroys any who
oppose him, and his lust for power has enslaved us
all.”
“How does this put me in danger?”
“I opposed him once, and he killed my family.