Page 9 of Whispers of Ruin
On hands and knees and still barely able to breathe, she got her feet under her as she prepared to flee; she’d open a portal out of whatever this place and back into Doomed Valley to get away. She wasn’t in any condition to fight.
She was about to leap to her feet when Brokk rolled onto his side next to her and started coughing. His sword fell onto the ground next to him.
Relief flooded her, and she collapsed. Sitting with her shoulders hunched forward and hands in her lap, her head spun as starved brain cells filled with the oxygen denied them.
Her hand rose toward Brokk, but it blurred before falling weakly back to her side. She wasn’t sure she could have run from him if he had been a threat.
What is he doing here?
Her throat was too raw to voice the question, and it wouldn’t be fair to ask him now when he was in the same condition as her only a few minutes ago. Instead, she tried to touch him again and offer some comfort, but she was still too weak to move.
After a few minutes, she wiped the vomit from her mouth with the back of her hand and attempted to stand. When she did, her legs wobbled, and she almost went down again but managed to stay upright.
Kaylia stared at her feet as she willed them to be steady enough for her to move; while she did so, she registered the blue sky beneath them and the white, fluffy clouds floating past. Dizziness and delirium didn’t fog her mind.
She wasn’t hallucinating this; it was real. She was standing on thesky.
Her head tipped back, and she blinked at the thick canopy of trees surrounding a sea of white hell. The jungle was above them now, the tops of the trees facing them as they hung upside down over her head.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Shit.Her stomach sank as she realized where they were and what happened, but she wasn’t ready to process that information.
Instead, she went to Brokk’s side and knelt next to him as he finished heaving up what he’d inhaled and swallowed of that awful substance. When she placed her hand on his back, his shudders shook her palm while he worked to expel what remained inside him.
She rubbed his back as he sat on his heels with his head bowed and his shoulders heaving. His powerful muscles bunched and flexed beneath her palm as a strange warmth crept through her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was or why, but she had to fight to stop herself from leaning against his side as she sought to comfort him.
Brokk retched one more time before using the back of his arm to wipe his mouth. His hand fell limply back to his side, but he finally lifted his head.
The corded muscles of his lean body went rigid as he took in their surroundings. “What is this?” he muttered in a raw, hoarse voice.
“It’s a mirror realm.” Her voice didn’t sound any better than his, and it hurt to speak, but she did so anyway. “I’ve only encountered one other before. That one was small, but I don’t think we’ll be as fortunate with this one.”
“A mirror realm. I’ve heard of them before but never been to one.”
“They’re not very common.”
“But when you enter one, you’re stuck in it.”
“Yes. Until we find the way out. Sometimes there are many exits, and sometimes there’s only one.”
“Fuck.”
Kaylia’s hand fell away from his back when he moved away from his vomit, settled onto his ass, and shrugged off his pack. A strange sense of loss filled her, and she stared at her palm for a second before lowering it to her side.
Guilt over missing the connection between them filled her, and she scuttled a few feet away from him and where she’d thrown up before sitting again. She tried to shove the guilt aside, but it festered like an infected wound as her thoughts turned to Fabian… her dead fiancé.
She shouldn’t enjoy touching any man when she’d lost the only one she could ever love. Still, she found the fingers of her other hand absently rubbing her palm as the memory of Brokk lingered there.
Using only one hand, he opened his pack as he spoke. “At least those things aren’t here.”
Kaylia shoved her hands into her lap and clasped them together. “There could be other things.”
“I’m sure there are.”
With his teeth, he uncorked a bottle and took a sip. He swished the contents around his mouth before turning his head and spitting it across the sky. It rolled across the surface, beading up as it went.
He scowled at the splash of green liquid marring the smooth surface. The scent of mint and herbs drifted to Kaylia from the mouthwash he’d used.
