Page 100 of Ravenous
The enchantress with her demonic face. The warrioress hurling hellfire. The conjurer who stole magic.
A blessed witch, dangerous and dazzling. And yet even that might not save her in the Witchwood. Her coven had other talented practitioners, working in tandem. If the Riders alone targeted her…
He and Ditch returned to find the three sisters standing in the same places, unmoved, as if they hadn’t just dodged a ghoul attack on their home.
By way of greeting, Deina said, “This furious mother seeks her spawn, turning darkest night to brightly dawn.”
Pemphre sighed behind her mask, then said, “We enjoyed your bout, wolf. Ask. Receive.” The dead glow in her pupilless eyes brightened.
Thane didn’t bother circling. “Ditch and I have many obstacles between us. How can we be together as mates?”
Pemphre’s eyes flared even more. “You cannot.”
His gut clenched. Beside him, Ditch gazed on as if watching a play that didn’t really move her.
“No bond will quicken here in the Skein,” Pemphre went on. “Not as our world is now. The House of Witches intends to take this realm, making you and all Lykae into their subjects, something you will never allow.”
He glanced at Ditch and back. “I can convince her not to go through with that.”
“Youcannot change her mind on this. Or anything. If you want to be with her, you must leave this realm.”
Abandon his pack and gift Straegan the throne? “Where—how?”
“A door.” Pemphre’s voice steadied, as if she channeled a more coherent speaker. “Old prophesies told of a portal to the mortal dimension—that heaven realm of ease and plenty—appearing every third Accession. At midnight on the night of the Hunter’s Moon, a threshold will open atop Mount Nothrior for a brief window. Beyond the Skein, King Thane and his mate will inherit no war between their kinds.”
A way to be with Ditch? Spiriting her away from the danger of her coven? His beast roiled inside him, all but saying,I will take her through that portal if you don’t.
The Hunter’s Moon was less than a month away!
Even as nothing could tempt him more, the Queen’s answerwasunwelcome. Thane could never leave his people. “Is there anything else you can give me?”
“Come see us again.” The three chimed, “So many years. So few visitors.”
Stunned, he turned for the exit, ready to leave this fetid cave. At least Ditch followed him as he picked his way through heaps of green. He couldn’t even look at her without feeling as if she was already lost.
No. He would find another path. And keep seducing her in the meantime.
“Wait,” Pemphre called.
He stopped, jaw tight. “What?”
“So few visitors. How did you learn about us?”
“Aye, I was supposed to tell you an archwarlock named Baelor the Unraveler sent me.”
All three jerked. Pemphre tore off her mask—revealing melted skin and weeping sores—and hissed, “He stirs. He stirs!”
Enya: “We hate. We fear. He pulls at loose threads!”
Mind on his own issues, Thane said, “I’ve never met him. Have nothing to do with him.”
Pemphre’s cracked lips ran with pus as she cried, “You’ve been unraveled! Everything he touches unravels!Wehave been unraveled. The Skein will fall this Accession! The braid must be healed or we all burn!”
“So be it.” He’d had his fill of doom-singing Sorceri.
Nothing had changed between him and Ditch. He would have to continue his imprisonment each full moon and plan for the coming conflicts.
He glanced back at her. Part of him wished he’d never met his mate. But he held on to memories of last night—and even their chemistry in that earlier skirmish—like he might hold on to his sword in the All-Battle.
