Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 17648 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17648 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
My heart kicked in my chest, and I twisted my fingers together, this nervousness filling me instantly because he looked so serious. “Where?”
His hand lifted, large and clawed but gentle, as he cupped my jaw.
“Home,” he breathed, as if hating he had to say the word. “Your old one.”
A dread settled over me, but I trusted Blaylock.
I nodded. Because with him beside me, I feared nothing—not even the ghosts of my past.
11
KATRINA
The woods were quiet, unnaturally so.
But I was used to it. It was like being brought back into a nightmare you’d been trying to escape your entire life.
There wasn’t even a breeze. Just the sound of our footsteps crunching against the brittle layer of dead leaves and frostbitten twigs.
Moving through the supernatural veil from the Dark Realm and into the only other home I’d ever known hadn’t been as jarring as I thought. But this… this didn’t feel like home any longer.
I stood beside Blaylock, staring at my childhood home—if it could even be called that.
As I stared at the cottage, I saw it in a very different light now. It was more of a shack, leaning precariously to one side, its roof black with rot. Dying ivy crawled up the crumbling stone walls like veins of decay.
The door hung on rusted hinges from when I’d been taken by the slave traders, swaying in the intermittent breeze.
I wrapped my arms around myself, more for comfort than warmth. But Blaylock was there draping an extra fur over my shoulders.
“I wonder if he’s still in there?” I asked quietly, not really expecting an answer. “Or if the animals got to him.” Blaylock knew of my past and my father, and what I’d done. I knew if I hadn’t killed him, Blaylock would have hunted him down and finished him to protect me… for vengeance.
“His corpse is long gone and rotting in the dark. I wish he was here, though. I’m hungry to rip his head from his body and feast on his blood.”
I shivered at how much he meant those words… at how much I loved hearing them.
I took a slow breath. I had imagined this moment so many times. Dreamed of walking back here, stronger, no longer afraid. I didn’t think I’d have a monster king at my side. I didn’t think I’d feel so… strong.
“Do you want to go in one last time?” Blaylock asked, his voice low and gravelly.
I shook my head. “No. Never again.”
He nodded once and then stepped forward, holding his hand out, palms upward and to the sky. I shielded my eyes and bright blue fire sparked from his palms, unnatural and cold, flickering like a storm in the night.
He looked at me, asking for the permission I knew he needed before we closed this chapter of my story.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Burn it to the ground.”
A pulse moved through the trees like a living heartbeat. Blue fire snaked out of Blaylock’s hands and to the cottage. The dry wood caught immediately. The fire hissed as it spread across the structure, blue brightness devouring the rot and ruin that had once been my life.
And we just stood there and watched as the cottage burned, until it turned to ash and there was nothing but smoke curling into the sky.
This chapter of my life—this dark, ugly part—was finally over.
I turned to Blaylock, the wind catching my hair and whipping it across my face. He looked down at me, love and devotion and something primal and dark written across the monstrous angles of his face.
Without saying a word, I took his hand—his enormous, clawed hand that could shatter bone but had only ever held me gently—and guided it to rest over my belly.
His eyes widened.
“Katrina…”
“I’m pregnant,” I said, the words leaving my lips in the breeze.
He said nothing at first, just stared at me, his expression unreadable. Then he dropped to one knee, still towering over me even from that position, and pressed his forehead to my belly. I felt a rumbling against my stomach, Blaylock whispering loving, soft promises to the child in my womb.
And in that moment, surrounded by ash and memories that would fade, I knew Blaylock was my future, and this was just the beginning.
EPILOGUE
KATRINA
The air in our bedroom was thick with the scent of anticipation, hesitation, and fear of the unknown.
Shadows danced across the stone, flickering over etchings carved into the pillars. Robed healers milled about in the room, their white cloaks separating them from the rest of the staff Blaylock had in the castle.
These white-covered healers were monsters, beasts that didn’t hide their faces. They had gnarled horns, glowing eyes, and spoke in a language that was harsh and broken but somehow beautiful.
Sweat covered my face, my hair damp and sticking to my skin as another wave of pain coursed through me. And Blaylock was at my side the entire time, softly encouraging and caring for me.