Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
I patted my horse again. “Yes. Keep on moving us forward. We are almost out of danger.”
Unfortunately, the horse whimpered.
Then, suddenly, an unsettling chill permeated the air.
I tensed and gazed around.
My horse tremored in its stride.
He senses something wrong too.
I guided my horse more to the left.
Everything will be fine. I have survived so much. I can get away—
Without warning, a surge of foreign energy pierced my chest and made me stop my thought.
No. What is this? What is happening inside my body?
The horse made this high-pitched sound and began frantically going from side to side.
“No. No.” Bouncing, I tried to get control. “Wait. Hold on.”
And then I saw something up ahead.
What is that?
A dark figure loomed in the distance—huge and bulky.
My horse slowed down, neighing.
“Okay. Okay.” I ignored the odd feeling in my chest and tried to turn the horse in the other direction. “Not this way. W-we have to go the other way.”
The horse would not go by my order. It was as if. . .this figure was controlling him too.
“Come on, boy.” I tugged at his reins. “This way, please.”
My horse decreased his speed and slowly trotted in the figure’s direction.
“No. No. This way—”
I felt that foreign energy again, deep within my core. Unfurling and twisting inside of me.
I gasped.
Someone else’s magic.
It was a warm, insistent tide that ebbed and flowed in rhythm with my heartbeat.
No. Get out of me.
I let go of the reins and gripped my chest as if that could somehow stop what was happening.
And the horse continued to trot forward.
Gasping on air, I stared down at my chest. This power rose inside of me and began filling every fiber of my body.
“Please, stop!” I screamed at the figure. “No!”
My fingers slackened.
What?
My body shifted to some sort of puppet as my arms went in the air without me telling them to. Seconds later, I was airborne and leaving the horse. “No! No!”
I soared through the cool night air. Not flying. I remained that puppet on this dark being’s strings, doing whatever it pleased.
Get control. Now!
I tried to put my hands in front of me and do the movements to freeze this being or crush their heart, but I couldn’t.
As abruptly as I had been lifted, I was then pulled down towards the earth. “Ah!!!”
My feet skimmed the ground, dragged along by this unseen force. Stones and twigs rushed up hitting my leg.
“Stop! Stop!”
And as I got closer to the being, I knew without a doubt who had control of me.
The Quiet King.
Chapter 6
A Dark Duet of Power and Fear
The Quiet King
A blood mage?
I inhaled.
Female. Young. I must know more.
With my consciousness surging, I held onto her and pushed my magic deeper into her essence.
Hmmm.
An intense sensation coursed through my body like a raging sea, connecting me to her on a level that transcended the physical plane.
It was spiritual.
I was not touching her.
I was her.
I was the blood rushing through her veins, the heart rapidly beating in her chest, the breath filling her lungs in nervous gasps.
But there were limits. Our minds had not merged.
I attempted to enter into her thoughts and met a solid wall of blood that I could not pierce.
A barrier. How dare she?
A dark growl left me.
Annoyed, I shoved at her mind again, trying to break through her defenses.
Still, she kept her thoughts blocked from me.
A powerful blood mage? Who taught her this?
I clenched my fists. Slowly, I commanded her blood to rise, willing her body to ascend.
And she did.
Like a suspended puppet held by invisible strings, she hovered a few inches above the ground.
Why is she so far out of mage territory?
This could not be a coincidence.
Was this a gift from Ambi or some venomous scheme of Ian’s?
My brother had always been a strategic trickster. When we were kids and the few times he had taken life seriously, he could set a trap that I would unknowingly walk into.
I must be careful.
I could not read her mind to surmise her intentions.
For now, this blood mage remained caught in a web of my making, her body suspended and unable to get free.
Hmmm. If this is one of Ian’s traps, it is a good one. Surely, I am the mouse drooling over the cheese.
I tilted my head to assess this vision of sparkling blood formed into a curvy body. Like many moments in my dark life, I wished I could see her. With the way she sparkled, she must have been quite an incredible beauty to behold.
Was her skin brown as Phinova’s?
Or as bright as the two moons?
What was the expression on her face—one of terror or did she cry and scream?
But, I could not see or hear her. All I could do was imagine the possibilities.
I gazed at this shimmering red body. Her blood sparkled like thousands of rippling rubies, twinkling. Only her kind possessed this majestic vision.