Oh fuck, he was going to crush her to death!
The binds vanished.
She dropped in a heavy heap, the unforgiving groundwelcoming her with jabs and scrapes along her entire side. She sucked in a desperate breath on a loud rasp, rolling onto her belly as she coughed. Her fingers clawed at the rock, her head pounding, vision pulsing, chest burning furiously as life-sustaining oxygen poured into every vessel.
“Fearlessness oftentimes accompanies foolishness.”
Rori wedged a hand beneath her and pushed herself to her hands and knees, her limbs quaking, threatening to splay her over the ground again. The room spun, churning her stomach, the burn in her chest finally beginning to subside.
Footsteps scraped around her. She lifted her head as Grison’s robes came into her line of vision. The bastard Fae lifted a foot beneath her chin and craned her neck back with the toe of his boot, forcing her to stare up at the massive beast.
“You sullied a promising Fae and you will bring his demise.”
Rori swallowed hard, the angle of her throat making the motion hurt.
“His death was sealed long before you saved him.” She peeled back her lips in a semblance of a loathing smile. “He doesn’t fear death. Neither do I. I’ve come to learn something about the Fae as a whole. You believe you’re untouchable. You’re immortal. But immortality is an illusion. Every living creature has a clock that ticks toward an end. Some faster than others. We willalldie, Grison. I prefer to choose my death, and if it’s with my soul mate, then so shall it be.”
He snapped his foot, flinging her to the ground, the side of her face meeting the rock mercilessly. Pain blossomed throughout the side of her head. Stars sparked across her vision. She gasped, stunned, unable to move, the metallic taste of blood trickling across her tongue.
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. While we wait for ourguest of honor to arrive, I’ve a small welcome gift for you to enjoy.”
The stagnant air stirred. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the throbbing pain in her head and face, and pushed herself up on her forearms.
“I learned a valuable piece of information about you as well, human.”
An unsteady shuffle. The undercurrent of a magical breeze.
The poignant stench of grease and oil.
Rori froze. Her heart seized. Her stomach lurched.
Ice poured through her blood.
Slowly, she lifted her head. The room faded. Fear, old fear she believed she’d never experience again. Mind-breaking, muscle-seizing fear.
Grison stepped over to the nightmarish figure who loomed a few feet away. No longer was his skin tanned from hours of working in the sun, but a sickly gray, patches of decay darkening sparse areas of his cheeks and jaw. Dead eyes stared down at her. There was no missing the malice that swirled beneath that postmortem curtain of cloudy white. Nor the necrotic hole in his temple, oozing puss. Waxy lips lifted in an evil smile.
“My gift to you.” Grison’s nose scrunched as he perused the true monster before him. “I find it a fitting gesture.”
Grison disappeared, the echo of his chuckle lingering in the room.
“Hello, doll.”
The scratchy voice raked across her nerves. She scrambled upright, digging her heels in the ground to push herself away from the corpse stalking toward her. Not a zombie, but a creation of nightmares and her deepest fears.
Her back hit the wall. She clawed up to her feet, thepalms of her hands burning as the rock abraded her skin. Her toes caught in the hem of the dress, stalling her rise, giving Rich the chance to close in.
“No-no-no,” she whimpered.
Rich’s smile grew, cracking his bloodless lips. The foul stench of decay smacked her in the face when he laughed. Bile choked her as she gagged. The room faded. Her heart raced at a dizzying pace.
Her stomach heaved and, this time, she vomited at his feet.
Rich stepped back.
Rori shoved away from the wall, swallowing against the vicious gag, darting along the perimeter of the tight space. A space that closed in around her as terror seized purchase.
His caustic laughter echoed off the rock, louder and louder, a battle cry raining down around her.
