Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
The Nightmare Prince shrugs. “I kill a lot of people. Try being more specific.”
“You drowned him in his own blood, you sick motherfucking freak.”
“Hmm. Drowned in blood. Oh—right, him,” Crypt nods, finally checking back into the conversation, grinning as if they’re discussing a fond memory. Then he levels Asher with a hard stare. “That bloke was abusing his wife in a sickening number of ways. He more than deserved it.”
“No shit. That’s why I vowed to put a bullet in his head—then you had to go and fucking steal the chance from me,” Asher mutters.
My brows go up. What an unexpected response.
Crypt says something flippant in reply to the hunter, but my attention turns to Maven again as I finally have a moment to relate to her the message I received.
My mentor told me Zuma and her lover left the Sanctuary, I tell her in fae through the bond.
She stiffens but continues walking.
Why did he let them leave?
He didn’t.
Maven is quiet for a long moment, thinking.
Wherever Engela is shouldn’t matter.
My attention latches onto the Divide where the humans are emerging. The gray wall is wavering and shaky, as if its instability has only worsened since we’ve been here.
What happens if the Divide falls before you can restabilize it, my blood blossom?
I ask.
Then I fail. I can only weaken and stabilize it—it can’t be rebuilt from nothing.
Then, where Engela is does matter. Because if anything happens to her— I begin, frowning as I realize that elemental is the only thing standing between Maven fulfilling her purpose as a revenant.
Maven looks over her shoulder at me briefly, her dark eyes determined.
The humans need to get through the Divide. That’s our top priority. As soon as they are through, we’re taking the etherium filled with the life forces of the Immortal Quintet to the nearest temple, which is twenty minutes away. Any priest or priestess can bless the stones the way we need to finish refortifying the Divide. We can do this.
As always, her fierce determination leaves me breathless.
As we near the cemetery, the bounty hunters break off to help the arriving humans. Many are in terrible condition, so it’s a relief when I finally see several ambulances drive onto the far end of the field from an old dirt road. More vehicles also begin to arrive, the drivers rushing to open the backs of their vans to offer water bottles, food, and other emergency aid to the countless wide-eyed, filthy humans who just escaped captivity. Others offer jackets and gloves for the cold.
I don’t miss the relief in Maven’s expression as she witnesses all the help gathering for those she just freed.
She cares deeply for these poor humans.
And as I watch hundreds more stream into the mortal world, I can see why. They’re a stark contrast to legacies, who believe the weak should be culled. Instead, I watch as the humans prioritize the weakest and most vulnerable among themselves, supporting one another and ensuring those who need help the most receive it first.
Though these people appear haunted and frightened by this new world, and although they most carefully conceal their emotions just as Felix and Maven do, their eyes are still full of great hope. Many whisper quiet, genuine thanks, while others fall to pray to the gods in gratitude.
Fascinating. These humans have none of the powerful abilities that my quintet possesses, yet they emanate quiet strength and resilience. All the suffering they’ve gone through, and not a drop of bitterness toward the gods.
Reaching out to squeeze Maven’s hand, I join the Reformists in welcoming the Nether humans into their new lives.
MAVEN
Nearly an hour has passed. Humans are still arriving from the Nether, but now a far more organized system is in place to get them helped and situated.
All thanks to my quintet members.
I can only assume Everett funded all of this as I watch more vans arrive to transport yet another massive group of shell-shocked Nether humans to safety far away from the unstable Divide. Others are being treated for dire injuries, or they’re hesitantly accepting food and water with trembling hands, confounded by the hospitality that has greeted them here.
It will take time for them to adapt to freedom in this world.
But gods—they’re here.
It’s working.
I’m finally fulfilling my blood oath.
So why can’t I shake the dread rising in my gut?
As I remain on the lookout for danger and any sign of Lillian arriving through the waypoint, another group of humans passes me. When one of them sees me, he whispers to the others that I’m Amadeus’s daughter and quickly bows his head in respect.
The others follow suit, a strange mix of gratitude and terror as they hurry away from me.
A badly bruised girl pauses in following after them, clutching her bleeding elbow. Like the other Nether humans, it looks as if the color has been bled from her, so her big blue eyes are more of a gray. She can’t be older than ten and looks at me with moisture on her hollow cheeks.
“Thank you,” she says quietly.
Crying still makes me really fucking uncomfortable, but I offer a smile. “Stay right here.”
I hurry to one of the nearby supply crates brought by the vans earlier and return to her with a roll of bandages. Grateful for my gloves since they provide a buffer against skin contact, I quickly wrap her injury.
“Is…is Amadeus really your father
?
” she whispers.
“No.” I meet her eye briefly. “My father was a human named Pietro Amato.”
She watches as I finish bandaging her arm. As with most people from the Nether, her expression is guarded as if, aside from the tears that escape, she’s afraid of showing how she feels. Probably because in the Nether, excessive emotions end with getting devoured by the Undead.
She sniffles slightly. “S—someone told me the telum is a monster. But…I think you’re so pretty.”
I study her, noticing the way she’s hugging herself and shivering. “Thanks. And I think you’re freezing. Go get warmed up, all right?”
She thanks me again and hurries to follow a cluster of other humans, wrapping herself in an emergency blanket. Fewer humans are crowding around the supply vans now as the exodus finally seems to slow.
I tuck the remaining bandages in the pocket of the hoodie I’m wearing, which Silas grabbed from his pocket void and gave to me earlier. Glancing nearby, I watch as Crypt cheers up a group of several sullen, wide-eyed children. He hands them blankets and leads them across the giant field toward one of the food-distributing trucks. Everett, Baelfire, and Silas are also in the midst of the exodus, directing and helping wherever they can.
Watching my quintet like this makes that same fluttery sensation rise in my stomach—that tender, consuming feeling I have tried and failed to fight whenever I’m around them.
There’s just something so right about being bound to all of them now. A completeness I’ve never experienced before, like something that was always meant to be a part of me is now finally in place.
It’s a bizarrely incredible feeling.
But still, as that unspeakable emotion mixes with my growing apprehension, I turn again to frown at the Divide.
With how weak it is right now, thin enough that even humans can pass through with some magical assistance, I expected to fight off constant surges as the humans escaped.
So why the hell hasn’t an attack happened yet?
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.