Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Maven’s face is twisted in agony, shaking her head as Baelfire gently lowers her to the bed.
“S—something feels fucking wrong,” she chokes again.
Crypt appears and brings the vial to her lips, looking as tormented as the rest of us to see our powerful keeper like this.
“Here, love. Open up for me?—“
Maven suddenly goes slack as her eyes slip shut. At the same time, something tugs so godsdamned painfully in my chest that I cry out. Everett does, too, staggering against the wall as he grapples over his heart, grimacing.
My vision blurs as pain blossoms through my center, and then a chillingly deep voice rumbles in my mind through the bond.
What game do you play, my daughter? You begin to test my patience. I sense a change in the shadows within you. You wax stronger, but how?
“Silas? Snowflake? Shit!” Baelfire swears, trying to shake me out of this trance.
A horrible sensation fills me as I hear flesh-crawling screams from somewhere far away. A chorus of people in agony, and one woman in particular sobbing out Maven’s name.
I give you five days until your next mark must fall. Fail me, and they shall perish and be devoured.
I can finally draw in a breath as the tugging feeling fades, though the terror and pain lingers in my chest, wrapped around my pounding heart like a vice.
I realize I’m propped up against the wall, coated in a sheen of cold sweat. Everett is just as shell-shocked as I feel.
Maven is still out. Gone.
Crypt and Baelfire are nowhere to be seen. If I had to take a wild guess, I would venture to say the dragon shifter lost his shit again, seeing his mate like this.
At this point, I don’t fucking blame him.
I swear and rub my face, moving to Maven’s side to feel her arm. She’s freezing and pale, her hair a dark mess around her face, and she remains unbreathing.
Everett mutters a quiet prayer to Galene, the goddess of life and healing. When he speaks to me, his voice is hollow.
“That was the Entity.”
I gently check Maven’s pulse. It’s still missing.
“As she anticipated, he’s threatening her,” I mutter, anger slowly replacing the lingering fear.
A dragon roar from somewhere far outside the cottage briefly draws our attention before Crypt reappears with a groan, slumping into one of the dining room chairs. He’s covered in burns that are quickly healing as his clothing smokes slightly.
“How is she?” he rasps, gaze on Maven.
“Expired.” I rub my face.
He swears. “I fucking hate this.”
“We all do,” Everett mutters. Then he pins us with a look. “Maven has her plans. She’s driven and does whatever it takes to get shit done, but right now, she’s doing it on her own. What have we done for her besides tag along and try not to get killed?”
“Very little,” I agree, glowering out the window. “She’s no longer fighting us, yet she does everything necessary for her plan entirely on her own. If we could just contribute something, anything…
“
We all consider it until Crypt tips his head.
“Suppose Maven succeeds, and the humans in the Nether manage to make it into this plane of existence. I assume our clever keeper has a thorough plan to help them out of hell, but what then?”
Everett frowns. “So many humans arriving out of nowhere will cause mass hysteria, especially because it was thought impossible. The media will run rampant, the human government will be scrambling…and you know what? There may be more than just humans slipping into this world. The weaker the Divide gets, the more surges of shadow fiends will escape.”
“The Nether humans will need somewhere to go, not to mention supplies and healing. Knowing what little we do of their lives there, it’s safe to assume they will be in dire condition,” I muse, casting the Frost a long look. “If only we knew someone with deep pockets and shady connections who could fund suitable aid in preparation for their arrival.”
He nods slowly, thinking. “Although, it will be a pain in the ass to keep my connections from stirring up rumors.”
“Leave that to me,” Crypt smiles darkly. “It’s amazing how tight-lipped people become when their sanity is on the line.”
We’re all quiet again for a moment, considering this new pursuit.
“When it’s all over—when the humans are safe and Maven has fulfilled her blood oath…” Everett sighs. “What happens if she doesn’t fulfill her purpose as a revenant?”
That question has been weighing on my mind, too. Guessing by Crypt’s unusually somber expression and the way Everett can’t stop rolling and unrolling one of his sleeves, we’re all equally dreading the answer she hasn’t given us.
We’re such a morose trio that I startle when Maven speaks.
“Gods. You guys look like someone died or something,” she jokes.
Crypt immediately moves to the bed, pulling her into his arms. She peers over his shoulder at me, appearing exhausted.
“How long was I out?”
“Not long. But, ima sangfluir
…we need to talk.”
MAVEN
“Something troubles you,” the Garnet Wizard notes.
That’s a fucking understatement.
I set down my cup of morning tea, studying the wizard sitting across from me. A small breakfast has also been laid out, but I have no appetite, so I ignore it. I came to his study early in the morning, so he’s currently in his mid-twenties. Not that it feels like morning since the sky has remained a beautifully forlorn twilight cycle since we arrived here in Alaska.
We’ve been in the Sanctuary for two days now. Most of my time has been spent training my matches, answering the Garnet Wizard’s seemingly endless questions, and thinking.
Lots of thinking.
And now I’ve developed a plan.
“I told you about my episodes,” I begin.
“Yes. The way you ‘expire,’ as you call it.”
I nod. “Last time it happened, my bonded matches were affected. They heard Amadeus’s message to me through our bond, which makes me further believe they’re bound to my shadow heart, which links back to him. So…”
When I trail off, the wizard arches a brow. He’s handsome as a younger man, with closely cut black hair, a clean-shaven face, thick brows, and cunning brown eyes.
“So?
” he prompts.
Better to just fucking spit it out.
“You know all about my gambit, but I haven’t told you how my story will end,” I say, smoothing my gloves before meeting his eye. I force my voice to stay steady. “If I don’t fulfill my purpose as a revenant, one of two things will happen. I will either slowly decompose until I fade to nothing and pass into the next life, or my shadow heart will give out. It was never intended to give me life for years, just long enough to fulfill my purpose.”
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.