But Ruenen refused to lose her again.
I will find you.
Gods grant me this, I will find you.
Chapter 41
Marai
The world rocked back and forth.
Her stomach roiled. Her eyelids and limbs were leaden. When she tried to move, something held her down.
She’d been drugged. She could feel the substance flowing through her body. She could still smell it in her nostrils.
A man groaned next to her.
Slowly, she cracked open her eyes.
It was dark. It smelled of musty wood and salt water. Crates were stacked against the walls. Ocean crashed against the hull of the ship.
Marai was below deck; her ankles chained to the ground, and her arms were raised above her head, shackled to the wooden wall. Something heavy was latched around her neck. Another chain.
Think, Marai, get out of this!
She tried to pull on her magic, but the weight around her neck shocked her. A spark of foreign magic coursed through her, stifling her own.
She tried again—the zap that went through was a thousand daggers stabbing her at once.
Marai’s heart plummeted as her magic cowed to this new, unknown power. Her eyes traveled hopelessly to her side, searching for anything to help, and landed on Keshel chained up next to her. His head lolled to the side, unconscious. An iron collar ensconced his neck.
Footsteps approached. Marai turned her stinging eyes to the stairs leading to the upper decks.
Koda knelt before her, opening his tin box. “Magic won’t help you, Marai. Don’t worry, the trip to Andara will pass in the blink of an eye.”
“Ruenen will find us . . .” Marai slurred through a broken, tired throat.
Koda grinned from ear to ear. “You mean your human king? Even if he did somehow know where we’re going, he’d never make it past the docks. I told you, Andara is a land of magic. Only those who’ve seen it, or are accompanied by a native may enter. My employer cannot wait to meet you, Marai. He’ll put you to good use as the crown jewel of his collection.”
He blew a pinch of powder into Marai’s face. She gasped and hacked to no avail; the powder began to do its job.
“Sleep now, Marai. Your horrors aren’t over yet.”
Koda stepped aside, that same vicious grin plastered on his face, disappearing back above deck.
As darkness crept in around her, a new figure stalked towards her.
His blond, patchy hair stuck up at odd angles. His face was covered in thin, branch-like lines. On one side of his mouth, a nasty, abrasive scar sliced from lip to cheek. Leathery-red burns crawled up his arms, erasing the blue, green and black tattoos that had been there.
But his eyes were as strikingly blue as they’d always been.
Marai squirmed, shrinking backwards, though the chains kept her stationary. Her heart threatened to explode. Panic seized her.
No! No, please!
The severely scarred man smiled. It was crooked. Frightening. Wrong.
As Marai’s strength failed her, her head fell to the side. The last thing she felt before disappearing into the void was hot breath against her ear, and a finger caressing the exposed skin of her arm.
“Hello again, Marai, my love,” purred Slate.
The Story Continues...
The story continues in . . .
“Queen of the Shadow Menagerie”
Dark Magic Series Book 3
Coming 2024
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