Excerpt Chapter 2
His eyes softened slightly. His finger gently trailed along my cheek. “I see traces of her, but this is a path that I cannot stray from.” With malice-laced eyes, he reached expertly across his shoulders and pulled out two wicked-looking swords from the leather sheaths attached on his back by the slings. The swords, combusted into flames, making him look like an avenging angel, all glowing and shining, with soulless eyes.
A feeling of anxiousness knotted deep in the pit of my stomach. I had to stop him. I didn’t know how, but I knew that my next move was very important. “You mean that you will not stray from your path. There’s a big difference,” I responded softly but with strong intent in my eyes. “I am the tie that binds the Elements together. And now, I am bound to you, for eternity.”
I honestly didn’t know where these words were coming from. It was like I was reading some sort of ancient script: Say this, not that. Stop. Repeat.
His eyes turned blood red, his face twisting angrily. “Your wicked magic will not work on me, Eternal. The choice is simple. Break the curse.” His voice was smooth like honey, coaxing and very mesmerizing.
I laughed bitterly. “Using the enthrall spell will not ease the pain of my final decision.” Part of me was quaking in my shoes, but the other part was irrationally calm. The conflicting emotions were tearing me apart. I looked at him with more calm than I was actually feeling as I continued, “I cannot give you what you want. The curse remains until sacrifices are made.”
What in the world was I saying? I was practically sealing my death by telling him no. The Gabrielle side of my brain was screaming to just tell him what he wanted to hear to save my life, but the soul that was currently possessing me was saying quite the opposite.
Tears slipped down my cheeks. “What shall your sacrifice be?”
“You,” he responded in a voice laced with pure venom.
I watched unflinchingly as his swords roared with flames, slicing smoothly into my body. Fire encircled me; wicked flames licked my skin without mercy, burning me from the outside in. I gasped with pain, banging against the shell of my body with all my might, but I was unwillingly trapped inside of the fiery tomb of pain. I silently begged for escape as the heat smothered me, until the rational part of my brain screamed furiously that this was just a dream; just wake up, and it would be over. Or would it?
