Chapter 33
Selene.Selene.
Selene!
Damn all the gods… Roxilana, answer me, my love!
I sigh out a breath, a pinch of pain blooming at the action, and I blink.
Memnon?I say, my brows coming together.
Thank the fucking stars. Are you hurt? I’m coming for you. Just keep speaking to me.
I blink again, staring at the cloudy night sky above me, which still appears to spin. Am I hurt? There’s something warm and wet at my back, and it’s hard to breathe…
I move a little, and holy mother goddess. Agony radiates from everywhere.
Yes, I gasp down our bond, choking back a sob that might further jostle my body. I’m hurt. I think…I think I fell.
It comes back to me then, the terrifying broom ride, the loss of magic, the fall.
I must’ve blacked out on impact, but now, unfortunately, I’m awake—as is my pain. White-hot sparks of it radiate from my legs. One leg in particular feels exposed, as though if the wind picked up, even its light caress would send shooting pains through me.
I have old memories of open wounds. I know the sensation of my insides kissing the air.
Assess yourself, est amage. Tell me what is injured.
I lift my head and glance down the line of my body. It takes several extra seconds to stop my surroundings from spinning. In the dim light, I can make out a white bone sticking out from the mess of my left leg. I bite back a whimper.
It’s hard to tell in the darkness, but my right leg looks twisted at all the wrong angles. And my back…
I pinch my eyes shut and swallow down my rising sickness.
Legs are broken. One is…it’s a compound fracture—I can see my bone.
Between the pain and the knowledge, I nearly retch, and the only thing that stops me is the sinking awareness that I cannot move. I’m already lying in a pool of what I’m pretty sure is my own blood. I don’t want to add vomit to the mix.
Should’ve just gone with Kane, I think despairingly.
I don’t know what the fuck the shifter has to do with any of this,Memnon says darkly, but I will make sure to skin the dog alive and mount his pelt to my wall at the first chance I get.
This wasn’t…his fault…
Unless he spiked my drink of course, but I find that incredibly unlikely. That’s the sort of shady, cowardly shit alphas fight against.
Never mind about Kane,Memnon commands. I’m going to press my magic into you. Take what you need, and heal yourself as best you can. I’m tracking you right now. I’ll be there soon.
How are you tracking me?I ask dazedly.
Heal those wounds,he says gently. Then I’ll tell you.
Focusing inward, I reach out and try to grab hold of Memnon’s magic. Maybe it’s the pain, or maybe it’s something else, but even grasping it proves to be more difficult than usual. And when I try to shape his power into a spell, it doesn’t respond to my will the way it has in the past.
My breath is coming in faster and faster pants, which is setting my chest ablaze. Broken rib? Punctured lung? Internal bleeding?
I drag my attention away from the pain and focus on my own coiled power. It’s there, living inside me, but now, it’s as though I can no longer channel it.
I cry out in frustration and pain.
It’s not working.
What’s not working?Memnon demands.
My magic—and yours. I can’t use either of them to heal myself.
You…can’t use it?He sounds as though the thought is inconceivable.
Two thousand years ago, when supernaturals were not nearly so unified and our magic not so specialized, something like this was largely inconceivable.
Someone…drugged me…I think.
His fury breaks through our connection, that someone would dare do this to me.
I swear to you, est amage, once you are safe, I will find them, and they will pay.
I think of Olga, who gave me the drink. Olga, who I hadn’t suspected a thing from. I pinch my eyes shut to keep from crying. I wasn’t supposed to trust my coven sisters, but I did.
I was a fool,I admit. I trusted someone I shouldn’t have.
Somewhere in the distance, a car drives by. I’m near a road. That’s…that’s good, I guess.
Trusting people doesn’t make you a fool. Just an optimist. It’s one of the things I love most fiercely about who you are in this life. The world hasn’t broken your faith yet.
Yet.
I think that’s the key word. Because every violent altercation whittles it away little by little.
That might be one of the kindest things you’ve ever said to me,I say.
Pain is dulling your memory, my love.
My heart pangs at the endearment. Don’t call me that.
Fine,he says. Then how about my fierce queen, my exquisite mate, mother of my future children.
I grimace. Definitely not that last one. Need to get my hands on some contraceptive potion to make it so.
You’re giving me so much ammunition to use against you the next time I’m teasing your pussy.
Memnon, I say, horrified. I know he’s saying this to distract me from the pain, but crap, it’s working a little too well. You wouldn’t dare use that against me.
I feel his amusement, though it’s tinged with worry. If only I were an honorable man…
Memnon!
In the distance, another engine rumbles on the road. It sounds like it’s moving slowly, and instead of zooming by the grassy hill I’m on, it slows, then idles.
I hear a door creak open, then the heavy tread of feet against the roadside gravel.
Is that you, Memnon?
I’m not there yet.
Fuck.
Someone is, I say.
And the odds of them being a good Samaritan are vanishingly small.
On the other end of the bond, I feel Memnon’s alarm. Then it’s gone, pulled back so quickly that the sorcerer must be deliberately shielding it from me.
Do you have any weapons on you?he asks. This is something he used to make sure Roxilana had on her.
No, I say softly.
He shields me from whatever reaction he has to that news.
Meanwhile, the stranger below me is climbing up the mountainous incline, wild grass crunching beneath their shoes.
Call on your magic again, Memnon orders me, sounding like the warlord he once was. While there’s no compulsion in his voice, I’m bending to the order without question.
I reach for my power, even as those footsteps draw near. It’s there, swirling beneath my skin, but I am utterly disconnected from it. And despite magic being semi-sentient, it’s showed no interest in healing me all on its own.
It’s still not working,I say to Memnon. I try to suppress my growing panic.
Hold fast, Empress. I’m coming.
There is nothing I can do but hold fast. I have no usable magic, no weapon, and no mobility.
Wait—
I wiggle my fingers and test my arms. They both feel pretty banged up, but my right arm can move okay if I hold the rest of my body very still.
Cautiously, I grope around for anything I might use to defend myself with. Even the slight movements of my arm tug at my side, and I have to bite my lower lip to smother a cry. But my fingers brush a rock partially embedded in the soil. I dig my nails into the earth to work it free.
The action causes the grass to rustle, and I have no magic to mask the sound. I almost give up then in favor of staying quiet and still.
If they’ve come this far for you, they’re going to find you, I remind myself.
So I yank on the rock until I pry it free. It’s no bigger than my palm, but it’s rough and has a sharp side to it.
Good enough.
Now the only thing to do is lie in wait.
Those ominous footsteps make their way over to where I lie on the coastal hillside, drawn to me like I’m a beacon. When I first catch sight of the figure, all I can make out is a dark, hooded shape.
It steps in closer, and I get a glimpse of a humanoid face and a pair of unseeing eyes.
I jolt in surprise.
I thought I had annihilated you back in the Everwoods.
The clay creature, the one I shattered apart with a spell only a few weeks ago, is whole once more, and now it’s returned for me.