Read Online The Hated (Sleeping With Monsters Book 3) by Cassie Alexander - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cassie Alexander
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innocently.
“Leave me,” I said, and she turned to do as I commanded. “But do not go to him, nor let him touch you.”
“My Queen,” she said nodding, then left.
#
I watched her go, pulling the Rix-abomination behind her. What had happened to this world in my long absence?
I had to admit that it was long, now. Unless this entire palace was some sort of elaborate trap.
But if so – why that girl?
She was a pale shadow of Airelle and I was bound to her by blood. She clearly didn’t know what the binding was – I needed more power over her before she did. Something to trade.
I needed a way out.
One of the accursed metal creatures raced by me on all eight legs, and I turned to follow it.
It walked down endless halls, through open doors, past others of its kind, scrubbing things clean, trimming living branches, grooming caged beasts, until it reached a wall with a handspan gap at the bottom. I watched in amazement as it folded itself down, lowering until it could slide sideways and duck underneath, like an insect scurrying from a sudden light.
Well, well.
I sat down. Airelle and the pathetic impostor weren’t the only ones with powers. I placed my hands in my lap and called on my magic, speaking the meditative words in the old tongue.
“Zaibann are creatures of the wind. We come and go as we please, and no man can halt our passage.”
I felt the pieces of myself lighten and pull apart. I occupied the same space that I had before, but I was as air now, a cloud-like consciousness controlled only through sheer force of mind.
I sank, collapsing in on myself in a smoke, and followed the metal-thing out.
The tunnels I was in as a mist were as extensive as the ones I had walked in earlier. The metal – how I hated being encased in it! – threaded through the walls so that the Rix-creatures could bring in supplies and haul out waste. I knew the Chamber of the Sun my men and I haddug was set inside deep stone, so any time a tunnel branched, I lifted up. The entire system couldn’t be perfectly sealed – if it was, that sad girl and her machinated friends would have suffocated, not to mention all the animals.
I rose, conscious of how much time it was taking me, and how much of my strength I was using, knowing I would need enough strength to go back – and I cursed myself for waking with such ravenous need, never thinking that I might be tricked. My anger made me vibrate, so much so that I almost missed it – the waft of a faint breeze.
I pushed myself toward it and hovered right in front of the draft. There was always the chance I could be dissipated so much that I could never reassemble, so I waited, testing cautiously, until I found a gap between the metal panels and leaked ever so slowly outside.
I reassembled my form on the edge of a metal shell – there was no need to waste my powers more than I had, not when my body could heal quickly – and I slid down down, tumbling along the shell’s edge for what seemed like miles before I dropped to the ground.
The fall was long enough that even I was stunned upon landing, and when I caught my breath the air tasted like ash. Like after the battle of Hotalle, when Airelle lit up the city’s walls and the fires smoked for weeks.
Draugulos indeed.
I looked around. It was night, but the area around me was lit with an unearthly glow. Whose magic was this that illuminated me? Surely not
hers
. I saw lights that weren’t flames atop poles -- more Rix-made abominations.
Then I heard a sound from behind. I turned as a loud creature raced straight at me on two wheels, ridden by a hidden man in armor. He shouted something, muffled by his helmet, and veered around. I stood there, feeling the wind from his passage.
The things we had fought – the things my men died for – they were everywhere.
Was our entire war for nothing? Had my slumber been in vain?
I stalked away from the palace’s metal wall, looking for darkness to hide in.
I walked down long alleys
“Leave me,” I said, and she turned to do as I commanded. “But do not go to him, nor let him touch you.”
“My Queen,” she said nodding, then left.
#
I watched her go, pulling the Rix-abomination behind her. What had happened to this world in my long absence?
I had to admit that it was long, now. Unless this entire palace was some sort of elaborate trap.
But if so – why that girl?
She was a pale shadow of Airelle and I was bound to her by blood. She clearly didn’t know what the binding was – I needed more power over her before she did. Something to trade.
I needed a way out.
One of the accursed metal creatures raced by me on all eight legs, and I turned to follow it.
It walked down endless halls, through open doors, past others of its kind, scrubbing things clean, trimming living branches, grooming caged beasts, until it reached a wall with a handspan gap at the bottom. I watched in amazement as it folded itself down, lowering until it could slide sideways and duck underneath, like an insect scurrying from a sudden light.
Well, well.
I sat down. Airelle and the pathetic impostor weren’t the only ones with powers. I placed my hands in my lap and called on my magic, speaking the meditative words in the old tongue.
“Zaibann are creatures of the wind. We come and go as we please, and no man can halt our passage.”
I felt the pieces of myself lighten and pull apart. I occupied the same space that I had before, but I was as air now, a cloud-like consciousness controlled only through sheer force of mind.
I sank, collapsing in on myself in a smoke, and followed the metal-thing out.
The tunnels I was in as a mist were as extensive as the ones I had walked in earlier. The metal – how I hated being encased in it! – threaded through the walls so that the Rix-creatures could bring in supplies and haul out waste. I knew the Chamber of the Sun my men and I haddug was set inside deep stone, so any time a tunnel branched, I lifted up. The entire system couldn’t be perfectly sealed – if it was, that sad girl and her machinated friends would have suffocated, not to mention all the animals.
I rose, conscious of how much time it was taking me, and how much of my strength I was using, knowing I would need enough strength to go back – and I cursed myself for waking with such ravenous need, never thinking that I might be tricked. My anger made me vibrate, so much so that I almost missed it – the waft of a faint breeze.
I pushed myself toward it and hovered right in front of the draft. There was always the chance I could be dissipated so much that I could never reassemble, so I waited, testing cautiously, until I found a gap between the metal panels and leaked ever so slowly outside.
I reassembled my form on the edge of a metal shell – there was no need to waste my powers more than I had, not when my body could heal quickly – and I slid down down, tumbling along the shell’s edge for what seemed like miles before I dropped to the ground.
The fall was long enough that even I was stunned upon landing, and when I caught my breath the air tasted like ash. Like after the battle of Hotalle, when Airelle lit up the city’s walls and the fires smoked for weeks.
Draugulos indeed.
I looked around. It was night, but the area around me was lit with an unearthly glow. Whose magic was this that illuminated me? Surely not
hers
. I saw lights that weren’t flames atop poles -- more Rix-made abominations.
Then I heard a sound from behind. I turned as a loud creature raced straight at me on two wheels, ridden by a hidden man in armor. He shouted something, muffled by his helmet, and veered around. I stood there, feeling the wind from his passage.
The things we had fought – the things my men died for – they were everywhere.
Was our entire war for nothing? Had my slumber been in vain?
I stalked away from the palace’s metal wall, looking for darkness to hide in.
I walked down long alleys
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