Whenever she thought about what was coming, she had to fight back the impulse to double over in pain. By the time the newly formed army was ready to leave, she wasn’t sure whether another day with Carnal had been a blessing or a curse.
When he kissed her goodbye at the munitions plant, she held onto him like a vice grip, not being able to get her fingers to release their hold on his vest. He had to pry them away, saying, “Don’t worry, Rosie. It’ll be over soon. Then we’ll have our whole lives ahead of us.”
She knew he could see tears forming, but she made herself smile through it.
He grinned. “See you soon.”
She stood in the rain on the desert plain looking south for the first sign of the allied contingent. When they appeared on the horizon, she knew the countdown had begun, that it wouldn’t be long until Carnal’s spirit would leave the corporeal realm. Unmoving, she watched as the Exiled left the humans waiting and advanced toward the Rautt.
Under camouflage, with no one the wiser, she watched Carnal perform his deadly errands with dispassion, not caring that he slaughtered dozens of Rautt in their beds, wishing only that he’d killed the one that would lie in wait in the haystack instead of the other way around.
With each passing moment, the image of Carnal’s impending death grew stronger and more vivid in her mind until that was all she could see.
That was when it came to her like a gift from the gods. What Carnal had wanted more than anything in life was to see his brother freed. She couldn’t save him from death, but she could give him that.
With demon speed she ran through the settlement searching, praying to all the ancestors who were available to hear, to help her find Crave before it was too late. As if in answer she felt drawn to a squat building. It was dark inside. So she wished the walls away. Crave was being held in a pit. He was filthy and bloody. Worse, he looked crazed.
She moved him to the surface magically. “Your brother is not going to see you like this,” she told him as she instantly rendered him freshly bathed and in clean clothes. “When you see him, try to not look so crazy.”
Seconds before the knife pushed through the stand of hay, Rosie put Crave directly in front of Carnal, so that the last thing he would see was his younger brother, alive and free.
“Crave.” The emotion in Carnal’s voice broke Rosie’s heart all over again. He reached out to touch Crave just as the long knife pierced through his heart. Crave looked down at the tip protruding from Carnal’s chest and saw the blood begin to seep around the wound.
Rosie’s hand flew to her mouth and shook against her face as she lived the worst moment of her life for a second time and, by the gods, it was even worse because of the second day of memories she’d collected.
The light left Carnal’s eyes before he crumpled at Crave’s feet. Rosie didn’t wait to see that. Or to see Serene’s reaction when she realized that her valiant oldest son, so full of life, depth, and potential, had been traded for another.
She simply turned and walked blindly into the swirling mist of the passes, wondering why her soul didn’t take flight, leave her body, and chase after Carnal.
For five years, Glendennon Catch had knocked around the globe as a floater, filling in wherever a team of vampire hunters was down a member. He’d buried six good knights and watched the life take its toll on countless others. He’d drunk his share of whiskey and bedded so many women he would hate to hear the count, but he’d never gotten over his first love. And, if he had a chance for a do-over, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have chosen Rosie over The Order.
Elora Rose Storm had spent five years on a cross-dimensional crusade of mercy, trying to make whatever world she found herself in a better place, especially wherever she found human/animal hybrids being mistreated. She’d seen horrors, righted wrongs where she could, and matured into a powerful witch/demon with altruistic leanings.
After all that time and all the pain they’d endured, unbeknownst to each other, both were headed home. To Jefferson Unit.
SUGGESTED READING ORDER:
1. My Familiar Stranger (Black Swan 1)
2. The Witch's Dream (Black Swan 2)
3. A Summoner's Tale (Black Swan 3)
4. Moonlight (Black Swan 4)
5. Gathering Storm (Black Swan 5)
6. A Tale of Two Kingdoms (Black Swan 6)
7. Solomon's Sieve (Black Swan 7)
8. Shield Wolf: Liulf (New Scotia Pack 1)
9. Wolf Lover: Konochur (New Scotia Pack 2)
10. Prince of Demons (Black Swan Novel)
11. Vampire Hunter (Black Swan Novel)
12. Carnal (Exiled 1)
13. Journey Man (Black Swan 8)
Victoria Danann
NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
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CARNAL (EXILED Book 1) Page 28
