The Bound (Ascension #2)(6)

Just as she was nearing their hidden location, she walked right into another pack of beasts and froze.

She was no warrior.

She didn’t even have control of her magic.

She was just a girl.

But she would not go down without fighting these mongrels. Her hand was shaky as she removed her sword once more. Despite her muscles screaming in pain, the sword felt lighter and steadier than ever before. It had to be her adrenaline. She was sure. Her body hummed to the tune of the battle, and she took a steadying breath. Underneath the animal’s yellow eyes, she saw a flicker of understanding about her movements.

She was ready.

“Come, beast,” she snarled.

The first one lunged for her but was struck down at her feet with an arrow through its menacing yellow eye.

A battle cry erupted behind her, and a woman soared through the air. She landed lightly on her feet with an ice-white blade in her hand that appeared to be an extension of her body. She was tall with pale, almost white, blonde hair. She wore fierce camouflage britches and a shirt that hugged her form. Her blade whirred through the air, slicing and cutting.

Cyrene was dimly aware that others had joined the battle, but her eyes were locked on the incredible movements of this woman who was unlike any woman she had ever seen. She had ethereal beauty yet a ferocious ability.

After what could have been minutes or hours, a spatter of dead creatures lay at the woman’s feet.

Cyrene whirled in place and found an even more gruesome display. More humans, unlike she had ever seen, fought the beasts. Their fighting style was delicate and precise. They looked like they were dancing rather than fighting, yet they were efficient in dispatching the creatures.

Cyrene couldn’t spare their saviors too much thought though. She had to get to the horses and save her friends. She took one unsteady step toward the horses and then sprinted. To her shock, the horses remained, unharmed, though they were in a frenzy from the commotion. She went to Ceffy’s side at once, but a scream stilled her steps.

With a resigned sigh, she untied the reins and hoisted her weary body onto Ceffy’s back. She heeled the horse in the direction of the scream, her steel blade withdrawn before her.

Just as she entered the clearing, a beast sank its teeth into the beautiful stranger’s side.

“No!” Cyrene screamed.

The beast jerked around, leaving the woman for death. It prowled toward Cyrene with ten more beasts on its heels. Ceffy reared up in horror at the unnatural creatures before them.

Cyrene held on for dear life. She was sure this was where it ended. They had come to kill, and they meant to see it to the end. She would need more than a blade to get out of this mess.

Cyrene steeled herself and then slid down Ceffy’s side. Cyrene knew that she should have run as far and as fast as she could. But it would not have been fast enough. Her sword sank into the dirt, as if in defeat. When she released her weapon, she imagined she saw a smirk on the monster’s face.

But it didn’t know that, in that moment, the odds turned.

As Cyrene recalled all that she had learned from her magic book, gold letters danced across her vision. She would not yield.

The gateway to her power opened with barely any effort. A dull ache hit her core as the well of energy intensified within her body. The ache grew as more and more power flooded her system, and she coughed and clutched her chest as it filled her to the brim. She doubled over and dug her hands into the fresh dirt. There was too much. The pain was raw. She couldn’t grasp control over it.

Creator!

It was as if she would suffocate from the intensity of it all. She couldn’t survive this—not the creatures and not the magical torrent taking over her body. Her ears were ringing, and she ground her teeth against the inexorable pain lashing out at her bones, scraping and tearing her from the inside out.

“Don’t,” cried out the ethereal woman lying at Cyrene’s feet.

Cyrene didn’t know what the woman meant. All she was aware of was the pain and that she had failed.

Her head tilted to the sky, and with a breath, the dam broke. Her power lashed out of her in a deafening boom, rushing over the monsters like a tidal wave. She heard a crash and saw a beast had dropped to the ground. Another one dropped. And another. Then, they all dropped.

Cyrene clawed tooth and nail across the ground toward the girl. She had no energy left, and darkness beckoned her, but this couldn’t all be for naught.

“Are you okay?” Cyrene croaked.

She reached out to touch the girl to try to offer some comfort.

“What are you?” the girl breathed.

Cyrene blacked out before she could answer.





Cyrene had the distinct impression that she’d been here before. But where here was, was not a where but a when.

The pain was gone, replaced by nothingness. She was present but distant.

What’s going on? What happened in the woods? And why am I now here? Where am I exactly?

The last thing she remembered was magic burning her body from the inside out. Is this death? Have I crossed some unnatural barrier?

She began running through the dark. Her feet pounded on the dirt road. She was in sturdy boots that should be making far too much noise, but there was a tickle at the back of her mind that held the silence.

Before Cyrene could attempt to figure out what was happening, she abruptly stopped running. She pressed her back against a shadowed stone wall and tried to calm her breathing. Two men walked by, holding mugs of ale, and they were all but carrying a young woman between them as she regaled them with some lascivious tale.