Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) Emma Hamm (the beginning after the end read novel .TXT) 📖

Any important organ wasn’t going to heal very fast. She was distracted easily by mirrors. Shiny things made her stop in her tracks. There were plenty of ways to make her an easy target.

She had spent years trying to erase these issues until she realized one important thing. These weaknesses were part of who she was. She could either accept them and compensate or stay stuck in the same squeaky wheel.

That was why she had learned how to hit a target just by sound. If she was staring at herself, she still had enough sense to throw her knife at a moving target. Most of the time she hit them too.

Wolfgang didn’t hesitate to tell her his weaknesses. That either meant he didn’t think her threat or he actually trusted her. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She erred to think that he trusted her. Which lead to another set of curious questions she didn’t want to dwell upon.

A man who was willing to become a Lich King was a man who was willing to do unspeakable things for the people he cared about. She hoped she was one of the chosen few and not one of the unspeakable things.

They stopped in front of what appeared to be the very end of the street. An unassuming wall was before them. Cracked bricks held resolutely together, and vines trailed around their feet at the ground.

Wolfgang reached out to hold her hand. “Are you ready to see Bones again?”

“No.”

He squeezed her hand and stepped forward. She stepped with him through the glamour that rippled around them until they were finally past the barrier.

Before them a house floated high above their heads. It was a stately house with reflective white paint and a steeple at the top. Lyra had always thought it was the kind of house that should be on an old southern countryside. Not floating in the air in such an abysmal place.

The only way to the house was to carefully step upon floating stones that gently rose towards the sky. The stones did not move when she placed her foot upon them, but they looked as though they should. They were a particularly good deterrence to people who did not absolutely need to see Bones.

Wolfgang allowed her to go first. This was both a meeting for him and for her. Lyra had not wanted to confront the man who had made her what she was today. He had gifted her with everything she needed to take care of herself and then some. Now she was going to throw that back in his face.

A part of her didn’t want to. She wanted to curl up in the safety he offered even though it meant giving up her freedom. She wouldn’t have to worry anymore. Everything would be provided for her as long as she followed his rules.

Lyra hated those rules. She hated everything about the deadly promises he whispered. Though she wanted to return to him, Lyra knew she never would. There were better places for her now.

Her balance never wavered, and her eyes never moved from the red front door of the white house. Her foot stepped onto the porch with a sharp click.

Wolfgang stood beside her and placed his hand on her back. “Are you ready?”

She looked up at him as he asked the question a second time. His mismatched eyes stared down at her. In that moment, she knew if she asked him to leave he would.

“Yes, I’m ready.” Taking a deep breath, she lifted her hand and sharply rapped upon the door three times. It was now or never. There were lives on the line, and her own pride had be offered as sacrifice.

The door opened almost immediately.

There he stood in all his ebony glory. Bones. He was larger than life this close. The long dreads of his hair swept to the middle of his chest. They clacked as the bones and beads shifted with his body. His startling chocolate eyes bore into her soul.

“Bones,” she said tartly. “You’ve gotten bigger.”

A small smile made his full lips twitch. “So the prodigal child returns.”

“Not without plenty of interference from your end. Hunting me down like an animal doesn’t make me want to come home.”

He shrugged. “We all have our ways.”

Lyra was surprised he had not commented on Wolfgang’s lithe form standing in her shadow. Frankly, she was surprised that Bones hadn’t said a word about any of it. He had been hunting her for so long. Appearing in every reflection. Pulling her towards a portal at the bottom of a swamp.

And here he was, leaning against his door jam as they floated in the air. He was the picture of relaxation. She peered closer, and her feathers instantly ruffled as she realized he was also slightly smug.

She grit her teeth. “You knew we were coming.”

“Of course I knew you were coming. What kind of Lord would I be if I didn’t?”

“Just let us in already, would you?”

“I distinctly remember the last time I reached out to you, you said you would never step foot in this house again.”

She remembered too. He had contacted her months after she had snuck away with Jasper. They had moved into Haven as quickly as possible because she had known he wouldn’t be able to touch her there. Not until her contract was up, at least.

Lyra shrugged. “Time changes things.”

“Mm.” Bones made an unimpressed noise but moved aside. “It has less to do with time and more about a creature who walked out of his grave without permission.”

She wasn’t about to get in the middle of a pissing contest between two lunk headed, powerful men. Lyra quickly stepped past him. They could deal with each other while she got herself settled.

She paused in the front room. Bones always made people take their shoes off. His home was his oasis, he used to say. The old memories filtered into her brain as though she had never left this cursed place.

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