Page 84 of Renegade Queen

I couldn’t concentrate on his next words as horror filled my body, and the panic truly started. The insect had reached my ear, but it wasn’t stopping there.

I felt blood slide down my neck as my eardrum ruptured and it burrowed deep inside. The feeling of it squirming and biting, tunnelling inside my head, had me screaming until I thought my throat would be stripped raw. Agony coursed through my body as it invaded my skull.

The madman beside me wrapped me in his arms, then laid his head on my shoulder as he stared dreamily at what was happening to me.

“What was it you were hopefully mumbling to yourself early? ‘Glory and madness?’ I’m going to have so much fun pushing you toward that madness you seek.”

He laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Waves of white-hot pain flared around the base of my neck, and I sagged in the one remaining shackle that held my other arm suspended, my tortured body failing me at the last second.

My mind clouded, and I could feel myself slipping away. But this wasn’t death which I would have gladly welcomed at this point. It was like being pushed to the side of your own body as something invaded your mind. Something cold and sickening seeped into every space of my being as it sunk its claws in deep.

Maddox.

I wasn’t going to let this happen.

Ryder.

I’d never stop fighting whatever this thing was.

Dean.

No matter what it cost me, I wouldn’t… I couldn’t… I…

“Welcome to Nymeria,” a voice whispered inside my head, and I fell, darkness surrounding me as everything faded away.