Page 120 of Beauty

“There’s something very wrong with her.”

I have to cover a smile because the hags are confused. Allthrough the long night they tortured me, leaving me a limp, sad thing. And thenthe bondmates answered my call. Over and over they sent small bursts of energy.But more than any amount of life force, what they truly sent to me was hope.

I hold myself up. I can feel my men. They’re a soft hum inmy soul, buoying me. They are out there now. I sensed them the moment theydropped from the eddy cloud and the battle began.

Yet the hags still focus on me.

Can they not hear the battle? They don’t seem to care evenif they know it has begun. We are deep in the dungeon, but I can hear thebroadcast from another bondmate or perhaps several. Now that I learned tolisten, I can hear them. I recognize Kaja’s voice, but there’s another. A verystrong voice sending out love and hope and prayers for something she callskicking serious ass.

I’m not sure what that means, but I’m grateful to thebondmate who is sharing her thoughts even if she doesn’t know she’s doing it.Hers is the strongest of the voices and she’s so hopeful. This woman is readyfor the fight. She’s ready for something she calls her happily ever after.

I like the idea. Happy forever. I just have to grasp it.

During the hours when I reached out to the bondmates in thepalace, my mind seems to have formed some sort of network, pulling them each inand connecting us all. I discovered some are close to death, others simplywaiting for that time, and many are being held for high-ranking vampires. Theyknew something is wrong with them, something was done to them, but they don’tknow what. They’re all afraid.

And they all want to fight.

He’s coming.

Maris’s voice is the oddest of all, but she seems to beplaying her part. Her part is to ship the king to me. I need to know whereTorin is. I need to make sure he’s close when I bring my power down.

The hags stare at me, and then the slender one brings herhands up, slamming them toward me, a gray mist rising.

A jolt of hot pain strikes through my system. I shield,keeping it utterly inside my own body. I don’t want to frighten the others orcause them pain. My body is caught in the mist the hags sent out. This mist isgray, unlike the pure black that engulfed Duffy. My heart clenches. I know he’sgone. Now that I can feel the mist, I’m sure Duffy died in it and Lach carriedhim with us. There is no other explanation.

It proves Shim is alive, no matter what he says. Shim stillfeels and eats and complains about the cold.

I shake and my insides feel like they will burst, and I holdon to those simple thoughts. I hear the hags argue and then another wave hits,the mist filling my whole being. My limbs quiver and bones ache. I try toremember every inch of their faces and how they like to hold me. Shim snuggles,his body cuddling mine, his legs moving between mine as though he’s trying tomake us one. And Lach. Lach surrounds me, pushing the world out until it’s onlythe two of us. Nothing compares to being between them. When I’m cuddled betweenthem, everything is right.

The fog lifts, and I’m left shaken.

“That’s better.” The hags never bothered to introducethemselves. There’s a wretchedly thin one and the other resembles a glob ofrancid pudding with eyes. I can’t stand to be around either. I prefer it whenthey hide their true faces.

The thin one looks at me critically. “I don’t know. Shestill looks pretty healthy to me. And we’d better hurry, dear one. Did you feelthat eddy cloud?”

The puddle of goo with eyes replies. “I did, sister. Thetriad is here along with her husbands. We knew this would happen. We counted onit. They should breach the palace walls, and then Torin will be slaughtered andwe’ll have her power. Do you understand what that means? The idiot doesn’t knowhow to use it, but I will be able to.”

I keep my face perfectly still. I don’t need them to knowthat I’m well aware of how to use my power. I intend to use it on them.

“Are you sure? You thought you would be able to hear them bynow.” The emaciated one taps her foot against the floor, her cold eyes dartingaround.

Her sister sneers my way. A long, taloned hand points towardme. “I just need one more soul. Hers. She’s the key, but then we figured thatout long ago. Our mistake was in trusting Torin. He was supposed to have caughther and brought her for execution.”

“Instead the dumb bastard just killed her. I wonder how shecame back. I’m sure she was dead.”

The big hag with cold, dead eyes stalks toward me. She putsa hand on my chest, right above my heart. “All things will be learned when wepry that damn soul out of her body. And then I’ll be the one who binds herhusbands, and I’ll be the one with the power.”

The idea of this odious woman having access to my husbands’power makes me sick.

The slender one frowns. “I don’t see why it has to be you.”

The hags continue to argue as they race to get theingredients for another spell. This one, I’m sure, will nearly kill me, and Idon’t dare open myself. Not yet.

I have to be strong. When I open wide, I will pull theirpower, and there will be no going back.

The hags begin to walk toward me when the cell door opensand Torin rages in.

He stops in front of me, giving me a once-over, his eyesnarrowing and his lips thin. A spark of recognition hits him, but he turns asthough I don’t deserve a moment’s notice.