The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 492

Chapter 492

It smelled sweet but with something bitter underneath. The world tilted before I’d even finished breathing it in. My knees buckled. The stone came up to meet me. Somewhere behind me, Bastian was shouting her name, and then the shout broke apart into coughing, and a second body hit the floor.

Boots crossed the chamber, calm and even, and stopped beside my face. I saw her crouch, touching her son’s cheek.

“I know it’s not ideal to find out your mother has the capacity to kill after all,” Stephanie’s voice said softly.” But it’s for the best… And besides, it’s not like you’ll remember any of this when you wake up. After all, accidents happen in places like this, and I don’t know how to climb mountains.”

I reached for the bond one last time.

“Ellie.”

I didn’t know if it went through.

Ellie’s POV

I sank.

And sank.

And sank.

The cold was everywhere, seeping in through my clothes, my skin, my bones. I couldn’t tell which way was up. I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open. I couldn’t tell if I was awake or unconscious, alive or dead.

But I knew this feeling.

The dark. The cold. The pain letting go of my body one piece at a time, almost a kindness in a way. I had died once before, in another life, and it had started exactly like this. A relief after too much pain.

Shapes circled just past the edge of sight. Long limbs. Eyes that caught light that wasn’t there. I told myself they weren’t real. They came closer anyway, and then one of them drifted out of the black with her hair floating around her ruined face.

Vivian.

Bloated. Gray. Her slender, pale hand reached for me through the water.

“Wolfsbane,” she whispered. Croaked. “It should have been painless… you were supposed to drink it, little sister … it was always supposed to be you…”

Her fingers wrapped around my throat. They were ice.

I thrashed. Bubbles tore out of me, the last of my air rushing away into the dark, and her face drifted closer, and closer-

Warmth.

Careful what you wish for, I supposed.

I hauled myself over the edge and collapsed onto the stones beside the pool, coughing up cold water until there was nothing left and shivering so hard my teeth ached.

“D-Dominic…” I reached for the bond.

Nothing. Not even a flicker.

I laid there gasping in the dark. It was pitch black and total. Even my wolf’s enhanced eyesight wasn’t strong enough to pierce it.

Except.

There was a little light. A faint blue glow, right at my hip, shining up through the soaked cloth of my pocket.

The fruit.

I dug it out with numb fingers and peeled away the wet wrapping. The glow swelled in my palm, burning brighter and brighter, until the fruit flared impossibly and cast a blue light that shimmered across the stone walls.

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