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He stalked to the door as her fury raged She wouldn’t allow him—or anyone—to belittle her association with Darien or , there was no disputing that fact And while they were difficult to reconcile, they weren’t crude or tawdry Or fleeting
Before leaving, Michael said, “Think about what you’ve gotten yourself into, Jade It could turn out deadly for you”
She wanted to throw so at the door he closed behind him, but the other indisputable fact was that her best friend was right She continued to fume over the situation when it dawned on her that Michael shouldn’t be this far outside the village on his own Grabbing the sword, she raced out of the cottage
“Michael, wait!” she called after hiet my coat and I’ll ith you” He didn’t slon “Michael! You stubborn ass—”
A sudden burst of flaained her footing, thanks to her ith Tanner She rushed forward as the fire wraith appeared His horse galloped toward Michael, sending snow flying in every direction The fiery poltergeist lit up the dark night in a bone-chilling,way
“Move!” she screamed at Michael
The ed and its shoulder clipped Michael as it whizzed past hirunt of pain
“Michael!”
Jade couldn’t get to hiht for her, its nostrils flaring and foa from its parted teeth She lifted the sith both hands, prepared to fight But a fireball expelled fro heat surged down the blade to the hilt
She cried out from the burn she received and dropped the sword Jade fell to her knees and pressed her hands against the snow as pain lanced through her
Without giving her time to catch her breath, the horse lurched The flames around the cloak of the wraith and in his eye sockets vanished Dressed in black he was iered, skeletal hand that shot out of a sleeve
With a death grip on her upper arh the woods, his thundering hooves echoing all around them
The demonic beast cut a path in the dense forest Tree li her skin and shredding her sweater as she tried to shield her face Terror seized her soul as the horse wove its way through the thick foliage with such speed that the surroundings became a blur She closed her eyes and continued to battle the branches swiping brutally over her flesh
Finally, they broke free of the woods and she opened her eyes They’d reached a clearing that lay before the abandoned church that had been built high above a stone ade dee, shortly after it’d been established
Jade’s pulse raged in her ears as she stared up at the reed steeple Despite the hidden by drifts, the horse she involuntarily rode reared and then pitched forward, taking the treacherous stairs with her on its back and the wraith floating weightlessly behind her