Blue Blood (Series of Blood Book 3) by Emma Hamm (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

“You have to try.”

“It was nice to have hope for a little while.”

He couldn’t stand to see the pitying expression on her face. They had tried and they had failed. Now, he didn’t know what was going to happen to them.

The Minotaurs advanced. Their boots stomped upon the floor as though they still had hooves. The sound echoed the loud beating of his heart.

Mercy’s flames formed a ring around Jasper and Ella as she reached them.

“Why are we waiting?” she rasped.

“We’re not going to make it through them,” Jasper replied.

“I’ll burn them to a crisp. We’ll walk through their ashes to our freedom.”

“Do you think you can kill all of them before they reach us?” His voice echoed pain as he stared up at her. She was an avenging spirit who had taken the lives of many. But he knew fire took a while to turn something to ash. The Minotaurs would not stop if they were in pain. They would not stop until their bodies shut down.

She looked down at Jasper with empty eyes before she knelt beside them. “Then can you teleport us?”

“No, I’m in too much pain.”

The Minotaurs were close now. He could feel the floor shake.

Ella leaned forward and took his hand. “Jasper, you have been very kind to me. I appreciate you bringing light into the last moments of my life.” Before he could respond, she reached for Mercy. “You take care of him.”

The women’s eyes locked.

“What?” Mercy sounded surprised.

“Take care of him, and be the person he needs. You have it in you. I’m certain of it.”

He watched a smile spread across her lips. Her eyes bathed them in blue light as the Unicorn inside her took control over her body.

“Take this with the knowledge that I want you to succeed.”

She reached up and took hold of her horn. With a great yank, she snapped it off of her skull. Blood oozed from the wound immediately, but no blood remained on the horn she handed to him. Pristine and without a speck of red, it glimmered with a film of magic. Jasper reached for her with his other hand.

A Minotaur’s hand grabbed her and dragged her through the fires. Jasper desperately tried to catch hold of her, but she slipped from his fingers. All that remained was a small scrap of fabric in Jasper’s fist and the sparkling horn clenched in his other.

Mercy screamed in anger, and the flames grew white hot. Jasper could hear the Minotaurs begin to scream in pain.

“Teleport us!” Mercy yelled.

“I cannot!”

He heard her let loose another frustrated shout and she knelt. Tears streaked through the smudged ashes dirtying her face. For the first time since meeting her, there was true emotion in her eyes.

She had been affected by Ella. He did not know why or how, but the sacrifice had broken down this Amazon.

Her lips twisted. She swiped the tears from her cheeks and growled, “How about now?”

Pain blinded him as her palms slapped down on his wounded wings. His spine arched. He threw his head back in silence, incapable of making any sound to express the shattering shock of his wings being forcefully manipulated.

And then the pain was gone, as if it had never existed.

Her fingers traced the delicate membranes now stretching strong from his back. She stared into his eyes and shifted her fingers, dancing the pads of her fingers where his wings met warm skin. He lost his breath.

“Mercy?” The voice didn’t sound like his. It was strange, hoarse. Perhaps from the smoke.

“Teleport us, Fairy,” she commanded. “Get us out of this hell.”

Who was he to tell this goddess of fire no?

He allowed her to hold onto his wings and teleported them away.

8

Mercy clutched Jasper’s wings, wondering how she gotten herself tangled in this mess, as the forest materialized around them.

She looked up to make certain no one else was around and froze when she saw the tree before her. She remembered that burn in the tree, but it hadn’t looked like that the last time she had seen it.

Memories filtered through her mind as she watched the past play out before her. The tree had been new, its bark tough and leaves just budding with early spring. As they dragged her body through the forest, she had reached out in panic and burned through its trunk. Charred wood had scraped her hands and left black streaks behind.

Mercy was glad to see it had healed well.

Standing wasn’t easy. The memories of her imprisonment made it difficult to breathe, let alone stand. She inhaled shakily and tried to clear her tumultuous mind.

“You took me here?” she finally snarled. “Are you locking me away again?”

She spun on her heel and glared at the Fairy, who was still on his knees at her feet. He wasn’t looking at her or reacting to her words. His gaze was fixed on his open palm and the  Unicorn horn gleaming in the dappled light.

Mercy wanted to roll her eyes. It was a horn. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, perhaps a little bit more. It was capable of saving their lives, but a gift should never be looked upon with such horror.

She knelt down in front of him and dropped her gaze to the horn.

“That was nice of her,” she said.

“Nice? This was a sacrifice that never should have happened.”

His gravelly voice sent a shiver dancing down her spine. Ridiculous, really. There was no reason for a voice to make her react that way. But it did. Oh, how it did.

“You shouldn’t waste it, then,” she told him. “Sacrifices are rarely made when they are not necessary.”

“Don’t be so cold about it. This was attached to someone. She was a good person.”

“A good person who got herself locked up.” Mercy’s tone was bitter as she rose. “In my experience, those are rarely good people.”

“You were locked up.”

He stared up at her as though she were the devil. Mercy supposed she could be,