Ruein: Fires of Haraden: Action/Adventure Necromancy Series (Books of Ruein Book 2) by G.O. Turner (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

and Twigs. Incredulous expressions gaped up at her. Liv glanced at the goblin, the dagger driven up into his skull. “Baylor’s fiery balls! What the fucking hell?”

No! This was not the time.

Undead rage torqued through her chest and arms. To the pop of her rotator cuff, Ruein back-cartwheeled onto the roof. Rounding over, her arm delivered a snap as it settled into her collar. Ruein backpedaled.

The shrouded woman was already two roofs away.

Directing her glaive base forward, she launched through her legs. Ruein struck the roof’s edge with the weapon’s pommel and hauled all of her weight beneath the bladed end. Her vault sprung forward from the bend of the pole. Mid-sky, she held through to her landing upon the other roof.

Ruein flipped the blade beneath as she rose to her feet. Speed—she needed more. Gaining ground wouldn’t be enough; she needed to ensure the chase.

A free hand darted into her component pouch. Ruein tightened on the squishy packet, infusing it with draconic. Her arm extended to where the spell erupted forth.

The furthermost drop-off came alive in a writhing darkness of its own. Black tentacles exploded from the rooftop in a wild, grasping frenzy. Each over three yards in length, they formed a dark field against which none could easily prevail.

With a short jump to the next roof, Ruein closed for her trap. She honed her darkvision in a search of black upon black, only to see the figure rise above.

In a tumbling arc, the shroud moved beyond their reach.

No. Not that easy.

Unslowed, Ruein made a dismissive wave at the tendrils’ spell. Leaping between, she felt their cool touch slither away, as they returned to the eternal void.

Now, her way unencumbered, she prepared to land for the next roof.

Only there was none.

Nearly four stories of open air appeared before her, with dirt far below. Nothing to block or grab. Just the shroud and her black, skeletal wings spread wide. The dark figure glided off in a steady descent.

Ruein’s path held no such grace.

Her arms windmilled, legs flailing as the ground rushed to meet.

She wiped humility from her eyes, along with a coating of dirt. Ruein’s head cricked as she craned around from her roadside view. Haraden tilted up at her as Liv, Ceer, and Twigs dashed closer.

“What in your unholy hells was that?” Liv skidded to a stop, dusting Ruein and clouding her vision yet again. The Lightbringer snatched her over. Liv’s brown eyes went wide. “Shit. You really don’t look good. Worse than your dive”—she draped the front of her vestments over Ruein’s face—“your bullshit illusions have lapsed.”

Liv picked up the elven cap beside Ruein and beat at it to knock loose the dirt, then replaced her vestment-cover with it.

Ruein surrendered up a nod. Popping joints back to where they belonged, Ruein triggered Aequen’s hat with a sylvan word. The cap melded into a hair comb. Her skin tones returned to their wholesome flush, her uncovered eyes—their hollow blue.

Ruein panted out, “I…nearly had—”

“Had? There’s a choice word.” Liv tipped her head back. “Light above. The damn goblin is dead, Ruein. Just one more corpse for your questioning. Might have occurred, if he were living, he’d have a lot more to offer? Gods! You jumped from all the way up there. What? Dying once wasn’t enough?”

Twigs leaned in. “Illusions or not, Ruein is hurt. How are we supposed to heal someone…who’s…already dead?”

On cue, Ruein’s fingers spread. Cinders swirled in her palm. They merged and crackled in a blood aura. Her charnel touch, an inflictive power. Pressing the miasma into herself, its dire strength seeped through unseen wounds. It wasn’t much. She’d need more.

Ceer jostled at Liv’s shoulder. “Elite coming.”

Ruein grabbed at her sister. “I had her, Liv.”

“Had? Had who?”

“Our undead slayer.”

21

Alone in their citadel chamber, a bitter scowl was all Ruein could muster. Some grief stemmed from her mangled trek back to the Apex, but most were from her sister’s constant scoldings.

She’s not wrong, though.

Her sister, Liv, had crushed enough undead to know how tenuous Ruein’s hold to this mortal world was. Once destroyed, that was it. There was no necromantic second path from something once undead.

The living had a luminescent fuzziness for skirting about the verge of death. Someone gravely wounded could plunge some distance yet still be pulled back under the right care. No such gray zone for the undead. Past the limit of their unlife, they simply ceased. And a Lightbringer’s healing arts had nothing for Ruein. Self-reliance was all this necromancer had.

The shredded remnants of her heart seemed to flutter from a hollow breeze.

I would feel for her…if I could. What Liv must be going through—losing those she was closest to. Sad to think, her only dreg of a friendship left is me. Her pain must be so deep to not be willing to part with an abomination. I’ve nothing to give in comfort.

She deserved better.

Liv had afforded her a lengthy solitude to recover from injuries. Her sister chose the time to convene with the council. Good news was that their wanted goblin had been resolved. Though Haraden offered no reward, Ceer and Twigs would be satisfied enough to be championed and treated as heroes. Perhaps later there’d be further celebrations of their efforts. Likely they were in an adjoining room, preparing themselves to be received.

Ruein smirked at the dreariness reflected outside. The darkened clouds beyond their balcony receded with an early fall of evening. Rains cascaded across the outer stone tiles, cutting the pall of sulfur on the air.

She’d left Scratch’s remains on their chamber table. An errant glance at the mirror reflected the shredded remnants of what had once been satin finery. Her palace garb was never intended for a rooftop scramble and fall such as that.

Damn it! I almost had her.

Ruein grabbed at the hilt buried under the goblins jaw. She yanked it free. This’ll do. Plying its whetted edge between her garments, her frustrations sufficed in ripping the rest of her clothes off.

She tipped the goblin’s