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

go through this alone,” Jasper said, pushing at Tiny’s massive fingers.

“You would be walking to your death,” the Giant’s rumbling voice made Jasper’s teeth crack together.

“Then so be it.”

Jasper kicked his legs out and twisted. It loosened Tiny’s grip enough for Jasper to slip free. He hit the ground running.

Although, if Tiny had wanted to catch him, he could have. No man was a match for a Giant that large. But Tiny didn’t seem prepared to run into a situation where death was almost certain.

Jasper didn’t blame him. If he weren’t halfway in love with Mercy, he wouldn’t run into that pulsing wave of anger, either.

But he did.

He hit the first edge of energy with his shoulder and was nearly knocked off his feet. It felt as though he had hit a shield. This wasn’t just fire, it was a wall of heat with physical substance. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

He pushed through one wave, then the next, until he stood before the two women. Priscilla’s body was a charred husk. Ashes swirled in the air around Mercy like a blizzard, but she did not seem to notice. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her scream vibrated through the heat waves.

And in the center of her chest he could see the glowing embers of her heart. The incision she had made was closed, he realized. The glow was burning through her skin.

“Mercy!” he shouted. “Mercy, enough!”

She did not respond.

“Mercy!” he tried again. “Mercy, you will kill them all if you do not stop. Enough!”

This time it was his shout that echoed in the sudden silence. Though her head was still tilted back and her mouth gaped open, Mercy had finally stopped screaming.

Jasper wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. His wings opened and closed in agitation. He had come this far by making foolish decisions, he might as well continue.

One step. Another. Closer and closer he walked towards her, until he could kneel in front of her.

Priscilla’s body had taken the brunt of her rage. Mercy’s fingers had sunk into the scorched flesh so deep that she was fused to the corpse. Hesitantly, he reached for Mercy’s hands and tried to pry her fingers open.

“Come on,” he said quietly. “You don’t have to let her go, but you do have to release her body. You’re hurting her, Mercy.”

That got some kind of response. She tilted her head down to watch his movements. What he saw in her eyes filled his heart with dread. This was not Mercy. This was not a woman at all. Instead, this was a monster watching him with a strange detachment.

He did not bring it up. Asking her what had changed could only result in even more anger. So he busied himself with pulling her stiff fingers open. One of her hands released Priscilla’s crumbling arm.

“One down,” he told her. “One to go. You can choose to release her. I don’t think you really need my help to do this.”

She whimpered.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll help you.”

Three fingers opened and Mercy trembled. She let out a shuddering breath as the fourth was pulled free. When her thumb was pried loose, Priscilla’s body fell into her lap, and opened the floodgates.

She had returned, his Mercy. Just not in the way he had hoped.

Great quakes ran through her body, causing her spine to arch inwards. The shaking sobs were not unlike the heaving movements of vomiting.

“This is my fault,” she muttered, over and over again.

“No, no it’s not. I told you this already, Mercy. You have to listen to me. Blaming yourself for this is only going to hurt you. It’s what he wants.”

“This was me. I did this.” She stroked her hand down Priscilla’s face, which turned to dust in her fingers. “I did this.”

“Mercy.” He cupped her cheeks with his strong hands and forced her to look up at him. “Don’t look. Don’t look anymore. You stare at me. At my eyes, what color are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do know. You’re looking at me, and I need you to tell me what color they are.”

This sort of distraction used to help his little sister when he was younger. Jasper’s family had all been delicate creatures, but his sister had been a fragile human to begin with. When she had panic attacks, he would ground her by asking simple questions about the world around them. It seemed to help.

Mercy shook her head. “I don’t know what color your eyes are. All I see are shades of red.”

Another, stronger, pulse of magic erupted from her body. His knees left grooves in the ground as he was pushed backwards, but he held onto her face.

“Mercy, no!”

Tendrils of fire spread over her body like fast-growing vines. They curled around her and bloomed great, blood red bulbs swelling with her magic. The heart within her chest began to glow even brighter.

He wouldn’t let her do this again. She had fallen over the edge, and all he could hear was the Crone’s warning. Control her or you will find a monster at the end of your leash.

Jasper lurched to his feet and caught her around the waist. Throwing her over his shoulder, he sprinted towards the only thing he knew of that might stop her.

The river.

Barefoot and shirtless, he crashed through the undergrowth of the forest. The smell of singed hair stung his nose, and the sound of crackling fire was his symphony. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel. A cool, damp adventure that would potentially ease their suffering.

The sun rose through the trees before them. The sky turned a soft hue of lavender and rose. And underneath the light, filtering through emerald green leaves, he saw sunspots bouncing off the slow moving river.

He did not hesitate. He plunged into the water and sank underneath the surface. Within his arms, Mercy jerked once and went still, floating in the current..

The water had always offered a welcome haven to him. Jasper wasn’t a creature made