“You’re talking about locking yourself in here and asking Sanchez to throw away the key!” I yelled. “Are you insane?”
“No.” He shook his head. “In fact, I cannot remember the last time I was able to think as clearly or as objectively as I am thinking right now.”
I looked at Sanchez. “Are you going to accept this?”
She turned her head to look at me, then nodded, slowly. “I have to. You know I do.”
“Sanchez, go,” the Horseman said, “Begin preparations immediately. I want this done within the hour.”
With a nod, Sanchez turned around and started running back down the way we had come, leaving me alone with the Horseman. With “Kaimos… please,” I said, “Think about this.”
“I have. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to walk through those doors with you into the light, but I can’t. The prison’s old magic is powerful enough to keep my Guardian’s psychic powers from escaping, and Sanchez will be able to put up a ward that will keep me from physically escaping. I need to find the answer to this, and I need to do it alone.”
“But—”
He stuck his hand out. “—you told me to fight.”
The candles.
The window to the ocean.
The sex.
Flashes of memory came rushing back to me, piecing together something that had been broken until now. “It was real…” I said.
He nodded. “Spending that little time with you was the most at peace I have felt in years,” he said. “I could have spent eternity in that cell with you, but you’re right. We would’ve grown to resent each other.”
I shook my head. “This is one of the few instances where I hate that I was right.”
“Likewise.”
A pause moved between us. It looked like he was going to take a step toward me for a moment, but instead he moved away, closer to the door to his room—the door into the darkness. Into his own cell.
“Kaimos,” I called out, stopping him from going further.
He turned to look at me. “Six…”
“I meant what I said. Every word of it.”
He nodded. “As did I.”
“Find the answer, Kaimos. Find it quickly, because I’m coming back for you.”
He swiped the air with his hand. “Absolutely out of the question.”
“Not from where I’m standing. You’re going to figure out how to beat this thing from the inside, and I’m going to figure out how to beat it from the outside—and then I’m coming back for you. I’m not leaving you here.”
“You won’t be able to pierce the wards Sanchez erects.”
“Good thing Seline is good friends with the Wardbreaker, huh?”
“Six, I can’t let you come back here. It will be too dangerous.”
“And I’m not leaving the man I love to rot in a tower.”
Kaimos didn’t know what else to say. For once, the Horseman of Devil Falls had been left entirely speechless. Nodding, I turned around and started running, too—running toward the exit, toward Seline, toward freedom. I wanted to hug her, to thank her for saving me. I wanted to wear real clothes. I wanted to eat real food.
But most importantly, I wanted to start figuring out how I could help Kaimos break his curse.
I wasn’t going to leave him in there, even if it meant the death of me.
Or both of us.
… to be continued.
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Also by Katerina Martinez
**(NEW)** THE DEVIL OF HARROWGATE
Book 1: Night Hunter
Book 2: Dusk Stalker
Book 3: Dawn Strider
Book 2: Day Breaker
THE WARDBREAKER SERIES
Book 1: Heart of the Thief
Book 2: Soul of the Storm
Book 3: Crown of the Queen
Book 4: Heir to the Throne
THE OBSIDIAN ORDER SERIES
Book 1: Wings of Light
Book 2: Wings of Night
Book 3: Wings of Shadow
Magic Blood Series
The Warlock
Book 1: Demons and Deception
Book 2: Mages and Masquerades
Book 3: Scions and Sorcery
Book 4: Hellfire and Homicide
Book 5: Warlocks and Wickedness
Magic Blood Series
The Primal
Book 1: Hunter’s Calling
The Blood and Magick Series
Book 1: Magick Reborn
Book 2: Demon’s Kiss
Book 3: Witch’s Wrath
The Half-Lich Series
THE HALF-LICH BOXED SET
Book 1: Dark Siren
Book 2: The Void Weaver
Book 3: Night and Chaos
The Amber Lee Series
THE AMBER LEE BOXED SET
Book 1: True Witch
Book 2: Dark Witch
Book 3: Shadow Witch
Book 4: Red Witch
Book 5: Devil’s Witch
The Cursed and Damned Series
Book 1: The Dead Wolves
The Order of Prometheus Series
Book 1: Smoke and Shadows
Book 2: Cloak and Daggers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katerina Martinez is a widely known author who writes supernatural fiction with a creepy, thrilling, and romantic bent. A veteran of many years of writing, she is the author of Dark Siren, the first book in the breakout Half-Lich Trilogy which became an instant bestseller in 2016. She continues to expand her back-list with books such as Wings of Light, Heart of the Thief, and Night Hunter - each a gripping addition to her already impressive roster of titles!
DAWN STRIDER
The Devil of Harrowgate
Book Three
Copyright © 2020 by Katerina Martinez & LJ Sampere
Visit: www.katerinamartinez.com
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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.