And Jak himself came hurtling through the window.
She caught a glimpse of him: scarf tied around his head like a feral pirate, face smeared with blood that spattered the white lace trimming his shirt, dagger clenched between his teeth. As he tucked, rolled, and sprang to his feet, he drew the Silversteel sword and pulled the dagger from his teeth in the same motion, roaring, “Unhand her, foul beast!”
The creature thrust her away, spinning and running at Jak.
But she held on to its emotions, twisting them tight in her mental grip. Even as it dove at Jak, it staggered, clapping its hands to its head.
And Jak ran it through with the Silversteel sword.
It screamed, the sound like a jungle chorus of animal howls, the death shrieks of countless prey and the snarls of predators as they killed. Recovering, it fastened its big hands around Jak’s throat, lifting him off his feet and throttling him.
“Stay back!” Jak yelled in her head, even as he brought his dagger around to slice open the thing’s fleshy throat. No blood spilled out, and its thoughts barely registered the wound. The Silversteel sword, however, that burned, the borrowed flesh around the metal shriveling away, necrotic, returning to the death it had been stolen from.
And Stella knew what to do.
Still twisting the creature’s emotions around themselves, she ran up behind it and plunged both daggers into its ears with all her strength. An unholy wail went up as it stiffened, dropping Jak. Stella staggered back—realizing belatedly that she shouldn’t have let go of her daggers, and the creature turned on her.
Its face was distorted, as if made of candle wax that rapidly melted under an unseen flame. “I love you,” it said, bewildered, betrayed, and furious in its hurt. “I love you!” it roared, gobbets of flesh falling away. The Silversteel sword clattered to the floor. Jak, already on his feet again, snatched it up. The thing’s body continued to collapse, the head teetering to the floor atop a mound of decaying flesh, her daggers sticking out of its mushy skull like absurd silver ears.
It stared at her, beseeching. “I love you,” it pleaded, the words dribbling away as its mouth melted into nothing.
She and Jak stared at each other across the mound of still-dissolving flesh. “Are you all right?” he asked.
Laughing breathlessly, she gestured at his battered and bloody self. “I should be asking you that. As usual, you’ve undone all my good healing work.”
He glanced down at himself ruefully. “And ruined yet another set of clothes.”
She laughed again, but it turned into a sob. “Oh, Jak.”
Then he was there, enfolding her in his arms, encircling her in all his strength and love. “Hush now, my star. You’re safe. I promised I’d come for you.”
“You did.” Letting the tears fall, she wrapped her arms around his lean waist. “I knew you would.”
The tower trembled beneath them, shuddering and teetering. “The tower may be melting like our friend here,” Jak muttered. “How high up are we, anyway?” Letting her go but taking her hand, he pulled her to the window and peered out. “Fuck me.”
“You didn’t know how tall it was?” she asked, perplexed, then braced herself against the wall as the tower tipped and swayed.
“It was invisible,” he answered absently, then glanced at her. “We’re too high up to jump out.”
“I landed in this room, so there must be a portal here. I’ll find it and open it.”
“You sound sure.”
“It’s gotten clever about hiding the rifts, but I learned some things from being in its mind.” She shuddered, and Jak squeezed her hand.
“Steady on,” he instructed gravely. “You came this far. Find that rift. I’ll get your daggers.”
She spared a glance for her blades, mired in the muck that was the creature. “Ugh. Leave them.”
“No way. They’re Silversteel, and that might be the best weapon against this thing.” Jak looked up from plucking the daggers from the fleshy soup. “Unless you think you killed it.”
“I wish, but no. We only destroyed this particular incarnation.” She felt the shimmer of the rift, staggering as the tower shifted again. Stones rained down outside. A hole in the ceiling opened. “I found it. Hurry.”
Jak dashed to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and giving her a sound kiss. “Take us home.”
As the floor dropped out from beneath them, wrapped in the arms of her beloved, she left the tower that had haunted her visions all her life. Suddenly, her future opened up, a bright and shining road ahead of her.
With Jak, always by her side.
The story continues in
The Dragon’s Daughter and the Winter Mage
Coming September 10, 2021
Titles by Jeffe Kennedy
FANTASY ROMANCES
HEIRS OF MAGIC
The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon
(in Under a Winter Sky)
The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince
The Sorceress Queen and the Pirate Rogue
The Dragon’s Daughter and the Winter Mage (September 2021)
The Storm Princess and the Raven King (January 2022)
BONDS OF MAGIC
Dark Wizard
Bright Familiar (July 2021)
Bonds of Magic #3 (October 2021)
THE FORGOTTEN EMPIRES
The Orchid Throne
The Fiery Crown
The Promised Queen (May 2021)
THE TWELVE KINGDOMS
Negotiation
The Mark of the Tala
The Tears of the Rose
The Talon of the Hawk
Heart’s Blood
The Crown of the Queen
THE UNCHARTED REALMS
The Pages of the Mind
The Edge of the Blade
The Snows of Windroven
The Shift of the Tide
The Arrows of the Heart
The Dragons of Summer
The Fate of the Tala
The Lost Princess Returns
THE CHRONICLES OF DASNARIA
Prisoner of the Crown
Exile of the Seas
Warrior of the World
SORCEROUS MOONS
Lonen’s War
Oria’s Gambit
The Tides of Bára
The Forests of Dru
Oria’s Enchantment
Lonen’s Reign
A COVENANT OF THORNS
Rogue’s Pawn
Rogue’s Possession
Rogue’s Paradise
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES
Shooting Star
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Last Dance
With a Prince
Since Last Christmas
CONTEMPORARY EROTIC ROMANCES
Exact Warm Unholy
The Devil’s Doorbell
FACETS OF PASSION
Sapphire
Platinum
Ruby
Five Golden Rings
FALLING UNDER
Going Under
Under His Touch
Under Contract
EROTIC PARANORMAL
MASTER OF THE OPERA E-SERIAL
Master of the Opera, Act 1: Passionate Overture
Master of the Opera, Act 2: Ghost Aria
Master of the Opera, Act 3: Phantom Serenade
Master of the Opera, Act 4: Dark Interlude
Master of the Opera, Act 5: A Haunting Duet
Master of the Opera, Act 6: Crescendo
Master of the Opera
BLOOD CURRENCY