Miranda Grant's Blog - Posts Tagged "elemental-claim"

Every click of Charlie’s shoes pierced her ears like a knife to the stomach. Every breath she stole from the putrid cold air burned its way down her throat. Every closed door she passed in the empty castle mocked her with the reality of her imprisonment.

The bastard had summoned her.

It killed her to walk at a normal pace when all Charlie wanted to do was run. The suspense was tearing into her heart, ripping out huge chunks of her soul. She needed to know what Sebastian had done to her child more than she needed her pride. But it wasn’t her dignity that kept her legs steady and slow.

It was knowing that whatever she did now wouldn’t matter. Sebastian had already played his hand. Whatever sick action he had taken against her son couldn’t be reversed. Charlie would rather rot in hell than give the bastard the additional satisfaction of breaking her.

So she ignored the sharp pains in her heart that every footfall brought. She ignored the tightening of her throat as sobs lodged there along with the contents of her stomach. She ignored the motherly voice inside her as it begged with constant screams for her to pick up the pace, for her to end the nightmare haunting her imagination.

But as much as she wanted to pay it heed, Charlie ignored it all.

She had to.

For if she lost her spirit and weakened her spine, she lost Anthony. Once Charlie was broken, there wouldn’t be any reason for Sebastian to keep her child alive. So she would take everything that bastard threw at her with her head held high and her shoulders back.

And when she finally had the opening to kill him, she would take it with the utmost satisfaction.

It might not be today. It might not even be in this lifetime. But one day, Charlie would find a way to rip the bastard’s heart from his chest and toss it into the Eternal Flames. He would never be reborn again.

She held onto her anger as she walked the halls, desperate to keep her pace steady. With every step she cursed the vampire’s mind games. Sebastian had the ability to teleport to her exact location. Instead, he had sent a bitch with a letter. There was only one word scribbled upon it, but it was enough.

Written in blood, it demanded obedience.

Come.

She had first shaken with rage and fear, then stilled with cold determination. Fighting the tears and sobs that threatened to break her, Charlie had carefully folded the paper and placed it on her desk. Under the heedful gaze of Sebastian’s minion, she’d refused to look at the severed finger hanging above her.

As frail as her mind was, looking at Anthony’s pinkie would have destroyed her.

But now, as she’d had the chance to build up her strength, envisioning it only brought anger. Mountains and mountains of anger.

The bastard had harmed her child.

She was going to kill him. One day.

Over and over, she promised this to herself.

But all too soon, she was greeted by the menacing door of the throne room. As if doused by a fire extinguisher, her spirit diminished. Shakily, Charlie collected her breath and gathered up the jagged pieces of her soul. After binding them together with tape that did not stick, she kicked open the door.