Crushed (City of Eldrich Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

of the many worlds where she wasn’t very popular at the moment.
    The news of Fahraya’s destruction had swept through the magical realms, with Meaghan shouldering most of the blame. But, on the upside, while nobody wanted her negotiating services, her gatekeeper credentials were now well established. If they don’t respect you, she thought, better make sure they fear you.
    She tugged at her chlorine-faded swimsuit and plopped down on the edge of the pool to put in her earplugs before slipping into the water. She wrestled on the silicon swim cap, adjusted her goggles, and pushed off from the wall into the lap lane.
    The water, cool and soothing, enveloped her and she settled into her routine. Up and back she swam, in alternating strokes, letting her mind wander. But, as usual these days, her thoughts soon settled on the events of ten weeks before.
    It still didn’t make sense. The accepted reason for Jamie’s abduction—the power struggle between Jamie’s father, John, and V’hren—had never convinced her.
    Why now, after all these years, had V’hren tried to kill Jamie? Meaghan couldn’t believe it was merely to consolidate power. V’hren had controlled Fahraya for eighteen years, despite efforts by his son, Jhoro, to mount a resistance. But Jhoro, a fugitive with a handful of ragtag followers scratching out a living in the barren hills, had been no threat.
    John, the former king and V’hren’s exiled brother, posed no threat either. V’hren had cut John’s wings from his back before allowing him to escape Fahraya, and for the next eighteen years, John had lived in a gin bottle, too ashamed to raise his own son. Wings were a big deal to Fahrayans.
    Or, at least they had been. Before everyone became human. Now, nobody had wings. John was king again. Sort of. He really didn’t want the job, but Jhoro, the logical choice, was as lost in the human world as the rest of the Fahrayans.
    Meaghan stopped to catch her breath, her arm aching in the spot where the giant scorpion had stung her. She tried a few careful stretches, but she knew it wasn’t a cramp. It was a deep ache that never quite went away.
    So she ignored it and went back to worrying about Jamie.
    While technically the rightful heir, Jamie hated Fahraya. Five minutes of intelligence gathering would have made clear to V’hren that Jamie had no intention of returning and claiming his lost birthright. Better an average guy in paradise than king of a pre-literate Stone Age dump like Fahraya.
    Her heart no longer pounding like a conga drum, Meaghan grabbed her kickboard. She thought about putting on her training fins, but she’d also banged up one of her knees in Fahraya, and using the fins made it hurt again.
    I’m too old to be an action hero. With a sigh, she pushed off from the wall and began her leg work.
    What bothered her most was that the accepted narrative assumed that V’hren acted out of self-interest, to protect his position and further his ambition. But V’hren was no longer V’hren. Something had consumed him from the inside out, a malevolent force that wore his body like clothing.
    The Power. According to Natalie, the Power was a new player, at least in Eldrich. A non-corporeal entity that lived on fear, pain, and despair—negative emotions—it required a host. Bitter by nature and jealous of his brother, V’hren had fit the bill.
    But why did this thing want Jamie? If not to protect V’hren’s throne, then why?
    And even if the Power was simply trying to eliminate V’hren’s competition, that still didn’t explain why V’hren’s hired muscle manufactured an excuse to drag Jamie back. V’hren had so thoroughly terrified his subjects that he didn’t need an excuse and the offense—Jamie changing into his Fahrayan form—by itself didn’t violate the treaty.
    Meaghan’s knee was starting to hurt now, even without the training fins. She considered dumping the kickboard for a leg float so she could concentrate on her arms, but