Sable Book 1 of Chaos Time (Chaos Time Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

sputtering with disbelief at ripping throb that flared bright hot.
    "Don't worry, Sable. You're not alone anymore. I've got you," he crooned in her ear and then stabbed her one final time, straight through her heart.

Chapter 4: Visions
    The bird flapped its broad powerful wings, coasting gracefully on an air current. Its black beady eyes searched the charred hills below. The air stank of blood, of violence and dark magic.
    Ahead a gray spiral of smoke loomed, like a dancing cobra. Half torn bodies were splayed out like macabre mannequins. Bits of blood and offal scattered about. It squawked a lament, a cry for her people, for their suffering.
    A flash of scarlet caught her eye. She tucked her crimson wings tight to her body and dropped to the ground with the speed of a falling meteor. The moment her talons touched terra firma she shifted, morphed into her alter form. A beautiful woman with hair the color of darkest night and eyes the lavender gray of twilight.
    Her bare feet brushed aside limbs like they were nothing more than stripped tree bark. The face as beautiful in death as it had been in life. Full red lips parted as if ready to utter greeting. His eyes were closed, but open they were the pure white of freshly fallen snow. He’d never been a kind man, except with her. He'd loved her and she him.
    "You did well, flaming one." The voice was dark and sinister and as cold as the northern ice lands.
    She knelt beside the body she'd loved more than any other.
    Dragden gripped her shoulder, his strong fingers bruising her collarbone. But she didn't care. She felt numb inside. Dead already.
    He threw a bag at her feet, the jangling ring of coin money sounded as it landed. "Thank you." His tone was mocking, cruel.
    “What is that?” she snarled.
    “You betrayed them all,” he could barely contain his snicker, “I only felt thirty silver coins apropos. Don’t you agree?”
    She refused to peel her gaze from her lover; to look at the blood money would be a blade to her heart. "He wasn't supposed to get hurt," she whispered. "He wasn't part of the deal."
    He snorted. "Who knew he'd grow a conscious in the end. Casualties of war."
    She touched his face, the skin cold and rigid. From the corner of her eye she saw the dark stain that spread along his torso. She was a warrior. A fighter. Not a healer. But for him, she'd break her vow. She tipped her head over his face; her hair fell around them like a curtain. A lone silver tear formed in the corner of her eye, tracking a ghostly trail down her cheek.
    The phoenix kiss. A part of her essence. Her soul. To divide herself this way would have dark consequences. But she couldn't—wouldn't live without him.
    The tear dripped onto his lips. She bit the inside of her cheek, willing the magic to work. Willing his soul to come back to her. She grabbed his hand, pulling it to her chest.
    "Don't leave me alone. You promised. Forever."
    Behind her, Dragden laughed. "You promised, forever. Oh how sickeningly sweet. A deals a deal, bird,” his words were cruel and cold.
    It should have worked by now. A phoenix kiss was true, the magic deep and pure. Her hands trembled.
    "Should I leave you here with the dead? Because, I should probably mention, he's not coming back. I made sure of it."
    Finally she looked at him, at the cruelly beautiful face, maniacal and twisted with evil, but utterly and wretchedly perfect. The devil was real. He stood in front of her with lifted peaked brows.
    "Too bad you split your soul like that,” he cringed and grabbed his heart, “that’s got to hurt.” He snorted with laughter. “I’ll be seeing you. Soon.” The way he said it made her break out in an immediate wash of cold chills. With a smirk he swirled into black shadow and vanished.
    She looked around, saw many faces she knew. Memories of times past, good ones and bad, ran like a reel through her head. The lure had been too tempting. Her desires too deep. She'd thought she'd known herself. Had felt so