To Snap a Silver Stem by Sarah A. Parker EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Sarah A. Parker
- Language: English
- Genre: Epic Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
A domed shell of lucent crystal shields us from the haunting eddy that
keeps slashing.
Slashing.
The beasts kick up dirt and pulsing red embers every time their
powerful paws assault the frosty soil—leverage for their frenzied attack on
the dome. As much as it’s protecting us, I feel it taking from me. Little sips
that turn my blood thick and cold.
My brother shivers in my lap, burrowing deeper with every earblasting blow.
They can’t have him.
I tighten my arms around him, bury my nose into his whitewash hair,
and close my eyes, savoring the smells of paint and spice and a hint of
toffee apples. Smells that stuff my chest with warm love and conjure up
visions of chiming giggles and half-moon smiles. Of familiar rooms
decorated with a patchwork of vibrant pictures stuck to stone.
Home.
I want to stay with the image and never leave …
A dense thud. A hiss of breath.
I open my eyes to see a fat, stubby nose slick with moisture pressed
against the crystal, fogging it with a violent chuff.
Slowly, I reach out my trembling hand, brush the dome’s smooth
interior, and gasp at the sudden, gulping tug that comes from deep inside
my chest. I flatten my palm, splay my fingers, and peer at the beast through
the gullies between them.
You. Can’t. Have. Him.
Its upper lip peels away from its teeth, and a violent roar blasts free of
its boastful chest while the others alternate between slashing at the dome
and trying to bore beneath it.
“W-what do they want?”
My brother’s small, fractured voice has me snatching my hand back,
gasping as I battle the shadowed haze threatening to overtake my vision.
He’s watching through wide eyes, his jagged limbs flinching at every blow
—each quivered recoil an axe to my heart.
I cup the side of his face to shield him from that blood-lusting stare.
But I hold it. Threaten it.
What do they want?
Me.
You.
“Everything,” I whisper, bringing my gaze back to his. “But they can’t
have you.”
Because in this nightmare, I’m bigger. Stronger.
I’m going to be his hero this time—not the other way around.
He blinks at me with big eyes that lack their usual luster. “They
already got me, Ser …”
The words lock my spine.
“No. I’ve got you.” Teeth chattering, I tighten my grip. “You’re here
with me. S-safe. Forever.” A snarled challenge to the circling beasts.
Another onslaught strikes the dome—the strident sound cutting
through me like a blade. He doesn’t flinch. Not even when a splintering
crack attacks us from all angles.
A warm dampness blooms against my palm, and I look down, pulling
my hand from his back. I blink away the frosty haze, trying to focus on the
smear of wetness there. Like I’ve been finger painting with liquid starlight
blushed with a kaleidoscope of muted colors.
It’s … it’s him.
My heart splits like a seam, inch by painful inch, and I try to breathe
past the pit in my throat as I bury my face in his hair.
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