Author: Rachael Wade
Series: The Resistance Trilogy #4
Publication: August 25th 2013
Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult
Synopsis:
*Warning*
This is a short novella (approximately 25,000 words) and is intended to be read after The Tragedy of Knowledge. It takes place after the events of The Resistance Trilogy.
For Gavin and Camille, the Amaranthian war is over. But they’ve evolved since then, and so has the realm they’ve come to know as home. Now comfortable and happy in their new life, they soon discover that something groundbreaking is brewing, threatening to disrupt the peace they’ve worked so hard to secure. And whether they’re prepared or not, it’s about to be unearthed.
Excerpt:
“Tomb?”
I gulped, glancing around. “Gav…”
“This
isn’t just a secret passage,” he said, looking up to study the ceiling. “It’s a
grave.”
“What
kind of grave?” I slowly rose to my feet, crossing my arms over my chest. A
cold, slithering chill crept down my spine, and I could have sworn I felt the
temperature drop. “I’m ready to get out of here, now.”
“Wait,
baby, we need to do what the Book of the Ancients says. Isn’t that how this
stuff works?”
“That
was before. We’re not frozen souls anymore, Gav. Gérard’s positively gone. There are no witches trying to
help us destroy the curse. Whatever this is, it’s not the same. I can feel
it…something’s off.”
“We
can’t defend ourselves like we used to,” Gavin said quietly, his gaze roaming
the floor. “If this is some kind of threat, we’re at its mercy. We have to know
what to tell these people when we leave this passage.”
“Tomb,” I corrected him, feeling another
chill skate over my spine. “We’ll figure out what to say when we get home. I
don’t care. I’m getting out of here. I don’t want to know…whatever’s in that
box, I just don’t want to know, okay?”
“Cam,”
Gavin stepped in front of me, taking my face in his hands, “we can’t just walk
away from this, you know that, love.”
“No.”
The word came out hard and cold. A stern plea. “The second we do what that book
tells us, there’s no turning back. I’m not ready.” I squeezed my eyes shut and
shook my head. “Everything’s been so good…so, so good here. Let’s walk away
from this, please.”
“You
know that’s not an option. Open your eyes, Cam. Look at me.”
My
head rolled forward in defeat and I bit down on my lip. I slowly let my eyes
flutter open, knowing exactly what I was going to find on Gavin’s face when I
did.
That
soft, imploring expression of his, mixed with a trace of unwavering
determination.
“I
know the place you come from, remember?” he whispered, tucking my hair behind
my ear. “Before me. Before Amaranth. Before him,
even.”
My
lips parted at his words. We hadn’t spoken about Andrew in years. I hadn’t
brought him up. Not once. I had no need to.
“Always
waiting for the ball to drop, waiting for the rug to be pulled out right from
underneath your feet. That comes with trauma, Cam. With heartbreak. Just when
things begin to feel peaceful…you think everything’s going to be stolen from
you. I know you, remember?” He placed his hand over my heart, breathing deeply.
“You’re the same girl you were when I picked you up for our first date—remember
that?” He smiled fondly.
“Of
course.”
“You
were so beautiful, wearing your grey Chucks and that sexy black top. At first,
you hated dancing. But you let me drag you all over Café Des Amis, let me dip
you and spin you around and then you were laughing…so vibrant and strong.
You’re that same girl now. The one who quoted O’Connor and Maupassant. The one
who loved my chicken parmesan and who fought to the death when our friends
needed us. You’re that same girl right now, only you’re even stronger. You’re
the mother of our child. No matter what happens when we do what that book says,
no matter what’s going on here, you still have the strength you need to follow
through, because that strength never disappeared. And you know me, too. You
know I keep my word and that wherever this leads us, we’re in this together.
So, it’s okay to be afraid of losing what we’ve worked so hard for, here. But
know that you can handle this, and
that you’re never alone, okay? Never.”
“Shit,”
I murmured, my gaze falling to the Book of the Ancients. “Why do you have to be
right?”
Gavin
laughed softly and let his hand fall from my face. I marched forward, back
toward the stone case, bracing my fingers on its cool, heavy edge. “Okay, then.
Let’s get this over with.”
He
nodded swiftly and moved to join me, giving the coffin lid a strong push.
I
wasn’t sure what to expect when we opened this thing, but given the
circumstances, it couldn’t be pleasant.
“What…the…hell?” I groaned through gritted teeth,
throwing every ounce of my human strength into pushing the damn lid. “This thing isn’t going anywhere!”
“Keep
trying. Harder.” Gavin bent his knees and shoved mightily, working to slide the
stubborn slab of stone to the left.
“Ahh! I give up.” I dropped my hands at
my sides, completely out of breath.
“It’s
times like this I wish we had our frozen soul strength again.”
“Was
I always this physically weak as a human?”
“Pretty
much.” He shrugged, falling back against the wall with a labored sigh.
“Please,
don’t try to spare my feelings or anything.”
A
little chuckle slipped out between pants for breath, and Gavin shoved his hands
deep into his pockets. “Well, the book gave us plenty of light and pointed us
to this coffin. This doesn’t make any sense.”
I
was about to agree, but a low, heavy rumble and the sound of stone grinding
against stone stole my breath, calling my attention to the coffin’s lid. “Gav,
it’s moving.”
Gavin
pushed himself off the wall and hesitantly moved forward, taking my hand and
aligning me to the left, just behind him. “Dagger,” he whispered.
My
hand slid under my dress to the leather strap that held one of our old silver
daggers, the same ones we fought with during our battles as frozen souls. We
didn’t have the luxury of super human strength anymore, but we still knew how
to fight in combat, and these simple weapons would have to suffice.
Gavin
grabbed his knife, too, and we readied ourselves for whatever was about to
greet us.
As
we kept our eyes glued to the stone coffin, an irrational giggle bubbled up
beneath my breath.
“What’s
so funny?” Gavin hissed, glancing nervously at me.
“Nothing,”
I said, forcing another laugh down, “except for the fact that we’re holding up
knives to protect ourselves from…a dead person?” Gavin’s head swiveled in my
direction and his brows raised.
I
stopped laughing.
Yeah.
Vampire kings and queens, dead-witches-turned-reanimated-corpses, and magic?
Suddenly, a confrontation with a dead body didn’t seem so unlikely.
The
Book of the Ancients’ light flickered and flared, swelling and bathing the
passage in an even brighter light, almost to the point of blinding. The
coffin’s scraping sound gnawed at my ears and I winced, my heart flip-flopping
in my chest when I heard the cumbersome lid land with a clunk on the ground.
The scraping sound ceased and the tomb’s light dimmed, leaving Gavin and me
standing there in the quiet, musty hole. I swallowed hard and tensed up,
waiting for something to pop out at us like a cheesy haunted house display.
But
nothing happened.
The
air was still cold, the space eerily calm.
Gavin
picked up a lantern and took a step forward. “Are you ready?”
I
nodded then waited, not moving a muscle.
He
cautiously stepped forward, the sound of his shoes on the dirt path breaking
the piercing silence, and held the lantern up to hover over the stone coffin.
Every muscle in his neck and shoulders locked up, the tension in his back
visible from where I was standing.
“Gav?
What is it?”
“Come
see for yourself.”
My
eyelids blinked rapidly, my mind unsure whether it wanted to propel my body
into forward motion just yet. I fought the fear and took a step in Gavin’s
direction, slowly walking up to meet him at the edge of the coffin.
“It
can’t be,” I gasped and stumbled back, covering my mouth with a trembling hand.
“That’s not…it can’t be. How?”
“I
don’t know.” Bringing the lantern closer, Gavin illuminated the corpse’s face.
Only it wasn’t a corpse. The woman inside didn’t look dead at all. She was
flawless. Exotic. Strikingly beautiful.
She
was Samira.
Author Bio:
Rachael Wade writes edgy New Adult and Adult romance and science fiction. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling PRESERVATION SERIES, THE REPLACEMENT, and LOVE AND RELATIVITY, as well as the paranormal romance series THE RESISTANCE TRILOGY. When she's not writing, she's busy going to concerts, watching too many movies, and learning how to protect animals and the environment. She's an avid Brandi Carlile fan and loves all things Tim Burton. Visit her at RachaelWade.com and LightsO
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