Struck: (Phoebe Meadows Book 1) by Amanda Carlson Read Free Book Online Page A

yellows—like vines, making it look like black rivulets were leaking back into her brain. “You will never leave here,” she whisper-snarled, clearly enjoying her torment. “This is where you die .”
    A noise interrupted Verdandi’s reign of terror, and I flicked my eyes away from her terrible face, happy to look just about anywhere else.
    Bragnon had scurried up behind her. Up close, he was just as awful as she was. He had leathery skin running in shallow folds around his head like a lizard. His eyes were rheumy, discharging a sickly greenish liquid. He opened his mouth to guffaw at my discomfort, and I glimpsed row after row of pointy shark teeth, immediately remembering what Ingrid had said about them being full of poison.
    Oh, Ingrid! What am I doing here? Where are you?
    “You are ourssss now,” Bragnon hissed as he came to stand next to his missus. “You will do well to keep quiiiiet . No use for talking nowww .”
    “Yes, that’s right, dear,” Verdandi said in a mockingly sweet tone. “Listen to Bragnon. No more talking.” She stepped back slightly, so there was a tiny space between us, and brought her index finger up. Her nail was long and jagged and yellowed with age.
    The tip touched my cheek, and I flinched back, arching my head as far as it could go. When my face lost contact with the nastiness, I begged, “Please let me go! I don’t know what you want from me, but I’ll do anything. Please, don’t do this!”
    The earth began to shake.
    It took me a moment to realize the troll had entered the room.
    “Verdandiiiii,” it bellowed. “Human.”
    “What is it, Junnal?” Verdandi said impatiently, leaving her finger blessedly off my cheek for the moment. “I don’t have time for interruptions now. You will be paid as was agreed. Now go away. Use the portal in the barracks to get home.”
    When the giant didn’t go, Verdandi glanced back, irritated.
    “Human…hurt,” it managed as it thumped closer, my legs vibrating with each step.
    “Yes, yes, the human will hurt. We’re working on it. If you’re patient, I might even give you a turn, Junnal. I will render her useless first, and then you may have her. We will show her together what hiding from the Norns truly means.” She turned back to me. “You cannot override your destiny, child…no matter who your father is or where you choose to hide .”
    Out of the corner of my eye, Bragnon smiled in greedy adoration, rubbing his alligatorlike hands together. After the troll had his turn, I’m sure the wonderful ettin would kindly take his. Sinking his poison into me would be the final icing on my death-filled cake.
    The earth stopped rocking as Junnal came to a stop next to Verdandi.
    Verdandi chose to ignore the giant creature next to her, giving me an evil smirk and staring at me with her chalky, dead eyes. “Now where were we? Ah, yes, punishing the bastard girl who thought to elude us for all these years. We foresee all of what is told, and you were not meant to be.” She was so close her spittle coated my face, and bile took up residence in the back of my throat, where it had found a permanent new home. “You are a stain on our world, a mixed breed of dirtied blood, an ugliness that must be eradicated. Yggdrasil, our beloved tree, will take your soul as payment for your lies—as payment for being born !” She lofted an arm above her head, her nails fanned out like claws, a grimace of pleasure forming on her lips. Her eyes rolled back in their skeletal sockets, her unbridled ecstasy at my impending doom seeping out of every single pore in her body.
    My gaze locked on her gnarled hand.
    I was pressed back as far as I could go, still trying to will myself through the tree. Verdandi was going to tear me to shreds with her evil, jagged nails, and there wasn’t anything I could do. I clenched my muscles, bracing for the impact, my hand tightening around the dagger still in my hand. Sweat had saturated the hilt, dripping onto the floor.