Free Lichgates: Book One of the Grimoire Saga (an Epic Fantasy Adventure) by S.M. Boyce Page A

breathing steadily once more, and scratched its ears in a withdrawn welcome. Rowthe stood still as she used a boulder to climb onto its back, but it pranced and pinned its ears against its head when Braeden tried to do the same.
    “Be kind, Rowthe,” Adele muttered.
    The flaer flicked an ear toward her as she spoke and rooted itself in place at her command. It craned its neck toward Braeden as he walked around to hoist himself onto its back. It stomped as he mounted.
    “Go directly to Hillside and don’t stop,” Adele commanded. “Once my trust is broken, prince, you will never get it back.”
    He nodded from his perch behind Kara, avoiding eye contact to quell the rising tide of sarcastic rebuttal. He turned to wish Adele the best, despite their cold welcome, but she and Garrett were gone. The cave was quiet, empty and still, and Kara nudged his side.
    “Which way, Braeden?”
    He paused. She was still pale, her eyes downcast and conflicted. Adele had told him not to break the muses’ trust, but he didn’t care about them. If he wanted anyone’s loyalty, it was Kara’s.
    “Do you want to see your father?” he asked.
    She twisted around and scanned his face. “Are you testing me right now?”
    “You made me relive losing Mother. I would give anything to have spoken to her once more, to tell her that I would find my own way. You have that chance.”
    “I don’t want to get him killed, Braeden.”
    “Then we need to hurry. We can take him with us to Hillside before anyone finds him. He will be safe there. You, however, need to be prepared with a quick explanation of what’s going on so that he comes with us. We will not have much time to explain.”
    Her hands tightened into fists as she weighed the consequences of this new option. Her gaze flitted around the room, no doubt waiting for the muses to appear again, but it was calm.
    “My Camry is in a parking lot on Salish Mountain in the Montana Rockies,” she said.
    Rowthe’s ears pricked backward, as their destination must have flashed across Kara’s mind. The creature took a few short steps and bolted through the wall. A sharp kick twitched in Braeden’s stomach as they passed through the rock, and before he could blink, they were racing through an underground cavern somewhere in the mountain’s depths. Their sprint left him no choice but to wrap his arms around Kara in an attempt to grab the beast’s mane, but she hardly seemed to care that he’d touched her. Her eyes shifted out of focus.
    Doubt panged in his gut. He hoped this wasn’t a mistake.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    HOME
     
    Kara could barely see in the dark tunnels and caverns through which Rowthe ran. The walls blurred by, passing too quickly to appreciate. Guilt and panic wrestled in her stomach when she thought about seeing her father. But, despite the nerves, the adrenaline keeping her awake began to fade. The sleep in the lumbering cage was, apparently, not enough to sustain the constant rush of excitement Ourea offered. Her eyelids drooped, only snapping open with each kick to her stomach that came from passing through yet another wall.
    Eventually, her eyes glazed over and the deep exhaustion won. Her last thought as she fell into a deep sleep involved the hope that Braeden would keep her from falling.
     

    Kara awoke to a sudden, cold breeze. They were in a parking lot staring at her borrowed multi-colored Camry as the calm night chirped around them. Leaves rustled in the wind. A sprinkling of stars dotted the dark blue sky above. Braeden dismounted, and she slid off as well. She didn’t notice he’d offered her a hand until she landed on her feet.
    She studied the night sky. “Wasn’t there daylight when we left Ourea? How long was I out?”
    He shrugged. “Lichgates take you to a pocket of the earth, so that was a different place, in a different—well, I guess you could call it time zone. I would say only about six hours have passed since Deidre threw you in that cage with