Wounded: Book 8 (A Rylee Adamson Novel) by Shannon Mayer Page A

in the room was done up in black and white, shades of gray and not much else in the way of color. I knew where they’d taken me.
    The deepest level of the veil was not a place I thought I’d be visiting again. I was so royally fucked.
    Talia stepped into view. “I’m sorry. I did not want to bring you here. But it was the only way.”
    I got to my feet, didn’t bother to put my sword away. “Yet you did.”
    “Rylee, Talia is right. She had no choice. It is the way of the binding Orion has on her.”
    I turned to see Milly walk toward us. Her hair was bound back in a tight braid and her eyes looked haggard, as if she hadn’t slept in days. A blood red, floor-dragging gown hung from her body, the empire waistline accentuating the fact she was hugely pregnant. One hand cupped her belly, which had grown by leaps and bounds even in the short few days since I’d seen her last. She glanced down. “Orion has found a way to speed up the growth of my baby.” Her green eyes slowly lifted to mine. Despair echoed the horror I knew was in mine.
    “You can’t stop him?”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    I glanced at Talia. “Why did you bring me here; what does he want with me?”
    Yeah, I know the obvious would be he wanted to kill me, but he had an opportunity on the other side of the veil. I wouldn’t have been able to stop the rat pack from tearing me apart. Yet they’d waited on Talia to open the veil and bring me through.
    “Come on, we don’t have much time,” Milly said, striding past me. “Orion didn’t expect us to bring you in so quickly. If we make haste, you can be gone before he even knows you are here.”
    I had no choice but to follow her since there was no one else I could trust. “What are you saying?”
    Milly let out a sigh. “You didn’t read the papers I gave you, did you?”
    To be fair, I’d kept meaning to. Only I’d never found the time. “No. Why?”
    “If you’d read them, you would have known what was coming.” She started off again, her dress dragging through the skim of dust and dirt on the floor. Like the queen of a hovel.
    “What did it say?” I jogged to catch up, swayed and ended up leaning against the wall.
    Milly’s hands were on me in an instant, a flood of healing washing through me. “Rylee, how have you survived without daily healings?” Her voice held a thread of laughter and I couldn’t help but smile up at her.
    “Well, I’m getting better at letting people help me.”
    She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Come, we are almost there.”
    I felt refreshed like I hadn’t been in a long time, the cuts and bruises from too many fights evaporating as if they’d never been. I jogged to her side, and Talia followed at a slight distance.
    “What’s going on?”
    “You need the violet book of prophecy, the book written by the Blood of the Lost. You need it so you have all the steps to stop Orion. That is where all the answers are. But he has it in a spelled room I cannot unlock.” She blew out a sharp breath and clutched at her belly. A groan slipped between lips. “Gods, not yet.”
    Fucking hell, was she going into labor? The sound of fluid dripping onto the floor made me think that was exactly what was going on. “Milly, tell me you aren’t in labor.”
    “Hurry.” Was all she said as she used the wall for support. I slipped my hand around her waist and helped her walk. Her belly where it pressed against my side contracted and flexed and something hit me. I gritted my teeth to stop from freaking the fuck out. Like an alien life form, her baby kicked and fought to break free of his mother’s belly.
    We made our way to the top of a set of stairs that curled up out of sight. Narrow and tight, they would make a perfect bottleneck for someone coming after us. “You sure you can do this?”
    Milly nodded, though there was sweat on her face and her eyes were strained at the edges. She gulped in a breath of air and let it out in a slow hiss. “Let’s