Novelas y relatos de The Thorn That Pierce Me

It felt real. I didn’t do the graceful forms the warriors practiced. I went to the scarred posts. I hit them. I kicked. I let the anger out—Ayla’s old terror, Liliana’s buried rage, my own cold fury. She won’t leave alive. My claws, tipped with Seris’s wolf-strength, tore long gashes in the wood. “Trying to redecorate?” The voice was a smug blade through the morning. Thorne leaned on the fence, dressed all in black, a king surveying his courtyard. A wicked little smile played on his lips.

I screamed as my chest seared. My vision blurred. Flames raced up my arms, my neck, and my spine. The bond flipped like a blade in reverse, cutting from his soul back into mine. I fell to the ground. Hands spasming. My magic, trying to pull itself apart. And then— Thorne tackled me to the floor, muttering something in the Old Tongue. His voice cut through the fire. The bond pulsed once more— Then dimmed. Not broken. Not healed. Just… scarred.

I made a mistake by bending down to remove it and my hand got stuck in the thorns as well I gave a loud heart piercing scream. Only the owls of the night responded by giving an angry hoot. My voice must have disturbed their night's rest. The moon was not fully out and I could barely see where I was going. All I know is that I must have gone half way through the thorn bed. This is just crazy, I can't go back now, it would be useless. “Just a few more steps.” I encouraged myself I cried as I forcefully raised my leg and still placed it on another thorn flower just to move forward.

Something patient. Then he walked away, leaving me standing in the stacks with my heart pounding and my skin burning where he'd touched me. I met Thorne in the courtyard. He was sitting on a stone bench, alone, sharpening a knife with a whetstone. The blade caught the sunlight, throwing silver flashes across his face. He didn't look up when I approached. "You're Thorne," I said. "Congratulations. You can read name tags." I blinked. "I—"

I could not communicate with Thorne, and I knew he could not help with healing me as long as that was in my system. I felt the sting of another whip tear through my chest. I let out a scream. This is the fifth whip that hit through the same spot ripping my chest open deeper. I knew the whip was laced with silver. I would have reminders of this torture to last a lifetime.

He asked, pulling me into him as if he could see easily through the chaos. Thorne groaned and a fire ignited in his palm — hellfire. It cut through the shadows revealing his face and body to me. I winced at the blood coating his flesh but couldn't see any visible wounds, "What the hell is happening there?" "It's bloody murder and I'm not sure when she'll run out of power," Thorne grunted as he pressed his fire into the shield causing it to instantly shatter, "I heal fast, though. She's going to have to do a lot more than shoot spikes made of water and wood at me to do actual damage."

Thorne shook his head again. “No,” he said firmly. “I am a Knight of Queen Luna. I must be able to fulfill my duty. I refuse the bond.” I felt like I’d been shot in the chest. I crumbled to the ground in pain. The burning and need that was once in my bones was replaced by an ice so cold and a pain so white. I cried out and dug my nails into my chest. I felt hands come to my shoulders. They did nothing to ease the pain I felt.

They were being bled again, not for a debt, but for sport. I fell to my knees, my forehead pressed against the iron bars. I could hear Kai roaring my name between his screams, a sound of such feral, desperate love that it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. "Hold on," I sobbed, my voice lost in the stones. "Please, just hold on." Thorne thought he had me. He thought he had won. He thought that by breaking the men I loved, he would make me crawl. He was wrong.

“Whatever hunts her knows exactly who she is. And it will not stop until she is claimed.. or destroyed.” The forest seemed to breathe with those words. Thorne gestured to the path ahead. “Come. The night listens.” We walked on, the air colder now, heavier. My thoughts spiraled, questions gnawing like teeth. Lunaborn. Seal. Parents I never knew. None of it made sense, and yet… somewhere deep, something inside me stirred, like a locked door rattling on its hinges. As we neared the edge of the woods, a sharp sting cut across my palm. I hissed and looked down. A thorn had pricked me.. though no bush stood near. My blood slowly dripped down like a little tap.

But as Thorn’s laugh echoed through the cave, I knew it was too late. I kept my movements slow, my fingers sore from rubbing the ropes against the sharp rock. The pain was unbearable, but I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. Every time I thought I might be close to breaking free, every time I tried to put more pressure on the ropes, the sharp pain from my wound pulled me back to reality. I could feel blood trickling down my side, soaking into my clothes, but I refused to give up. I couldn’t. Thorn’s mocking voice echoed through the cave, breaking through my thoughts. He paced again, each step measured, deliberate, like a predator waiting for its prey to slip.