A Shade of Kiev 2 by Bella Forrest Page B

dark-haired boy surfaced with a small red ruby that he held out to me with outstretched palms.
    “Come on, Rhys,” I said, shoving his hand away from me. “You can do better than that.”
    He grinned, before diving back into the river and resurfacing with a sparkling round diamond. He took my hand and placed the gem on my palm. Then, still holding my hand, he pulled me into the river with him.
    Before I could make sense of what he was doing, he ducked his head beneath the surface and pulled me down under with him.
    We both resurfaced seconds later, gasping.
    It was nighttime now. The moon shone overhead.
    As we climbed out of the river, I caught sight of a group of witches huddled together over a large black metal pot. Whispering in hushed tones. All wearing black.
    I tugged on Rhys.
    “I don’t like these people,” I said.
    He looked back at me. “Are you scared, Mona?”
    Pride bubbled up within me.
    “No,” I spat. “I’m not a coward.”
    “Then come,” he said, tugging me forward until we joined the circle.
    I gazed into the cauldron they were all gathered round. Reflected in the liquid bubbling was the image of our teacher—the head teacher of our school in The Sanctuary.
    It showed her lying in her bed. One of the witches started whispering a strange spell. I’d never heard it before, but I could tell just by the sound of it that it was a chant forbidden to ever be uttered in The Sanctuary.
    “Stop,” I muttered.
    “What?” Rhys looked at me. “Just keep quiet and watch.”
    Our teacher’s body soon began to writhe until she screamed out in pain as our fellow classmates continued to cast their spell.
    The teacher shook violently until blood started streaming from every orifice in her body. She writhed for several more minutes until she became still.
    I gasped.
    “Rhys!”
    He turned on me. “You’re a coward, Mona.”
    “I am not!”
    “Then prove it.”
    The river and everyone around me disappeared. The next moment I was wrapped up in something heavy and dark. A cocoon. Just as I felt that I was suffocating, a knife slit through the thick substance directly in front of me, and a face appeared through the hole. Rhys, older—now a man—his eyes blacker than I’d ever seen them.
    “Return to me, Mona,” he whispered. He was so close, I could feel his cool breath. “I only want what’s best for you…”

    “ N o !” I panted, sitting bolt upright. “I can’t. Not again…”
    It took me a few seconds to remember that I was on my boat. It was a nightmare. My hands were still shaking from the terror that dream had evoked in me. Beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. I pulled the blanket tighter against my shivering body. Breathing deeply, I tried to calm my nerves.
    “Calm down, Mona. It was just a dream.”
    My heart shot into my throat as I whirled around.
    A tall silhouette of a man stood at the stern of my boat a few feet away from me.
    The man of my nightmare.
    The man who’d cursed my life.

Chapter 11: Kiev
    “ K iev ?”
    The Lord and Lady walked closer to me until they were but a step away. I looked at one. Then the other. Then back again. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, expecting the apparitions to disappear. Expecting to wake up.
    But the two figures remained. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake myself up. I just continued looking from the green pair of eyes—matching exactly my natural eye color—to the chestnut-brown pair.
    “Is… is it really you?” The vampire with brown eyes placed a hand on my shoulder and scrutinized my face.
    The young woman with green eyes walked forward, pushing him aside, and ran the back of her cold hand against my face.
    “Brother?”
    “Helina,” I choked, reaching out to touch a strand of her long black hair. I turned to face the young man beside her. “Erik? No… No… It can’t be.”
    I fell to my knees. And they knelt with me. Minutes passed in silence, just staring at each other. Before finally, the bubble