Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)

by Keri Lake

God is Death

“Maevyth,”

“God is death,” it said, echoing the words on the paper.

This part is creepy AF in the audio!!

“In order to break your curse, I require the full complement of stones. All seven bloodlines.”

That’s what he’s doing!

A gnawing thought chewed at my head as I lay there, willing myself to sleep–that perhaps something evil had infected me.

watched a shadowy figure step into the moon’s light. At first, it was difficult to discern if he was human, or animal, the way his torso was bent and long, branching horns stuck up from his head,

“Stop it, stop it!” I smacked at my head, desperate for distraction.

“It didn’t pass.” Chickens clustered inside the coop where she tossed cracked corn. “It became a part of you.”

“Blood given for blood taken. Can’t be undone now.”

“Your ties with the dead were eternal the moment you pricked yourself on the bone and sealed it with the blood.”

“Yes. The poor little babe, left behind by her mother with a black rose laid upon her chest. The bassinet at the edge of The Eating Woods. You hardly cried that night.”

“Not with the monster.” “Ah, yes. The angel of judgment who punishes sins. Or is it the wrathavor? The soulless creature that feeds on the flesh of man.”

“You see the dead, Girl. But have you ever stared death in the face yourself?”

Something wasn’t right, though, and as my mind untangled itself from sleep, it became clearer what failed to make sense. Aleysia couldn’t have found me. The trek to the castle was long and rife with terrible creatures.

He killed her.

“Her blood isn’t your blood.”

The men with yellow hair and steel weapons came upon us in the night. They sought the vein. But we did not relent. For this land is ours. By the strength of Morsana, we defend it.

Deimos

spider

Zevanders brother

“She agreed, thinking he meant love. Malevols are sneaky that way, though.

Her chest bore a gaping hole where it appeared her heart had been mysteriously torn out by an unseen force.”

“He hurt you. End of story. For him.”

“One who is intensely aroused by control. The name comes from the substance they use to inject into their victims. Flammapul. It’s a poison that renders you useless, so your abuser, or flammellian, can do whatever they wish.”

“You don’t have to look threatening to be threatening.

“I suspect he trains this way because he refuses to watch you fail. In his mind, such a thing would be his own failure.”

spider seemed to have grown since its previous visit, and it was then I considered that I may have been hallucinating the damned thing.

The spider skittered to the side, out of view, and I pushed to my feet, eyes glued to the object it’d left behind. A mirror, from what I could see of the shiny surface.

A deep, guttural growl answered, and it was then I realized I’d made a grave mistake in opening that door.

“Quiet,” a deep, raspy voice spoke from behind.

“They don’t like screams,” it answered.

“Sing. It will calm them.”

“I won’t let them hurt you.” Though hoarse and terrifying, his voice held a certain sincerity. “O-o-okay.” I inhaled a long, shaky breath, and exhaled one equally as shaky. Don’t think about the spiders.

Before me, a beastly creature crouched, his skin like bark and covered in black veins, his eyes two black and soulless orbs that stared back at me. Crooked horns protruded from his head, his lips peeled back over sharpened teeth.

“Please. Sing,” he said, lifting a bony finger to his lips that reminded me of a tree branch.

Something scratched my thighs, and I opened my eyes to find the humanoid creature resting his head in my lap, his thin, pale body curled into himself.

Instead, he merely lay across my legs, and I felt a bead of moisture slip over my shin. Tears. His tears. Weeping, as I sang to him. My pulse slowed. My breaths calmed. He no longer looked terrifying to me. In that moment, he reminded me of a child. A sad and desperate child who longed for contact.

“Branimir

“Who is he?” “Our brother,” Rykaia answered for him. “Branimir.”

him. It was then it occurred to him that something else pulsed through his veins, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had him feeling so unsettled. Beyond jealousy. Something deeper. Darker. Possessive.

“I was led … by a huge spider who left a trail of trinkets, including the key.”

“Fine. I’ll sleep in the upper level. On the condition that you let me bring him food and sing to him.”

No, beautiful was too weak a word. She was intoxicating. Exquisitely divine.

Once again, his thoughts wound back to the moment he’d found her cradling his brother’s head, giving him the gentle caresses he’d been denied most of his life. Hands balled to tight fists, he fought the tugging in his chest.

“Goodnight.”

Lunamiszka.”

“Do I still annoy you?” she asked....

Caligorya

“You like my brother, don’t you?”

He hooked a finger beneath my chin and drew my attention back to him. “Tell me.”

caught a glimpse of Branimir staring up at me, his ruined lips stretched to a smile.