Read Soul Unbound (Key to the Cursed Book 3) for Free Online

only the monster. “Please,
do not do this. Anuket would not want you to. Whatever Apep promised you is a
lie. He will never let mother go.” The Lord of Darkness had wrapped his talons
around her mother’s soul the moment Anuket took her own life. “We will find
another way.”
    “Do not make the same mistake as your mother. Some
souls are not meant to be saved,” he growled and exploded into a cloud of black
mist. Only the scent of sulfur and a dying soul remained.
    Siya cursed. If she believed Menthu’s story, her
entire life had been based on lies. The truth lay in the pit of her stomach,
churning among the acid. The positive energy she had absorbed at the diner
wilted, replaced by an inescapable dread.
    The stench of evil wrapped her so tightly, she
struggled to breathe and ripped off her coat. Black blood stained the location
Menthu’s chest had pressed against her. The bitter scent burned her nostrils.
Disgusted, she rolled it into a ball careful not to get it on herself. She
could not risk leaving it in a dumpster for fear someone would dig it out. The
evil tainting the blood would need to be destroyed by fire.
    The cold air swept through her. She welcomed the
distraction and numbing effect as she stared at the empty street. There had to
be another explanation. It could not be true. The ache in her chest worsened
with each breath of air.
    “Mother!” she hollered, crippled by a pain she had
not felt since her adolescence. Her futile call was left unanswered. Her mother
would never ever hear her pleas.
    Emptiness hallowed her chest. Siya tired of this
life. Branded, isolated and hated. Yet, she would not let herself fall into
darkness as her father had. She would beg to have her sentence executed
according to Creation law before she would let that happen. The only reason she
had not already was because of the younglings. They counted on her to keep them
safe. Until she could find someone to take her place, she would continue to
fight.
    She shifted her long braid over her back. With
forced effort she grabbed the to-go box sitting undisturbed on the curb and restarted
her journey to the docks. She masked her energy and circled around several
blocks to ensure Menthu had not followed her. Finally, she turned down the familiar
street to the warehouse.
    “Henry,” Siya called. A hunched gray figure
grumbled while he dug through his shopping cart. The smell of whiskey drifted
across the air. Henry pulled out a rumpled and stained sleeping bag. He
arranged it next to a large sewer grate, billowing clouds of steam. With a
brown paper bag clasped in one hand he sat down and patted the seat next to
him.
    “Fay has been busy baking.” She raised the white
box, forcing the encounter with her father out of her head. Henry smiled from
ear to ear, exposing his gray teeth. The man had a serious craving for sweets,
which added to his wickedly bad breath. Siya cracked the container. “Pecan pie
by the looks of it.” She sat next to him cross-legged, careful not to breathe
his scent too deeply. In light of recent events, she needed information and
Henry was a wealth of it, if you could decrypt most of his nonsensical
ramblings.
    He eyed the blade at her back and waist. “A gun
would be easier to carry, but then again angels would carry swords.”
    “I told you before, Henry. I am no angel.” Far
from it.
    He shrugged and eyed the container. “You gonna eat
that?”
    She handed him the box. Exhausted, she leaned her
head against the brick building.
    “You not cold?” he asked, gesturing to her coat
clasped in her hand. When she did not answer he handed her the bottle wrapped
in the paper bag. “Bad day?”
    “The worst.” She grabbed his offer and cracked the
lid off the fresh bottle of whiskey. He stabbed his fork into the pie while she
took a big gulp of the dark liquid. It burned a path to her stomach and flushed
her with warmth. He grunted his approval and shoved more pie into his mouth.
    “How about yours?”