Pride of the Lion: Hades' Carnival, Book 3 Read Online Free Page A

step back so she wasn’t quite under the spray. She soaped her body quickly and rinsed well before turning off the water.
    Other than the rasp of her breathing, the hum of the air conditioner/heating unit and the drip from the showerhead were the only sounds in the room. She quickly toweled off and yanked on her nightgown. The material seemed to abrade her skin, making her flinch.
    “What is wrong with me?” She studied her face in the mirror but didn’t see anything different. Same gray eyes and round face. Her eyes seemed overly bright, but that wasn’t surprising considering the excitement of the past few hours.
    She plucked the silver clips from her hair and unwound it. The wavy mass fell to her waist and she tugged her brush through it. A yawn caught her by surprise and she tossed the brush aside. She took an extra minute to brush her teeth before stumbling out of the bathroom to the bed.
    The light from the bathroom was still on, but Araminta left it, knowing if she woke in a strange bed the light would help orient her. The crisp sheets beckoned and she climbed in, pulling the covers up. Didn’t matter if it was summer or winter, she wanted all the covers over her.
    Araminta’s mind was still running a mile a minute, processing everything she’d seen and done tonight, but exhaustion tugged at her body. She yawned again and her eyes fell shut. She snuggled down into the comfortable mattress and relaxed…
     
    She heard the roar in the distance and there was no mistaking the distinct call of a lion. Araminta looked around, wondering where she was. Around her, lights flashed and music pumped out of loudspeakers, the heavy bass thumping so hard the ground vibrated beneath her feet.
    She blinked and the sounds and lights were gone, replaced by darkness, a void, complete nothingness. Swallowing hard, she forced herself to take a step forward. She held her hands out in front of her to keep from walking into a wall or another person. She couldn’t see her hands in front of her face. “Is there anyone out there?”
    A low, sinister laughter seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere, surrounding her. She spun in a circle, searching for the source. “Who are you? Where are you?” Fear pulsed through her veins and her stomach knotted. She bit her bottom lip to keep from calling out again. Whoever was there wasn’t her friend. She didn’t know how she knew this, but she did.
    There had to be a way out of here. Araminta took another step, trying to be as quiet as possible.
    “You can’t escape your fate,” the male voice taunted.
    She ignored the disembodied voice and kept on moving, hopefully away from whoever was there. She took one slow breath after another to keep from hyperventilating. Terror made her knees weak and her entire body quiver. But she kept moving.
    A faint light shimmered in the distance and she moved toward it. Or at least she thought that’s what she was doing. The light seemed to keep shifting away from her the harder she tried to reach it.
    She squinted, desperately trying to see more clearly, but it was nearly impossible in the darkness. She thought she caught a glimpse of another woman, but the other person was gone, swallowed up by the darkness before Araminta could speak to her.
    The light remained and she hurried toward it as fast as she could. That had to be the exit from wherever she was. A door appeared before her with a low-watt bulb illuminating it. The hum seemed out of place, but she didn’t care. She went to fling the door open but paused. What if whatever was on the other side was worse than where she was?
    “You are clever.” The male voice sounded amused.
    “Who are you?” She might be better off not knowing, but she wanted answers and she wanted them now. Making a decision, she grabbed the handle, turned it and yanked open the door. The hinges gave a sharp squeak that seemed overly loud. She stepped inside and the door slammed shut behind her. There were no locks, but at