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He skidded to a halt as Emara dropped to her knees, her face turning a horrible shade of reddish-purple. The burning in her lungs was unbearable, the pressure in her eyes about to break through her skull.

This was it.

She could hear Torin shout, but she couldn’t listen, not when he had fought so hard to keep her alive. Emara knew she had seconds left, seconds left of breath, and she couldn’t tell him what she wanted to. She closed her eyes as dizziness took her down.

Her shoulders hit the marble.

Another desperate gasp clutched in her lungs and her heart slowed.

Blackness was folding in around the glittering dust.

I love you, and I promise that when you are finding it hard to breathe, I will be there, keeping the air in your lungs. I will be there, holding your hand. And I will have your back. Always. We all will. Your ancestors have waited a long time to see you wear your moonlight. The road you are about to take will not be easy, but when you walk it, just know that you are not alone.

A single tear fell from Emara’s eyes as a soft voice coasted through her.

She was not alone.

Not now and not ever.

She could breathe because Cally would be there helping her. Emara put out her hand for someone to grip it, squeeze her hand like Cally would. Everything around her started to move. The pain in her chest was unbearable as the element that she had become empress of killed her.

She thought of her best friend’s golden hair and her wonderful face.

I love you, and I promise that when you are finding it hard to breathe, I will be there, keeping the air in your lungs.

Something squeezed her hand.

Someone squeezed her hand.

Suddenly, a surge of water vomited from Emara’s throat, wiping out the air that had rooted itself in her windpipe. She spluttered out more water, coughing up everything as it cleared her airway. As Emara inhaled, finally catching her breath, she smelled the coastal air of Tolsah Bay.

The salt and the sand and the sea.

Like her dream where she and Cally had visited the beach.

I will be there, keeping the air in your lungs.

Cally.

Cally had somehow helped her to breathe. Emara clutched her throat as she dragged breath back into her lungs. Cally. She was a witch of House Water.

She had helped her to breathe. Callyn was here. Even though Emara couldn’t see her, she was here. Emara rolled onto her stomach as tears threatened to blind her, and the sounds of the room finally came back to her as she gasped another breath.

Cally had just helped her live. Her only jolt of power had been to give Emara life again. Water had fought the air and won.

Emara let out a sob.

“Kill me instead,” a deep voice begged, rugged and feral. “Kill me.”

She looked up and realised the words had come from Torin. She scrambled to get onto all fours.

Torin’s face was strained for breath, and Emara realised instantly that the Supreme was now suffocating him.

He choked, and she could hear his brethren shouting at Deleine to release him.

No, no, no, no.

Emara didn’t know if it was fear, adrenaline, or even if it was Cally helping her, but somehow, she rose, clutching the sword she had dropped.