Page 140

Arianna gripped her chest as if she could grasp the last three threads that held them together. Her body trembled so hard she wasn’t sure she could move. But maybe that was from the blood loss too.

Arianna tried not to look at her arm and the horrible angle of it.

A fresh wave of tears fell. Why was someone doing this to them? Why did it matter who she chose to love?

She wished she had never come here. She wanted to be back in Levea. She wanted to go home, where they might be safe.

But they wouldn’t be safe. Rion wasn’t safe anywhere. Everyone had always wanted him dead. From the first moment his magic had appeared, he’d been on the run. And Arianna didn’t want that life. Not if this was the kind of pain she’d be forced to face.

The ice shattered and Arianna’s head snapped up. She hadn’t realized someone had been talking to her. Several people were calling her name, trying to snap her out of whatever state she’d fallen into. Shock? Was this shock?

The pain hit her anew and Arianna hissed, doubling over as it ricocheted down her arm in violent waves.

Guards were running out the door now. And Rion wasn’t himself. He hadn’t even summoned his magic. If they caught him— Her breaths came quicker. If they caught him—

“Talon.” She couldn’t get enough air and spots flew across her vision. She couldn’t look up, couldn’t see past anything except the bloody, broken floor beneath her knees.

“I’m here,” he said, his voice close. Concern laced every word.

“Don’t let them catch him.” He didn’t answer, so Arianna forced herself to turn her head and look straight into those honey brown eyes. His brows were pinched, but unsaid words were on his lips. He clamped his mouth closed at her expression. “Please. Find him. Hide him.” Arianna doubled over in pain again, sucking in breath, then she cried out in agony, screaming against the fire in her arm.

Talon wrapped one hand around her good arm and leaned in to whisper. “I will.” She felt him leave and a small sense of relief washed through her. Talon would do it for her, even if he didn’t understand. He would prevent anyone from hurting Rion until she could get to the bottom of things.

Ellie’s body hovered over her next and she heard her little sister growl. Arianna didn’t possess the strength to look up. She couldn’t move anymore, not with the pain and heartache and agony ripping through her body.

“You’ll stay away from her.” Her little sister left no room for argument.

“We only want to help.” Niall. His voice was gentle but strained somehow.

“Then get a healer,” Ellie barked, her hands still around her sister’s body.

“Can’t she heal herself?” Another asked, but Arianna didn’t know his voice, or maybe she did, but the pain was blinding her, dulling her senses.

“No, she can’t,” her sister hissed. Arianna scented Ellie’s magic then, wrapping around them both. Another stood close, but she couldn’t . . .

She couldn’t . . .

The world went black.

Chapter Fifty-five

Rion

I command you to run.

The words were like ice in his heart, but she’d given him an order and Rion had obeyed.

He’d fled from the manor, then the city, then the village below. The world around him blending into a kaleidoscope of colors, sounds, smells, and feelings. He’d become incapable of discerning one from the other. He couldn’t identify his surroundings. He couldn’t name the things he passed or the objects before him.

Rion’s body and mind only knew one thing.

Run.

Images flew through his head. Arianna’s fearful expression as she gaped at him, the trust they’d formed shattered in a single moment. The gaping hole in her neck where he’d sunk his fangs into her flesh. The bone protruding from her arm—bile rose in his throat and Rion vomited, the remnants of his small breakfast hitting the forest floor.

He wiped his mouth and kept running.

Gods, what had he done? His heart beat so hard in his chest Rion thought it might explode. He gripped his shirt, trying to quell the pain there, to calm down, but it did little good.