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“I cannot see,” he muttered.

She had thought the screaming darkness was just because she was dizzy.

Her father pressed his fingers against her wound, before he drew two lines down her face as well as his own with her blood, from their foreheads to down over their eyes. He spoke a soft chant and everything got brighter.

She could see the tall grass they were walking through, could see that they were heading towards trees. He used her blood to better their sight.

As much as she didn’t like the use of the magic and that he took from her without asking, she was relieved she could see. It made fleeing feel less unsettling.

They made it to the forest that was only a short distance away.

Wind rushed as they passed tree after tree. Her unsteady feet often got caught on the large roots and made her trip. She felt bad that her father had to keep saving her from falling, and that she was most likely tiring him out.

She didn’t know where he was taking her to, and she knew he didn’t either.

Shivers crawled up her spine, and it wasn’t because the air was cold. It felt as though they were coming from inside, sapping more and more energy from her each time.

Amalia also stopped being afraid.

The further they walked, the more those trembles crept along her entire being and the pain lessened. Her legs began to give out. He halted when he realised he was beginning to drag her.

“We cannot stop now. We are still too close.”

“I cannot anymore,” she said, her voice only reaching the loudness of a whisper.

I have bled too much.

She hadn’t thought that she would be overcome this quickly when she decided to stab herself. She’d been hoping to be able to keep moving forward until she could find a place or a way to heal herself. Neither one of them had the herbs required for such a powerful spell.

“I will carry you.”

Amalia shook her head side-to-side as she felt herself slipping from him to her knees.

“It is okay.” She tried to give him a smile when he knelt down next to her. “I do not think I will make it much further. You can leave me here.”

She may not have been able to save herself, but at least she gave Rurik and her father a fighting chance to survive.

“Amalia, I would never leave you behind.”

He cupped the back of her head when she started to feel too heavy to keep herself upright on her knees.

I want to lay down.Her eyes felt weighted, her mind and body lethargic.I want to sleep.

Looking up into his dark blue eyes, she could see he cared. They were filled with deep sorrow. They shook as they fell to her stomach where he lifted the tunic he’d given her to look at her wound before coming back up to greet her own.

That sadness grew stronger, and she knew he understood that she was dying.

“I am not scared,” she told him, once again trying to smile reassuringly. “And I am not in pain.” Amalia felt numb, both inside and out. “I do not mind dying. This way, the Dragon cannot put me in fire and Strolguil cannot make me do as he wishes.”

It didn’t matter which one of those two won in their battle. Amalia would suffer, and she didn’t want either fate.

In her death, she could truly escape.I can be free.

“It is better if I am gone.”

If she was no longer in this world, then the prophecy would never come to fruition. No one could seek to use her again.

She could see he wanted to convince her otherwise, that he wanted to fight her on this. There was no point. She wouldn’t make it out of this forest with him, and she would much rather rest to her death than have it fall upon her because she was trying to run.