Page 60 of Where Darkness Falls

Gawain’s features tighten. “What are you talking about, Maeva? Where is Cara? Why are you withthem?” he growls.

He’s angry with me.

As he should be.

“You’ll watch your tone if you know what’s good for you,” Riordan sneers, voice dropping to a lethal pitch.

“No offense,Cadre, but I’m not speaking to any of you. I’m speaking to Maeva,” Gawain retorts.

I open my mouth, but no words come.

“Where is she?” Gawain continues, a slight hitch in his voice. “Maeva, I need you to tell me.”

Hot tears rush down my cheeks in waves.

“She—” I begin to say, but something catches in my throat, stopping all speech.

My fingers are trembling, and suddenly the inn feels too small. The walls are rapidly closing in on me from all sides. The voices surrounding me become muffled.

I can’t breathe.

All the air feels like it’s been sucked out of the room.

The pounding in my chest hastens its staccato rhythm.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lu-dub. Lu-dub.

Then, a hand is gripping my shoulder, calling my name. The hand shakes me harder, but I’m spiraling in my memories:

I’m holding her bloodied body.

The rise of her chest is slowing down.

Her hand is falling from my face.

“Until Eternity, sister.”

Maeva, my dear,Saoirse panics.You need to take a deep breath. Everything’s going to be okay.

“It’s not okay,” I cry out loud, instead of in my thoughts. “It’s never going to be okay.”

There’s that deep voice calling my name again. They’re trying to help me, but I can’t seem to focus on them. The vise-like grip on my chest increases in pressure, black dots appearing in my vision.

I look up in the general direction of Gawain, but everything around me is so blurry. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault,” I whisper.

The strong grasp on my chest releases as everything around me fades to black, and two strong arms catch me.

“It’s never goingto be okay.”

Her words were filled with such guttural pain. In all my years as part of Tiernan’s army, I’ve seen my fair share of suffering. I’ve seen pain and anguish, but never have I seen someone’s emotions practically rip them apart from within. The cool disposition she’s worn slipped away when she sawhim. Her lips were turning blue as she clutched the Dragon’s Flame against her chest—her breaths became so rapid. I tried calling her name over and over again, begging her to listen to my voice.

I tell myself the reason I care isn’t because I can’t stomach seeing her in pain. Instead, it’s because my mission and duty is to keep her alive long enough to be delivered to the king.

She’s an obligation—nothing more.

Which is exactly why I scoop her into my arms before she hits the ground, as she loses consciousness.

Tiernan will be displeased if she’s injured.