Page 91

Bria

I had it under control. Or at least I thought I did.

But now, as blood pours into my hands and seeps between my fingers—my feeble attempts to staunch the wound in my abdomen doing nothing—I realize I had been too focused.

Once again, I’d let anger cloud my vision and was entirely set on Luthais.

There was something about him that kept me from killing him.

Maybe it was the way he looked at Nimai, or the way the air around him rippled in waves, seeming to manipulate around his body.

Some weird energy, old energy, even. But whatever that something was, it made me feel like I couldn’t kill him.

Not yet, anyway. Perhaps it was just my realization that he actually has a soul. Somewhere.

So instead, I trapped him without injuring the man.

Gagged and bound, he’d glared at me as I’d waited for Evander and Nimai.

Then through the shadows, his eyes had widened, fear settling in the slate gray depths that seemed to flicker with something more, though I could not pinpoint what it was.

While I’d concentrated on those eyes, I’d heard a cracking noise and the back of my neck prickled.

Luthais thrashed against the onyx cage, slamming his body into it and causing the mist to undulate, making it look as if he could actually break free of it.

But before I could find out why he was fighting so hard or understand how he was cracking through the shadows, looking so shocked and scared, a blade was shoved straight through me. From my back through my stomach.

I’ve never experienced pain like this before—sharp and blinding, all-consuming pain.

When the scream came ripping from my throat, I felt as if I would shatter into a thousand small pieces.

Vicious ebony blades formed of mist had slammed into the guard behind me, killing him instantly.

But they did nothing to quell what I felt. What I still feel.

Death. I’m dying.

The fire burning in me is beginning to gutter, the mist subsiding, receding to the crevices and cracks in the castle. I hold on to the cage around Luthais but have no idea how much longer I can contain him. Or how I can cloak us out of here now.

Luthais stares at me, unable to speak through the shadowy fingers clamped on his mouth.

He’s stopped fighting the shadows now, maybe realizing it’s useless.

No sense in fighting it and exhausting himself when I won’t be able to hold them soon anyway.

I cannot tell but it looks a lot like sadness in those deep gray eyes.

Part of me hopes it is. That he really does have a soul worth saving.

That maybe my choice had not been in vain.

Evander’s voice flits in and out of my brain as my vision blurs further. I’m unable to concentrate on anything other than the pain and the blood that seems to be a raging river running straight out of me. Pooling beneath me and soaking every inch of my gown.

“We need to get out. Now.” He’s speaking to Nimai. When my slow-moving gaze makes it to her, she’s frozen in shock, watching my hands pressed to my belly, blood creeping between my fingers and running in rivulets of wine down my hands and arms.

Evander bends down to grab me, placing one strong arm under my shoulders and one under my knees, lifting me against his chest. I reach my arm up, hissing at the sharp ache it causes in my abdomen.

But I cling to him, digging my fingers into the neck of his tunic with all the strength I have left.

He presses a kiss into my hair as he begins moving.

“We’re leaving, Bria. I’m going to get you home.” Home. The word echoes in my brain.

My next breath holds the smell of sandalwood mixed with sweat and the metallic tang of blood.

My blood. Closing my eyes, I let Evander carry me down the servants’ stairs.

He moves so fast, far quicker than I would imagine possible while holding another person, having them weigh you down.

I can only tell because we are on level ground now, no more jostling from the steps. But I can’t manage to open my eyes.

I try to hold on as long as I can, but I drop the shadows containing Luthais when I know we are on the first floor, moving to escape through the back of the castle.

I can only hope we are far enough from him that it won’t matter.

That by the time he manages to sound an alarm or catch up, we will be gone.

The warm night air hits my face, telling me we’ve made it outside. Evander brings his face close to mine, whispering to me, panic surging though every word he speaks. He knows I’m dying, too. He can tell.

“Bria, I need you to stay with me. I need you to stay. Please.” His words are broken, barely escaping his lips, getting stuck and cracking in his throat, splintered by panting breaths.

Outside . I’m putting so much energy into focusing, just concentrating on what his words mean, trying to grasp that outside, I have things to do.

Outside means more guards. Outside means I need to cloak us, to gather the shadows around us.

I can’t get pulled under by fatigue or blood loss or even death. Not yet.

Using every shred of energy I have left, I summon the shadows, calling forth darkness to mold around us, trying to maintain that small flicker of light within me that is seeping out of my core at an ungodly rate.

Trying to pull it back into me. It aches and I truly worry the wound might rip my entire body in half.

But I hold on to it anyway, feeling my body heat and my palms tingle the tiniest bit.

I still don’t open my eyes when I sense them.

I sense the darkness, enveloping us in the shadows and hiding our escape from view.

The blaze inside starts to sputter almost immediately, my dying body revolting at my use of power.

Evander is running now, holding me tight against him, clinging to me as my head drops back.

I pass out for a few seconds, maybe minutes.

I’m not really sure how long, but when I come to, the shadows are disappearing.

No matter what I do, I cannot get a firm grip on them.

They slip through my fingers despite my begging and pleading for them to stay with me, to save my sister and my love even if they cannot save me.

I try my damnedest to reignite that magical fire inside, to will it back to life, but the smoldering embers have nothing left to give.

I have nothing left to give.

My eyes spasm and I catch a glimpse of gold in the distance, sparkling with the light of the full moon. The Gilded Forest. He’s going make it. Nimai is going make it. Quinn can get them back to the camp and to the Woods.

They must go to the Woods. That’s what Olaphina said.

“Ev,” I rasp, trying to force his name past my lips.

He pulls me tighter as his boots hit the ground harder, moving as fast as he is humanly capable of toward the forest. The warmth in my abdomen starts to subside then, a coolness spreading across my body.

The fire and heat of my magic is disappearing and with it, the pain seems to be diminishing.

That’s good , I think. Less pain will be good.

“Get Nimai to the Woods,” I gasp, sucking in as much air as I can. My lungs feel full, something sticky and warm beginning to coat the inside of them. They aren’t working quite right now.

“I will, Bria. I promise you,” he chokes the words out, panting as he runs.

We break through the edge of the forest, gold gleaming and glinting on every surface.

I manage to keep my eyes open for a few seconds longer but they flutter, heavy, too heavy to watch.

It’s colder here, within the forest. So cold that my teeth start to chatter, clacking together violently.

My arm slides from my grip on Evander’s tunic.

I attempt to keep my fingers clasped on to him, but the effort is futile.

All the strength I have left goes flooding out of my body through the gaping hole.

“What the fuck happened?” I hear Quinn’s voice through the cool haze settling in around me as Evander stops running, his chest heaving against me.

“Bria!” another voice screams. I know that voice. It sings through my bones and they ache to be with it but there’s no way for them to move toward it.

My sister’s beautiful sound travels through me when she answers. “She was stabbed as we tried to flee. A guard caught her with his blade.” Her voice is shaking but she’s fighting back the tears. I can tell and I’m proud of her. She’s being strong when she needs to.

That’s my girl.

My limbs start to shake too now, uncontrollable shivers coursing through my body. Evander slides down a tree and settles us in a heap on the ground. There’s no pain now, just cold and calm. His body presses in around me, trying to warm me, trying to stop the shaking.

I manage to pry my eyes open, just for a moment, and I see him. Tears glisten in the corner of his eyes—those beautiful molten chocolate eyes, burning with gold, silhouetted from the full moon so bright above us.

So fitting, I realize, that I will die by the light of the moon, just as I lived.

“It’s the prophecy,” Quinn says, his words barely audible.

Evander tightens around me, burying his face in my hair. He rocks our bodies back and forth, and I can hear him whispering over and over again into my ear. What is he saying? There are too many voices swirling around me now and my brain cannot manage to focus on all of them at once.

“No. It can’t be,” Nimai replies, pleading. “Our mother said we needed to be in the Forsaken Woods. That she wouldn’t die before I came into my gifts.”

“It is. This is her destiny, Nimai. This is your destiny.” Quinn’s voice is rushed and firm, urging the two of them to listen to him. “You both need to let her go. Guards will be on us soon if what you say is true.”

The sounds dim around me. They are still speaking but I have no energy left to hear them. The moon shines on my face and I wish I could smile back at it. I feel it though my heavy eyes have slipped shut once more. And I know now that they will not open again.

A whisper pushes through, a soft breeze whisking me away into the darkness beyond.

“I love you.”