Page 48 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Forty-Three

Diana drew in a ragged, painful breath and pulled her hand away from her body to find it covered in blood.

Her lungs fought to expand as every beat of her heart sent more blood pumping out of her wounds.

She didn’t know how many times Parker had stabbed her.

She had been too shaken and surprised to even try to stop him.

Though she should’ve expected he would try something since he had attacked Kurt in the same way.

She looked up to see the boat carrying Sabryn and her friends heading out of the bay.

It took a great deal of effort to remain sitting, but she couldn’t stay down.

If she did, she would never get up again, and she needed to call Reggie .

She looked back at the SUV . Had she really walked that far? She thought she had been closer.

“ Get up and get moving,” she ordered herself.

Diana swallowed and used the toe of one shoe to remove the other, then repeated the action on her other foot.

Bending her legs to get them under her sent a debilitating wave of agony through her.

Sweat broke out across her skin, and the sky spun alarmingly.

She fought to stay conscious. Every second counted, and she was wasting too many as it was.

She had fought for everything she had, and she wouldn’t stop now. With her teeth clamped together, she pressed as hard as she could against her injuries and got to her knees. She could hear her heart beating in her ears, but as long as she was alive, she could move.

Shifting from her knees to her feet took more concentration and several tries. Her limbs were weak and threatened to buckle at any second, but she eventually stood. After a slight turn, she took a hesitant step toward the Rover . Then another.

Her foot landed on a sharp rock, but she barely felt it.

The pain throughout the rest of her body was too intense for her brain to register much else.

She made her way, one slow, agonizing step at a time.

Each time her body begged for rest, she plowed forward.

Because she didn’t have a choice. Her husband had to know.

“ I’m sorry, Reggie ,” she mumbled. “ You told me not to come. You knew…”

She faltered and pitched to the side. A cry of frustration tore from her lips but became a grunt as her shoulder rammed into something solid. She laid her palm flat on the metal of the vehicle and rested her forehead against it for a moment, thankful that she hadn’t fallen to the ground.

“ Come on, Diana . You can do this,” she murmured. “ You endured three births and buried a stillborn. You can get the rest of the way to the door.”

With the SUV holding her up, she made her way to the passenger door. There was no point in getting into the driver’s seat. She’d never make it to a hospital. But she had time for one phone call.

Her hand slipped on the door handle. She got it open on the second try, but pulling it wide caused her to lose her footing.

Her fingers slid on the handle and she fell.

Tears pricked her eyes, but she rolled over onto her stomach.

Using her elbow, she pulled herself close to the vehicle as a rush of warm blood seeped through her fingers.

It took both hands to heft herself onto her knees and then her feet.

The sight of her purse on the seat made hope flare brightly in her chest, but the act of leaning over to grab it forced a moan of pain past her pursed lips.

Still , she looped a finger around a handle and pulled it to her.

Once she had her mobile in her hand, she lifted it so it could scan her face and unlock.

Her legs started to shake. She was about to lose consciousness and would possibly never wake again.

All she needed was a few moments. Her movements were jerky as she punched her husband’s name and watched as the line connected.

She shifted to lay the phone on the seat so she could hit speaker when it tumbled out of her hand and across the leather to slip between the seat and the other door.

For a moment, Diana just stared at the door.

She gave in to the tears then as her knees buckled and she slid to the ground.

She’d used all her energy to get to the SUV for that call, and she had failed.

She lay back on the rocky ground and looked up at the darkening sky as her eyes slowly slid closed.

Kurt writhed helplessly as his many wounds throbbed. The magic had struck without mercy, without clemency. It threaded into his veins like ice tipped with fire, curling into his bones with surgical precision. He clenched his jaw as his spine bowed, as if his soul itself were turning on him.

It wasn’t just torment—it was desecration.

His muscles locked, nerves crackling like lightning beneath his skin.

Every breath was shattered as his heartbeat pounded like a drum in a body he no longer controlled.

It hadn’t just been magic the Druids had thrown at him, it had been a spell unlike any other, one that was slowly unmaking him, peeling away strength, memory, and identity—until all that remained was raw, searing agony.

He didn’t scream. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.

All sound died in his throat, swallowed by the wind and the bouncing of the boat against the waves.

The magic inside him wasn’t just hurting him, it was learning him.

Breaking him apart, piece by literal piece, with cold intent and an ancient, ravenous hunger.

If only the pain would dim for a heartbeat, if only he had a respite, he might be able to hold on, but there was no reprieve. Just soul-crushing anguish.

He heard voices and tried to fixate on them, but it was impossible to concentrate on anything but his body coming apart. Kurt heard a familiar laugh. Parker . The boat bounced, knocking his head against the side as he rolled. This time, he screamed.

“ Does it hurt, brother?” Parker whispered in his ear.

Others joined in the amusement, their voices raised over the roar of the wind and the engines as the boat sped across the water. Where was Diana ? Sabryn ? Sabryn . Kurt had to get up, he had to find her.

Something heavy pressed against his shoulder, keeping him at the bottom of the boat. Fingers dug into his cheeks and squeezed hard.

“ Look at me,” Parker demanded.

But Kurt couldn’t open his lids. He couldn’t even jerk his head away.

Parker roughly lifted one of Kurt’s eyelids.

His brother’s face was right above his, wearing a maniacal smile as he bobbed with the boat’s movements.

“ It would’ve been a lot easier if you’d died the other day, but this works out so much better.

Did you honestly think the Skye Druids stood a chance this time? ”

The growl of the motor dimmed as the boat slowed.

Parker laughed and released Kurt’s eyelid so it fell shut. “ All your troubles are about to be over, brother.”

“ Which way did they go?” Finn yelled over the wind as they all hung on to something, and Callum steered the boat effortlessly across the water.

Killian shrugged.

Callum pointed ahead. “ I saw them head this way but lost them after.”

“ We can’t spend hours blindly looking,” Carlyle said.

Finn’s expression was grim. “ Are they taking him to London ?”

“ No ,” Sabryn replied. “ Parker wouldn’t have stabbed Diana if they were.”

“ He did what?!” Killian asked in shock.

Carlyle looked at her. “ Where are they going, then? Why take to the water?”

Why , indeed? She had believed Diana and Parker were working together because Diana hadn’t spoken against anything Parker said.

Now , Sabryn realized it was because she and Kurt wouldn’t have believed anything coming out of her mouth.

So , Diana had stayed quiet. It made her and Kurt think she was with Parker and convinced Parker that she wasn’t a threat.

Had Sabryn missed something? A comment, a gesture, anything that would have told her Diana was on their side from the beginning. She shut off those thoughts since they would get her nowhere. Kurt was in trouble.

Cold wind whistled past her. She turned her face into it, wishing it would speak to her once more.

She had apologized, but it seemed it hadn’t forgiven her yet.

Maybe it never would. Diana’s warning about the Beaumont ancestors rolled through Sabryn’s mind.

She still didn’t know what’d happened at the Fairy Glen .

How could she have that kind of ability but not hear the wind?

And if there was ever a time she needed the wind, it was now.

“ Please ,” she implored in a soft whisper. “ Kurt needs help. Please guide me to where he is so we can stop the evil.”

She strained, listening for even the slightest whisper, but there was nothing in the wind whipping past them. She was about to give up when she heard it.

North .

The voice was so unexpected that Sabryn jumped at the sound of it. “ Keep going north,” she shouted to Callum .

He met her gaze before speeding up the boat. All of them were standing, holding on as they bounced across the waves with land to their right. She scanned the horizon as daylight steadily faded, and the water turned an ominous midnight blue.

A bay came into view on their right. She felt the others’ eyes on her. “ Where to?” she whispered.

North .

Sabryn motioned for Callum to keep heading north. They turned their heads as one to look into the bay. There were other boats about. Any of them could have Kurt , but she had asked for the wind’s help. That meant she had to listen and trust.

If it was the wind.

“ No ,” she said between clenched teeth and squeezed her eyes closed.

She couldn’t start second-guessing now. Only madness lay ahead if she went down that road.

The bay fell behind them as they continued through open water. The only sounds were the grumble of the motor, the wailing wind, and the thudding of her heart. A glorious sunset with shades of lavender and pink that defied words lay before her, but Sabryn couldn’t enjoy it.

The next cove.

Sabryn’s heartrate quickened. “ They’re in the next cove.”

Callum nodded and steered around the curve of the isle into a V -shaped cove. There , sitting just inside the inlet, was a boat. Three men stood on one side and tossed something into the water. No . Not something. They threw Kurt .