Page 22 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Two (The Lines of Ebrus #2)

Twenty-Two

Avalon

N o.

Not again.

“Hayle!” I screamed, the world around me going hazy as I scrambled through the sand to him, my hands buried in the mess of bone and flesh in his chest, trying to hold him together. Trying to hold him here with me.

Blood trickled down his face. “Glad you won’t know…” he gurgled. His eyes were trying to tell me something as they went blank. Lifeless.

My screams echoed around me. A memory flashed into my mind. Hayle charred on the sand.

Not again. Not again. Not again.

Arms wrapped around me, and I knew it was Vox. Knew the feel of his arms like my own. “I’m sorry. I owe him everything. I’m sorry. I love you.” He repeated the words over and over, but it couldn’t matter right now.

I screamed and screamed, hands grabbing at me, but it was too late. Too late for Hayle. Too late for them. For me.

I screamed and screamed as the burning torches flared and spread, as people melted into the darkness, fire and light swirling around me like a tornado, my hands buried in what remained of Hayle’s chest.

I felt the hands on my arms tighten, and I looked over at the disappearing face of Vox, like he was being erased, like the world around me was being erased. I felt sadness as he disappeared, but there was no universe that existed without Hayle. No universe that could exist without both of them.

I would accept nothing else. I would burn it all to the ground every single time if I had to.

As reality faded, I could hear the soft voice of a woman, so familiar, whispering on the swirling tornado of emotion.

The Ninth. The Ninth. The Ninth.