Page 53 of Of Stars and Lightning (Sun and Shadows #1)

With a final, lethal slash of his arms, the ocean parted. The ground beneath them shook, sending them all into a bow before the division. The uneven space that broke through the waves smoothed into compact sand.

Sol swallowed a lump in her throat as the path to their salvation glowed before them.

It was a slight climb down from their place on the stones to the sand, one Jonah immediately jumped into action to descend. He helped his brother down, then Cas. Sol jumped down, looking up at the walls of water on either of their sides. Fast. They had to be fast.

“You both go on ahead,” she ordered. “Call for healers.”

Cas stirred in their arms. “Sol—”

“Now, boys.” She willed as much power into her voice as she could.

Jonah started the sprint toward the Gods’ Villa, and with a single look back, his brother followed. There were too many things against them all, but Sol couldn’t focus on any of them. She only pulled Cas forward. Without Jonah’s help, the task was more difficult.

“Sol, you have to go,” Cas breathed. “Phil won't be able to bleed an offering for long.”

“I am not leaving you.”

“You are the one meant to survive—not me.” He doubled over in pain, falling to his knees.

“No, get up.” She knelt beside him. “Get up. Sawyer would kill me if I left you.” She tried lacing her panic with humor to lighten the catastrophic situation.

Although the effort was obvious, Cas huffed a laugh.

“Come on.” She stumbled to her feet as Cas shifted to his own.

His steps were labored, and slow, but they were moving again.

Phil and Jonah were a ways ahead, and Sol dared a bloom of hope to take hold.

And then the wall of water collapsed.

As if whatever held the passage open snapped, the ocean rushed into itself all at once, not giving Sol even a second of preparation before being thrown into the icy, violent current.

Cas struggled against her grasp, as if he wanted the waves to wash him away. But Sol didn’t budge. She held him tighter than she had ever held anything, hooking her arm through his belt quickly before they were sent into another merciless tumble.

Please, Sol begged silently to nothing in particular as she slammed against him and stray reefs. Please if anyone is out there, let us live.

As if it had been waiting for that very plea, the ocean stilled ever so slightly. Between the moment of solace, Sol kicked them up to the surface for a breath.

She saw the Villa, now to their right, but closer than it had been. She struggled to pull air into her lungs as water struck her face.

Sol frantically pulled Cas through the turbulent waters, sparing only seconds to sink down and kick the sandbank below them to remain afloat.

She tried to just drag him along with her, but with each passing moment he became weaker and less responsive, forcing Sol to propel herself through small jumps instead of fluid swimming, wasting time they did not have.

One arm was wrapped around him so tightly it hurt, while the other tried to help them against the current.

With every kick of her legs and lick of salt in her eyes, Sol grew desperate, wishing more than anything for this man to yell at her over her stupid choices instead of being so quiet. She wished Cas would be doing anything else.

“Cas, wake up,” she stammered through breaths. She moved to shield him, having them break at her back instead.

She could only hope Phil and Jonah had made it to shore and hoped the Jinn did the opposite and truly meant their blabber about leaving her alone.

Sobbing, she shook him. “Cas, PLEASE.”

He didn’t respond, his eyes remained closed as water seeped into his mouth and across his face.

Panic coated her throat worse than the sea salt, shocking her colder than the current they struggled in.

Using every ounce of strength left, she pushed him above the water, praying to any god that would listen to have him hang on.

She kicked her way to the shore, adrenaline squeezing her chest and fire burning in her lungs as her limbs threatened to fail. She willed any ounce of dormant magic within her to listen, to help her in this pathetic situation she had so stupidly put herself in.

She should’ve just accepted the fight over her. Marry the victor, who would’ve likely been Cas, but at least they would be safe and warm and alive.

Another shuddering sob escaped her while she gripped him harder.

Please don’t die.

Please don’t die.

“Please, please…”

The tide was stained ruby red as her feet finally found consistent terrain. The shore was mere steps away now, the Villa an unwelcomed relief.

Cas grew heavier in her arms by the time they arrived at the shore.

Sol had to sit on the sand, hug him from behind, and drag them both completely out of the water.

The hot grains dug into her hands and bare legs, making her grunt with every pull.

Cas's head slumped over the front of her thigh, resting on her hip bone.

He was so pale.

“Cas.” She coughed and cleared the sea water from her throat, taking only a second to breathe.

Then she saw the Jinn.

Unlike the ones she had seen before, these were animalistic in build, reeking more than the others. One perched near the fence, an elongated beak clicking with interest. Others spread around it. As soon as they began their howls and laughs, she slumped over Cas with a sob.

She would kill anything that came near him. She didn’t know how, but she would. Whatever possessed her to do it to Cattya would surely take hold again, and she would let it.

She laid Cas on the sand and leaned over him, unable to stop the tears and shallow breathing, unable to focus beyond the haze of the situation.

“Cas, wakeup. You can’t die like this, it’s pathetic!” Sol hoped the insult would wake him, that he would roll his eyes and shoot back a remark as he usually did, but he didn’t.

She pressed her ear to his chest, listening for something, anything.

But there was nothing.

Keeping one hand on the wound on his side, she closed the other into a fist and desperately pounded his chest. Flashes of the night her mother died swarmed through her mind, lacing the past with the present, taunting her with what would happen if she didn’t act quickly.

Reminding her what she would lose if someone else she cared for died in her arms.

“Please wake up, Cas. Please. You can’t leave me here,” Sol cried.

“Gods, please. I don’t know what to do.”

The stench of copper taunted her, from blood and metal alike.

Wielders aren’t immortal, Sawyer had told her. But we are a bit harder to kill.

Sol continued pounding on his chest. “You’re supposed to be hard to kill, damn it!”

The rustling of leaves around her made her look up, vision blurry with saltwater and tears. She hoped to see Jonah, ready with a team of healers or mages or whoever could make this nightmare disappear.

She tore her hair away from her face, greeted by four lanky Jinn crouching on the sand like toads, a smile plastered on their gods-awful faces.

Breath hitching, Sol grabbed a dagger from Cas’s belt, holding it over him and trying her best to seem confident. “Come fucking try it,” she seethed.

“Queen of Wielders, we will bargain with you,” the Jinn said in unison, unnerving Sol’s every instinct. “Leave the Prince of Shadows and we shall let you go.”

“Fuck no.”

Their grins expanded. “We were hoping you’d decline.”

The four of them leaped, one directly at her, which she evaded swiftly with a stab in its forehead.

The creature went down with her knife, leaving her to punch the next one that clawed at her.

Sol stood over Cas and punched it again, flinching as her knuckles cracked.

The Jinn screeched as it fell on its brother, then snapped its deathly teeth at Sol.

She didn’t think she would be as lucky with the other two.

They howled in unison, spit and debris shooting at her face. It was then, as she looked at their decrepit faces and counted her odds, she accepted defeat. She fell to her knees once more, draping herself over Cas. Sol accepted she would die with him instead of leaving when all noise halted.

The waves seemed to mute, and the air itself stilled. Only the sound of her rugged breathing filled her ears. Then, the pain in her back subsided. Instead of burning, it cooled.

“You three have twenty seconds to flee before I’m forced to kill you.” The voice behind Sol was low and brutal, a thousand harmonies laced within it.

Her soul dropped.

She tightened her arms around Cas, the scent of rosewood and sage lingering even after the stretch of ocean they swam.

“You side with the Wielders, Morna? You are the reason we suffer,” the Jinn spat, but Sol heard them slide away.

“I side with Mavka, and Mavka sides with the Yarrows,” the Mind Slayer said, its voice clanging through Sol’s bones. Tears continued to fall.

It had been two minutes. She had to get him breathing. Ignoring the Jinn, she placed her hands over his chest once more and put her weight on them, like Lora had taught her when she was young.

Push.

Push.

Push.

Cas, please.

“Leave. Consider this a final mercy and warning to Lorkin to stay away from the Yarrow Court.”

She didn’t care what was happening or why the Mind Slayer behind her hadn’t torn her to pieces yet. It continued to speak, but she couldn’t hear it, not as she continued to work on Cas, even as her arms shook with exhaustion.

“If you manage to get his heart beating again, you will still have to flush the copper, Queen of Wielders.”

In front of her, a pair of black eyes clouded her vision.

It was similar to the one from the ocean, to the one in Yavenharrow that had tried to kill her. It blinked at her, its eyes flashing white.“Your blood will purify his.”

Sol cried, “Just kill me and be done with it.”