Page 67 of Return of the Darkness (The Lost Kingdom Saga #3)

Sadira

A part of Sadira was rotting away, dying.

She felt it in her chest, the constricting of her heart as Caellum fell into her arms, knocking her from the chair.

She froze the moment she fell onto her knees and watched the blood pool beneath Caellum as Nyzaia and Farid dragged Soren out of her sight.

Caellum reached for the handle of the dagger protruding from his chest, and when his eyes finally met Sadira’s, she screamed.

She crawled through her husband’s blood, as it soaked into the cracks of the floor, stretching from the hole Elisara’s power had created in the table’s centre.

Her hand slipped when she reached for him.

Sadira fell into his chest. She lay there for a moment, listening to the sound of his heartbeat as his hand rose to twist into her hair.

She heard the faint thud, the deep beat of his heart belonging to her; she heard it every morning when she awoke in this exact position.

“Sadira,” he mumbled, but she could not bring herself to rise or look at him, to see the agony twisting his features. “Take…” he tried to speak. “Take it out. Please.” She shook her head and pounded her fist against his chest.

“No!” she screamed. Sadira had learned enough about healing and helping the injured at her engagement ball; she knew it would kill him the second she took it out.

He would lose too much blood. Someone called for Vigor, as if Caellum could ever survive a stab to the heart. A hand gripped Sadira’s shoulder.

“He needs to see you, Sadira,” Elisara choked.

“Don’t let him go like this. Please.” Sadira felt Caellum’s chest slow.

Slowly, she lifted her head, her tears streaming in rivulets through his blood on her face.

Caellum lifted a hand to her cheek, and Sadira crumpled the moment his wedding ring caught the light.

“I can’t do this without you,” Sadira cried.

“I won’t do it without you. Please, someone find a way—someone help him!

” Sadira looked up at Elisara standing behind, with Vigor beside her.

He shook his head as Vlad wrapped an arm around Vala’s queen.

There was nothing he could do. Larelle bowed her head, as though already accepting the fate of Garridon’s king.

Nyzaia was nowhere to be seen, having dragged Caellum’s murderer from the crime scene.

The gods simply watched the death of yet another mortal.

Garridon lacked the decency to even look saddened at the sight of his descendent sobbing over the body of her husband, her king, her love.

“It’ll be okay,” Caellum whispered, though his breathing was laboured. Sadira closed her eyes as more tears fell until she finally looked at her husband and brought her hand to his cheek. “It’ll be okay.” He started coughing.

“Please don’t leave me,” Sadira cried.

“I am grateful,” Caellum choked. “For the fairytale you gave me.” Sadira gripped the hand that bore the mark of their marriage. They deserved more time— needed more time.

“I will never forget you,” Sadira cried. Her body shook as his blood bled into her skirts.

“I’ll wait for you,” Caellum wheezed. Coughs racked his body and blood filled his mouth. The damage was too much—his body was unable to cope. “I’ll be okay. I’ll be with my family,” he said. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” Sadira replied.

“Can you tell Sir Cain my father said thank you for raising me when he could not.” Sadira nodded but refused to believe he could not relay the message himself.

“Please don’t leave me,” she begged again, clinging to Caellum’s body. The ground continued to shake, and rubble fell from the temple .

“Find another fairytale, Sadira.” And those were his last words, spoken to the woman who had entered his life when he least expected and changed him for the better.

Sadira threw her head back and screamed as the world collapsed around her.

She sensed a body kneeling beside her as a shaky hand reached forward to close Caellum’s eyes and wrap an arm around Sadira.

In the Vala’s queen embrace, the Queen of Garridon sobbed, her heart split in two.