Page 68

Chapter sixty-six

“ Y our letters were very helpful, cousin,” Sorin said as he dragged Astrid to her feet. Her equilibrium teetered and she struggled to regain her balance.

Dimitri’s still body lay near the fountain. His shadows poured from him, wilting the grass, blackening the trees. Taking everything within their radius.

They stopped, churning a few feet from her.

“Dimitri!” Astrid screamed.

More arrows struck. They carved his torso, sliced limbs.

His shadows pulsed and began to retract.

“No!” Astrid screamed, but couldn’t shake Sorin’s grip.

She reached for a hair stick and ripped it from her curls. The thin blade glinted as she unsheathed it. Astrid rammed the blade into Sorin’s gut. Her cousin grunted and curled forward, releasing her.

Astrid turned, grabbing the collar of his jacket with both hands. She fell back, rolling onto her shoulders as she got her feet under him. Their eyes met for an instant, and there she saw betrayal in his dark gaze.

Astrid smiled and threw him over her.

Sorin tumbled onto the grass and into Dimitri’s shadows.

Her cousin screamed as the shadows overtook him.

He twisted, trying to escape. A hand, lined with black veins, burst from the thick, opaque shadows, before being engulfed again.

His face surfaced next, screaming for her.

Sunken, milky white eyes over gaunt cheekbones, pleaded.

“Astrid!”

She recognized the voice and turned toward Sterling. He stood at the far edge, two of her cousins between them and gestured, Who are we killing?

Throw them in, she gestured back and bolted to Desmond, her youngest cousin. His eyes widened and he quickly dropped his attention to his crossbow. Panic overwhelmed him as he fumbled with the bowstring.

Astrid tackled him and threw his weapon to Dimitri’s shadows as males screamed behind her.

“Asti, what are you doing?” Desmond cried.

“What I should have done a long time ago,” she answered, dragging him to his feet.

Another arrow sang through the air. Flames cascaded behind it and Astrid watched in horror as it struck Dimitri’s body.

Astrid threw Desmond into the shadows and charged forward.

Strong arms caught her, lifting her off her feet.

“Let me go, Sterling! I need to heal him,” Astrid screamed as she sobbed.

She thrashed, but Sterling held her. “You can’t go in there. He’ll kill you.”

“Let me go to him,” she begged. “He won’t hurt me.”

The thick shadows retracted, exposing four contorted, desiccated corpses. Dimitri’s death magic churned into a sweeping vortex, returning to him. Sealing within him.

The four souls weren’t enough.

“Dimitri!” Astrid screamed.

The shadows burst from him in answer. The same vortex she’d seen twisting in his chest, but now on a larger scale.

It faded, and her sword stood before her. Healed and whole.

Relief flooded Astrid, but she realized he wasn’t looking at her as he closed the distance between them. Sterling fell to his knees behind her.

The arms that held her were now lined with blackened veins.

“No!” Astrid sprinted toward Dimitri. Colliding with him as she took his face between her hands. “No, Dimitri, stop.”

“He’s with them,” Dimitri grated.

“He’s with me . You kidnapped me and I wrote him letters about you,” Astrid confessed.

His attention turned to her and hatred gleamed behind his molten gold eyes.

“You betrayed me—”

“I saved you!” Astrid screamed. “If you love me, let him go.”