Page 54 of The Shard and the Serpent (Shard Daughters #1)

A Happy Thing

Warrick

I dive through rain and howling wind, every flash of the storm lighting Rayze’s limp body. Her eyes are closed, her body and coat somersaulting through the air as she tumbles toward concrete far below.

The woman I love. The woman I’ll die for. I remember every aching moment in her presence, the taste of her and the beat of her heart. My mind clears, adrenaline eating away at the Volt in my veins.

Sirens blare through the city. The crowded street scatters in tiny dots.

I stretch my arms until I have her, my body crashing into hers, her head clutched to my chest. We spiral at a faster rate, our combined masses tucking us quicker toward our deaths.

Then—Vandem’s voice. It blasts through the city louder than any siren.

ATTENTION: CITIZENS OF SYNLON.

I squeeze my eyes shut. There are threads for everything. The small splinter of her magic stirs along our Bond. I latch to it.

“Slow,” I demand.

YOUR HEIR HAS COMMITTED AN ACT OF BLOOD BETRAYAL.

Thunder rumbles through the city.

I clutch her tighter. “Slow!”

Nothing .

“Angel. Angel, please. Wake up.”

We have five minutes.

Less.

My frantic gaze flicks to the windows as we drop past one after the other.

It’s easiest to find the voids between threads through reflections of your own power.

THE CITY IS NOW UNDER LOCK DOWN. REMAIN INDOORS.

My muscles ripple as I right us toward the mirrored blur of our fall.

We create portals by pulling from the rage within ourselves and pushing it into the void.

I yell into the rain, but with every spark across my knuckles, my grip on my angel loosens, the Volt in my bloodstream attacking.

Twenty feet.

This is it.

No portal.

No magic.

Just us.

Us falling through a storm.

15 feet.

Seconds from pavement.

Death—I never thought it a happy thing. I never thought of it much at all.

Then her.

At least she’s in my arms.

13 feet.

“Until the end, angel,” I whisper against her ear, flipping us in the air so I hit first. I keep my eyes on our reflection. I beg it.

Then wild green eyes find mine. “Warrick?” Rayze croaks.

10 feet .

“Go back to sleep, baby,” I murmur.

She yanks her head around, searching for a reflection. She stares toward the passing windows in horror, the rain pelting us.

“Open,” she commands.

Her nails dig into my sides. White sparks glint through her eyes.

5 feet.

“Open!” she screams—

And the darkness of the flooded, fast-approaching asphalt folds.

We drop into the void of a portal like being reeled in by a fishing wire before we’re dragged past stars. We embrace for dear life, our shouts echoing across rivers of endless dark.

“Rayze,” I warn, Volt breaking through me like daggers stabbing down across my body.

“Hold on. I’m trying!”

We tear between the shattered remnants of a realm, fly past endless fog and ivory archways, through moons and horizons.

My lungs pinch.

Then we tilt.

Rayze stretches out a hand, her eyes squeezed shut in concentration.

“Lift,” she breathes.

Stars wink into neon and fog, and bright white cracks over her outstretched fingers.

The portal releases us thousands of feet above Synlon, our second descent through the city under her control.

Slowly, Rayze peels her eyes open with a hard swallow.

Rain bends around us as if we exist within a pocket of the storm.

Thunder mutes. The steady trill of the city’s sirens becomes a soft hum.

“You jumped,” she rasps, her eyes panicked as she looks me over.

I drop my throbbing forehead against hers.

“Why the fuck did you jump?” Her voice shakes. “Warrick, if I hadn’t woken up—” Her head shakes against mine.

I stare down at the ground zooming closer beneath our boots.

“Do you even remember us?” she croaks.

I don’t. I do. “I remember enough to know there’s no realm where I wouldn’t fall for you.”

The veins along her temples bulge, her outstretched hand clenching. I brush my lips against hers, and she sinks into me.

Her power surges through the Bond, reckless and raw.

Mine answers—fractured, uncertain, but hungry for her.

They crash together inside my chest like two storms colliding.

I feel it in my throat, in my bones, in the space between my teeth.

Below, the city still howls, but we’re suspended.

Cradled by the Bond’s rage. Lifted by the magic trying to hold us together even as the realm tries to break us apart.

Kissing her is power. Kissing her is home.

Our boots skim the ground, but Rayze holds us aloft, the tension in her shoulders easing as she leans into me. Like fuses blowing apart, my mind splinters at her taste, at the use of magic, but I don’t dare stop. I will never stop trying to remember.

“Us,” she breathes between my lips.

My hands shake against her waist. “For always, angel.”

We settle on the ground, my hands tangled in the wet strands of her hair. Our mouths remain locked, her hands scraping over every inch of me and mine over her.

Then we’re forced apart by the sharp wail of another siren.

“We should go,” she says, taking a firm step back from me. “Ender and Slayer, did you see them? What happened when I fell?”

Fuck . “They were knocked out, I think.” I step to her. “I’m sorry. All I could think about was getting to you—”

A portal snaps open behind us in the alley. Aleksi and Sonya stumble out of it, their eyes wide behind their matching masks.

“Thank Gods. I was worried we were portaling to your splattered bodies,” Aleksi says.

Sonya rushes into us, her arms wide.

Rayze and I grunt at her sudden weight, the woman pinning us in a hard hug.

Then she draws back, signing quickly. Are you okay? She whips Rayze’s trench coat left and right, checking her sister for injuries before she turns to me and grabs my face.

I lift a hand. I’m okay , I sign.

She hugs me again, and Aleksi grabs her by the back of her denim coat, the thing lined in rainbow-colored fur.

“Slayer, get a hold of yourself,” Aleksi says, but she turns to me with a worried look. “How’s the head, Heir?”

“Vandem injected me with Volt.” I knead the back of my neck. “I think it’s fading, but I don’t know.”

The echo of Chrome Guards calling out commands funnels down the street, joining the wail of the sirens.

Then a bottle smashes against armor. A second later, a chair flies through the entrance of a bar and takes a Guard down with it.

Civilians charge the street with fists raised and mouths open, clawing for the chance to strike first.

But the Chrome Guards don’t move like mortals.

They strike without hesitation, Volt surging through their limbs, turning them into something faster, harder, colder. One drives a blade clean through a woman’s chest and uses her body to knock two more down.

People keep coming. Until they don’t.

One by one, civilians drop, stabbed and kicked. A girl crawls across the ground, reaching for the curb, and a crony steps on her neck without slowing. Screams turn to silence. Fists turn to twitching limbs, and the ones still moving hide . Doors slam shut. Curtains are drawn.

Chrome marches through the streets, cronies shooting up more Volt and converging at The Dredge.

Vandem’s there, shouting orders, my fucking coward of a father standing like he’s on a leash.

The Commander and The Serpent branch away with a group of Chrome Guards, heading into the Underground while the rest of their snakes start kicking down doors.

“Ready, Blood Betrayer?” Rayze asks, her shoulder kissing mine.

I grin and hook the mask over my head. “Fuck me, I like the sound of that.”