Page 62 of The Spark that Ignites (Shattered Soul #1)

K icking up dust, Emmery summoned every scrap of strength in her wobbly legs to match Vesper’s pace as they fled for the exit. Scraping claws on stone chased them, growing closer. She didn’t dare look back.

They had just set foot on the bridge when the first hound scurried from a tunnel, followed by several others.

Emmery’s heart thumped in her ears and the room twirled as she grasped for an escape.

Vesper skidded to a stop, locked his attention on the hound, and splayed his fingers before balling into a fist. It halted, sputtered as he stole the oxygen from its lungs, and collapsed, writhing for an unbearable moment until it fell deadly still.

White tethers flew from his fingers and slithered inside the rigid body, animating the beast’s limbs as it ambled to stand, its eyes glowing the white of Vesper’s vestige.

She didn’t know where to look amongst the anarchy. Didn’t know where to cast her flame without harming any of Vesper’s beasts.

Teeth gnashed as the hounds fought. As another fell, Vesper summoned it to battle the dozen others.

Bones snapped, blood sprayed, claws ripped—

Two broke free of the pack and barrelled toward them.

Emmery’s golden flames playfully sparked at her fingertips—ready to devour. Her eyes shone as she blasted the hounds. They wailed under the immense heat and flame licked up their bodies. There was nowhere for them to run. Nowhere to hide. And her khaos flame purred.

But in her fear, her control slipped, and her magic spilled out. Emmery tried to rein it in, but it left her gasping. It was too damn much, and she hadn’t recovered from healing in the mountain village. Gritting her teeth she clamped down on it and the stream severed.

Charred flesh steamed as the beast's charcoaled remains slumped to the floor. The last two hounds skittered away, leaving the corpses of their comrades to rot in the chamber.

Six animated bodies fell limp as Vesper doubled over, panting. He clutched his chest, his dimming vestige only a dusting of snow now. Between the bruises darkening his eyes and his pinched brows, his exhaustion was explicitly written in the lines of his face.

“Fuck. Those. Hounds,” he wheezed between breaths.

Vesper stepped toward her, and a red tile sank under his foot with an audible grind of stone on stone. And whatever that sound was, whatever that tile did, it flared Vesper’s eyes as he stared past her, a shadow of unfettered terror in them.

And if Vesper was scared—

No.

Emmery lunged for him, but her world careened as a hearty gust of wind knocked her off balance and she stumbled. A whistling grazed her face and warmed her cheek with blood.

There was no time to wipe away the blood before pain exploded in her thigh as a steel bolt sank its teeth into her. Her knees buckled and she hit the ground, her ears ringing and edges of her vision fraying as blood soaked her trousers. Her trembling finger grazed the shaft, and she bit back a cry.

Oh no, it was bad. Really bad.

From the location and depth, it could have been embedded in an artery. And if it did and she removed it, she’d bleed out. Obviously, that wasn’t an option. She would have to leave it and keep moving. Maybe Vesper could help her up all those damn stairs.

Fuck, this would be agony, but being ripped apart by hounds sounded way worse. If the bolt stayed in, her blood would too. She would leave it.

Emmery glanced up from her leg, swiping the back of her hand across her bleary eyes. And ... she couldn’t process what she was seeing.

She blinked.

Blinked again.

A wave of shock and unacceptance clouded her mind and all she could do was freeze, her body an ice sculpture, heart numb.

She hadn’t heard Vesper hit the floor. She’d been too distracted by her own pain and the ringing in her ears. He lay on his back, his body crumpled and still. So damn still.

The amulet lay discarded, the chain broken, and a bolt protruded from his chest, puncturing through his armour. But that wasn’t what doused her in frigid panic.

It was the thick, gaping slash across his neck, oozing blood even between his white knuckled fingers. It pooled on the floor, stained his hair, and smeared his face.

Emmery’s heart lurched. He must have twisted, but not fast enough, and the bolt sliced his throat.

And that gust of wind—was his wind.

No, no, no . He couldn’t have. Their pactum was done.

Why would he—

A sob rose in Emmery’s throat as pain splintered her chest and the realization sunk in.

Oh, gods. He had pushed her from the bolt's path. Despite their complete bargain, he saved her. Deemed her life worth saving. He didn’t know what a monstrous wretch she was. Didn’t know she plotted to swindle him all this time. Regret cleaved her in two, leaving her whole with remorse.

“Vesper?” she croaked, her soul pressing against her flesh, trying to escape this reality. Somewhere it didn’t hurt. Anywhere but here.

He didn’t answer.

The seconds it took to reach him were an excruciating eternity. Time slowed. Stopped. Became a living nightmare with weighted molasses coated limbs. She crawled to him, the biting pain in her thigh forgotten.

Her shaking hands hovered over his wounds.

She needed to do something. Anything .

Cradling his head in her lap, his blood slathered her hands and gathered between her fingers. Vesper’s pleading eyes bulged as he gasped for air, his wound gaping like a beached fish’s gills.

A violent tremor shook Emmery’s body as her mind raced. She couldn’t heal around the bolt, but the blood pumping from his neck was too fast. Too much. Throat first, then chest. She repeated it in her mind.

“Em—” he choked, blood bubbling from his mouth.

He coughed. More spurted.

“Don’t speak. It’s ... alright. Y-you’re alright.

” The words spilled out mechanically, as if from someone else’s lips.

Because she didn’t believe them for a second.

Her hands replaced his and clamped to staunch the flow—to hold that precious lifeblood inside him, but it leaked through her fingers, warm, slick, metallic—

Her stomach roiled as Callias’s bloodless face haunted her mind. How she had almost failed. But she wouldn’t, couldn’t—not Vesper.

Anyone but him. Please, oh please , anyone but him.

She blinked rapidly, her eyes suddenly wet.

“ Em .” Her name wheezed out of him. “It’s ... okay. Leave ...” He gasped. “ Iz ... Izzy—back.”

“No ... you'll do it. You’ll bring her back. You’ll—you’ll be okay.” A tear fell on his cheek. Her tear. “I’ll fix this. I’ll—I’ll fix you ... I promise. I’ll ... fix you.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed every shred of healing into him.

The silver threads brought unfathomable pain.

Fire, sparks, stars exploding in the cosmos couldn’t compare.

It pierced her chest, but her heart—it fought.

Her throat yawned open, and she couldn’t breathe, suffocating along with him.

A strangled cry ripped free, and she clenched her teeth around it.

Bit down until it hurt. Until she tasted her own blood.

Vesper’s eyelids fluttered shut, his pale lips parting as she took his pain. Held it. She would gladly do it. Keep it within herself for eternity.

Beneath her fingers the flesh mended, but slowly.

Too slowly. His blood pooled around them in a moat of crimson, and she was a crumbling island.

Her silver threads wavered, and she heaved a breath, willing them to speed.

That flapping wound in his throat had pulled together but the bolt skewering his chest was a spile and his body nearly sapped dry.

Clenching her teeth, Emmery wrenched it from his chest. Agony speared her, echoing in her body, but that meant he didn’t feel it. Good .

Her vision blurred and her head grew impossibly heavy. She swayed but managed to clamp her hand over the spraying blood, her threads dividing between the two wounds.

Pale as parchment, Vesper expelled a breath, and his head lolled.

And it was the cold sweat pricking her skin and ebbing pain that sang the vile tune of Death’s embrace. It floated through her, taunting finality. Emmery growled as she threw the last of her magic into him.

She didn’t need it. She didn’t want it.

He could have it all if it meant he would stay.

Stay . Stay . Stay . Her heart chanted the words. Please, please , oh gods , please . Don’t ... take him from me , her heart pleaded. Please don’t take him from me .

Her vestige flickered, the golden glow dimming around her hands. Collapse beckoned and her threads failed, dissipating into the damp crypt air. Emmery swiped at her nose to find it gushing blood.

Vesper’s heart stuttered. His chest spasmed as her threads failed.

Fuck.

She couldn’t do it. It wasn’t enough.

She wasn’t enough. She failed him.

He’d become her anchor, her lifeboat, her break in the clouds within the storm. But now she was sinking. Drowning all over again.

“ Vesper ,” she rasped, salty tears on her tongue. “Vesper ... Ves—open your eyes. Look at me !”

He didn’t, his face serene. Peaceful. Like he was ready to leave this world behind. “My sword,” he murmured, his lips a bloodless white. “Bury ... with my father.”

“You can’t—people need you,” Emmery sobbed, jostling him. “And me. I— I need you . You can’t do this, you can’t —” A scream bubbled up her throat. She wanted to beg someone for help— anyone . But she was alone. The only one who could save him. And she was so damned worthless.

Emmery couldn't pull him back, yank him to shore, as he drowned with her, the life rope shredding her fingers raw.

Vesper brushed her cheek with his fingertips, leaving a painting of blood behind. “Forgive me.”

His whispered words ravaged her heart. Tore it open and stomped it into an unrecognizable pulp. She thought she had lost it after what Nathaniel had done. After she’d lost her mother and Maela. But there it was. Beating and throbbing and once again ... shattered.

“ No ,” Emmery croaked, her throat raw. Tears blurred her vision. He looked so godsdamned peaceful, but she was selfish. And she wanted him to stay. She wanted to fix him, but she wasn’t enough. “I’m ... sorry. I’m so damn sorry, Vesper. I can’t—I couldn’t—” Her voice broke on a sob.

She swept a bloody lock of hair out of his face.

A face that had once offered her endless smiles when she only bit back.

Eyes that had watched and looked out for her.

A beautiful, tormented mind that was patient and uncommonly kind and took time to understand her.

Hands that had held hers and kept her steady when she feared she would lose her balance and topple into a dark place.

The hands that kept reaching out when she pushed him away.

Because he knew she needed it even though her stubborn heart would never ask.

She needed him . And now ...

“Vesper— please ... don’t.” It was a plea, a worthless attempt but she was desperate, and her chest convulsed as air escaped her.

Emmery shook him but he didn’t respond. So, she shook him again and again, screaming his name, calling out to gods who owed her nothing.

“I’ll do anything. Anything —please, just stay with me. Please .”

His vestige flickered until it winked out, dissipating into the air like ash.

And then he was just ... gone .

This grief was different from her mother’s passing.

That had been a slow creep towards the afterlife and a guilt-ridden relief.

And Maela’s death had been incomparable.

She’d been taken but the loss was sharp and angry.

All razored edges and revenge burning in her heart followed by an endless emptiness.

And when Fionn left it was a hollow and bottomless darkness she’d never quite crawled out of.

But this loss—it was a deep, heavy, inescapable sorrow. Vesper was ripped from life right when everything was falling into place. All their cultivated joy they’d built together had faded. Stolen by this moment.

Emmery summoned the courage to finally voice what wormed into her mind and heart all these weeks. What she told herself couldn’t happen.

What she should have said while he was still here.

Because at some point ... she had stopped pretending.

“You’re—you’re my best friend, Vesper,” she whispered, her bottom lip quivering. Tears fell onto his forehead, her chest shaking, sobbing, breaking. “You were fucking right, you know. You’ll ... always be my best friend.”

For a long moment, she merely sat there, clutching his limp hand, and fought all instinct telling her he wasn’t there anymore. Because he had been everything. He had been witty and charming and full of such laughter and life that ... this stillness he held now couldn’t possibly be real.

But it was. And she ... had to let go as the clock ticked down.

Emmery removed her shaking hand from his throat and released his hand as a sob wracked her body and there was nothing— nothing —she wanted more than to curl up beside him and die too. But the ticking resumed, driving her toward madness.

There was no time for grief. It had to wait.

Her thigh screamed as she stood. Helplessly, Emmery stared down at his body. She couldn’t carry him. She wouldn’t make it out of the chamber. It would be a miracle if she could get herself out. She would have to crawl up those stairs. And she—

She would have to leave him.

So, Emmery gathered the amulet, tying the chain where it broke and fastened it around her neck.

Carefully, she slid his enchanted cuff from his bicep and family sword from his back, a tremor quaking her at how limp and heavy and cold his body was.

She draped his cloak over him, unable to do more. To give him the honour he deserved.

It hurt too damn much, so she shoved it all away and Emmery’s mind muddled as her blood iced over.

And she numbed.

She said her last goodbye and fled the chamber, slipping through the door before it slammed shut—claiming Vesper’s body as if it had been the true cost all along.

The amulet pulsed against her chest as his words rang through her mind: Nothing is free. Nothing is fair .