Page 19 of To Sway a Prince (Tempting Thieves)

19

CONNECTED

S hock radiated through me as I struggled in the strange gel of the Chasm.

"Astraia! Astraia, keep moving. Get to the side. I'm coming for you." Ramiel's voice echoed in my mind. "Keep moving. If you stop moving, you'll sink. But don't pulseport. Get to the rocks and climb."

"I can't breathe!" Panic cut through me, fiercer than the cold as that gel filled my nose and mouth despite trying to keep it out. It tasted of algae and mud and rot, relentless and all encompassing.

"You can. It's an illusion. I swear it." The panic in Ramiel's mind voice did not comfort me. "Zephyrus!" Ramiel bellowed, his voice remaining in my mind though he was no longer talking to me. "Zephyrus, I command you: do not enter after her. You'll just trap both of you. We'll get her out. Giselle, Veyruneth, flank him! Get him strong."

The black dots spiraled over my vision. I remembered what he had said. I envisioned myself breathing and swimming. My limbs moved as if they had weights tied at every joint. My lungs ached. But I moved and I breathed, slowly—painfully slowly.

Above, I could hear Zephyrus's desperate roars dimly. He was up! Two other dragons—the purple and the dark green-blue one shot across my field of vision. How had they gotten here so fast?

I pushed forward in the substance filling the Chasm, swimming through the purple mist and slick gel toward the nearest rock formation. My right arm hung useless, that pain spreading from my wrist up to my burning shoulder. Each movement felt like dragging myself through molasses, and it immediately filled in after I moved farther, preventing me from gaining any momentum.

The cold seeped deeper, beyond flesh and bone.

Down below, red eyes opened. Multiple sets. Something brushed against my leg, greasy but solid.

"Hold on, Astraia. I'm coming for you. Just reach the rocks." Ramiel's voice echoed in my ears. "Get to the rocks, and I'll get you out!"

I twisted my head back, feeling that horrible cold slick substance filling my ears and mouth. Up above, I vaguely saw the dragons flying. Zephyrus's roar echoed louder, rageful and terrified.

Another greasy claw scraped against my leg. I yelped and surged forward, my fingers scrabbling against the rock. The red eyes below swam up closer. Three, four, five separate sets. I hooked my hand into a pocket in the granite and dragged myself closer.

The world exploded. Light and energy flared through. A hand seized me by the arm and dragged me up. Blessed warmth engulfed me as Ramiel pulled me into his arms. The greasy cold fled, all slicking off into the rift below. Claws swiped into that space, and a gurgling roar followed.

"I've got you. I've got you now," Ramiel said as Thalorion thrust his wings down.

We shot back up into the sky as the purple mist screamed. Runes hung in the air at regular intervals.

Four dragons swept down and snatched them up. The others wove back and forth. Silver light shone as they unraveled the runes, and the dragons worked in concert to weave the rift shut.

"Z-Zephyrus—" I stammered. I couldn't spot him yet, but my sight was limited to what I could see without turning my head. Where was he?

"He's fine. He's coming with us." Ramiel's hand pressed my head to his chest as he hugged me tight. His heart thundered against my ear. Even in my weakness, I could hear the straining of the curse as it tried to tighten around him and summon the omenfang. The wind didn't tug on my hair or chill me as I expected, so I guessed he had used some other charm or spell to shield us. I tried to tell him to let it go, to save his energy, but he shushed me as if he guessed. "Just breathe for me and hold fast, gnat. You're going to make it."

"I feel vile," I gasped weakly, my eyes watering.

His mouth quirked, his eyes bright with concern. "The curse makes it worse. Much worse." His thumb smoothed my hair back from my face, stroking my cheek. "My curse got on you somehow. It's still on me, but it's also on you. It shouldn't have gone like this. It didn't just change a little. It's like a full transference. Like it grew into you."

The threads. My wrist still burned, and I could see them trying to burrow in. Curses often changed. Was this just that? Maybe. My eyes slid shut. I didn't even know how Ramiel had gotten to me or how he did what he did. But if he hadn't, I would have died.

As Thalorion thundered up into the sky, Ramiel wrapped his cloak around me and settled me tight against his chest. "Just keep breathing," he whispered.

I managed a shaky nod.

He cut his hand across the air. A bolt of silver light struck the sky, and a long line formed, blinking ever wider. Thalorion circled it. "We're going to get out of here, gnat. I'm going to get you back home. You need rest. Rest and warmth and food. It's all right. Just stay awake, all right?"

My very spirit ached. I was raw. The throbbing in my shoulder had intensified. I watched as the dragons began sealing up the Chasm in that complex aerial dance similar to the one they performed before. The purple mist closed in as the weak points in the Chasm vanished as if they had never been there. Except for one. The one where the chasm wraith had broken free and seized me. Maybe it was the curse or my magic or a combination that made it more resistant.

Ramiel hissed with frustration. That tension radiated through him. My hand settled over his heart. It wasn't beating as steadily as it should. He'd almost reached his limit. The knots were pulsing around his heart. I could feel them even from here. They were tightening and clenching, gripping him tighter.

I flexed my fingers against his chest, trying desperately to summon up some of my magic. I felt empty and chafed, but there—there was a little more in there. I summoned it as best I could.

"What are you doing?" he scowled as he looked down at me. His attention had to snap back to the runes.

"Breathing room." My tongue struggled with the words. I couldn't fully remove the knots right now, but I knew what was coming. I focused instead on loosening them. I was too weak to even cut one free. If I could just give him more space before they tightened after his magic expenditure, then he could breathe better. And if he could breathe better, he could fight the omenfang.

"Don't risk yourself, Astraia." His voice shook a little. "You've done enough. You've been through enough. Just trust me. I'll get you home safe. It's easier to fight it when we're in the tower. Just stay awake."

I just shook my head, breathing him in. Even with the afternotes of that horrid gel in my lungs and mouth, I could smell him and his woodsy and calming scents. My magic smelled more like burning cashmere now.

He lifted his gloved hand as Thalorion wheeled around. He then carved more runes into the air. His breath hitched, a pained gasp choking him. He curled over me.

My fingers dug into his chest again. My magic faltered. It sputtered from my core, down my left arm, and into my fingertips. Loosen. Loosen! The threads writhed and stuttered beneath my grip. It lit up within his chest again. I could—I could almost see the central thread. The one thread I desperately needed to undo this curse once and for all.

His breaths shaking, he finished carving the last of the runes. The dragons darted in and seized them. That line of light had expanded. It opened into a silver-rimmed hole large enough for a full-grown dragon to fly through. The Eye of the Needle was on the other side, the tower jutting out of the forest and framed by storm clouds.

Thunderheads billowed behind us, but a darker spiral cloud formed. The red eyes of the spectral omenfang burned within. It had not yet taken its form. The stench of burning metal filled the air. Fear clutched me, locking me into place. It was coming.

"Faster, Thalorion!" Ramiel clutched me close, his body hunching over mine as if to shield me.

My hand clutched weakly at his tunic, fingers hooking in his pendant and the masking charm. Cold—so cold. But his heart was racing, thudding and constricting within the bonds of the curse. My own heart felt as if it was being crushed.

Lightning arced in the sky.

Zephyrus bellowed again. He shot up and passed through the omenfang. It vanished for a moment, the force of the wind whipping him back.

The other dragons took turns flying through the omenfang's oncoming storm cloud.

We shot through the portal into the air just above the tower. Thalorion's massive wings beat furiously against the storm winds. Ramiel's arms remained locked around me, his body shielding and warming me. I struggled to even keep my eyes open, the cold swallowing me.

A furious roar announced Zephyrus's arrival. He flew through the portal behind us, his scales gleaming with rain water and mist.

Through the portal, the dark column of smoke churned closer. One by one, the remaining dragons passed through. Each time they disrupted the omenfang, but it always reformed.

"The omenfang—" I tried to warn, but my voice emerged as little more than a rasp.

"I know." Ramiel's voice was strained. "The dragons are buying us time. It's not at full strength like it was the last time. We have to get inside."

My vision blurred as the other weaver dragons darted and weaved through the air, striking at the gathering darkness that pursued us.

As we neared the Eye of the Needle, Ramiel shifted me in his arms, pulling me tighter against his chest. His heartbeat hammered against my ear, struggling against those cursed threads I'd tried to loosen.

"Hold on," he whispered.

Without warning, he leapt from Thalorion's back, still clutching me to him. My stomach lurched as we plummeted through open air for a terrifying moment before the familiar disorienting sensation of pulseporting enveloped us.

We materialized in his library, the books rustling and the pages fluttering. The items on the desk jostled, the spindle with the thread falling off the edge and spinning on the floor in a stream of silver thread.

"Caein!" Ramiel called out, his voice strained as he laid me on a plush couch. A fire sprang up within the carved marble fireplace, but the heat did not reach me.

I tried to push myself upright but collapsed. The burning in my wrist intensified. I had to tell him.

"You'll be fine," Ramiel said, brushing my hair from my face. His eyes held a desperate intensity that frightened me. "I'm not going to lose you now."

My eyelids were so heavy. I couldn't keep them up. My head slumped onto the soft arm of the couch. My spirit might not have been torn out, but I felt fragile. With the omenfang coming, either of us could die. And I had to—I had to tell Ramiel what I felt. That I loved him. The words burned in my throat, desperate to escape, but my lips wouldn't form them. Darkness edged my vision as consciousness slipped away.

"Ramiel, what happened?" Caein's voice floated into the room.

"A chasm wraith got her. It didn't fully rip her spirit out, but the curse—my curse—it's spreading to her. It wasn't a transformation. It treated her as if she was me." Ramiel's voice cracked. "We need to?—"

The scent of burning metal filled the air, acrid and overwhelming. A dark cloud materialized in the center of the room, red eyes forming within its depths.

Ramiel stepped between the cloud and me, positioning his hands and slicing through the air. The runes burned bright. "Leave now, foul beast! I have no time for your games."

The omenfang's gaze hinged from Ramiel to me as the flames in the fireplace sputtered.

Those glowing red eyes burned into me, and my spirit screamed and tugged as if it might rip free. Those red eyes bore into mine even as my eyelids dragged shut again. It bared its dark teeth in a horrifying smile.

It was coming for me.

Ramiel swore, commanding it to fight him. He tried to cut in front of it.

I had to get up. Weave a net. Cut a knot. Something. Anything!

My body refused to respond, the chasm wraith's poison still pulling at my spirit and my consciousness. Nothing in my body responded. My vision blurred and hazed.

Vaguely I heard the battle continuing within the tower itself. Had a dragon broken in? Zephyrus's snarling bellows filled my ears. But the terror from the omenfang pressed in upon my consciousness.

Caein called out, shouting to Ramiel about something. Some ward or sigil to activate. It was garbled.

The omenfang loomed over me in my mind's eye. I forced my eyes open to make it vanish, the heaviness in my body present. Ramiel summoned the shadow creature to battle. He cut runes into the air. The light around his heart burned. The loosening had worked. For now. Not enough to free him entirely, but enough to strengthen him and allow him to fight.

And the omenfang—it wasn't paying attention to him now. It had found me.

The omenfang leaned back on its tail.

I struggled to push up, my hands shaking as I tried to summon my shield. My right arm no longer even felt as if it was there.

Black and violet static erupted over me. All the air vanished from my lungs. I—I couldn't breathe. Could barely move. My fingertips froze.

Then everything went still and silver light exploded.

As my vision cleared, Ramiel leaned over me, his arms wrapping tight around me as he brought me to his chest. "No, not like this. Please. Not like this. No. She doesn't deserve this. Astraia, please. Astraia, answer me! Don't die! Don't. Please! Hold fast, gnat. Hold fast!" His voice echoed in my thoughts as well as my ears, the pendant connecting us.

He put me back on the couch. I must have fallen off before. Had I? I—I couldn't remember. It was blurring.

Cold paint sloshed over me as he struggled to paint the runes on my chest.

"No, please. Please," he said, his voice shaking. Tears struck my cheek. Not mine. His?

I tried to lift my head, but all was blurred.

He pressed his forehead against mine. "I love you, Astraia. I love you so much. Please don't die. Please. I won't give up on you."

My heart swelled in response. Tears pricked my eyes. More than anything I wanted to say that I felt the same. Because I did. I felt as if I had always known him, and what I wanted now as much as I wanted to keep Zephyrus safe was to have a life with him. All the pieces snapped into place in this moment.

But the exhaustion kept me from speaking, and then…