The rustling of leaves around her made her look up, vision blurry with saltwater and tears. She hoped to see Jonah, ready with a team of healers or mages or whoever could make this nightmare disappear.
She tore her hair away from her face, greeted by four lanky Jinncrouching on the sand like toads, a smile plastered on their gods-awful faces.
Breath hitching, Sol grabbed a dagger from Cas’s belt, holding it over him and trying her best to seem confident. “Come fucking try it,” she seethed.
“Queen of Wielders, we will bargain with you,” the Jinn said in unison, unnerving Sol’s every instinct. “Leave the Prince of Shadows and we shall let you go.”
“Fuck no.”
Their grins expanded. “We were hoping you’d decline.”
The four of them leaped, one directly at her, which she evaded swiftly with a stab in its forehead. The creature went down with her knife, leaving her to punch the next one that clawed at her. Sol stood over Cas and punched it again, flinching as her knuckles cracked. The Jinn screeched as it fell on its brother, then snapped its deathly teeth at Sol.
She didn’t think she would be as lucky with the other two.
They howled in unison, spit and debris shooting at her face. It was then, as she looked at their decrepit faces and counted her odds, she accepted defeat. She fell to her knees once more, draping herself over Cas. Sol accepted she would die with him instead of leaving when all noise halted.
The waves seemed to mute, and the air itself stilled. Only the sound of her rugged breathing filled her ears. Then, the pain in her back subsided. Instead of burning, it cooled.
“You three have twenty seconds to flee before I’m forced to kill you.” The voice behind Sol was low and brutal, a thousand harmonies laced within it.
Her soul dropped.
She tightened her arms around Cas, the scent of rosewood and sage lingering even after the stretch of ocean they swam.
“You side with the Wielders, Morna? You are the reason we suffer,” the Jinn spat, but Sol heard them slide away.
“I side with Mavka, and Mavka sides with the Yarrows,” the Mind Slayer said, its voice clanging through Sol’s bones. Tears continued to fall.
It had been two minutes. She had to get him breathing. Ignoring the Jinn, she placed her hands over his chest once more and put her weight on them, like Lora had taught her when she was young.
Push.
Push.
Push.
Cas, please.
“Leave. Consider this a final mercy and warning to Lorkin to stay away from the Yarrow Court.”
She didn’t care what was happening or why the Mind Slayer behind her hadn’t torn her to pieces yet. It continued to speak, but she couldn’t hear it, not as she continued to work on Cas, even as her arms shook with exhaustion.
“If you manage to get his heart beating again, you will still have to flush the copper, Queen of Wielders.”
In front of her, a pair of black eyes clouded her vision.
It was similar to the one from the ocean, to the one in Yavenharrow that had tried to kill her. It blinked at her, its eyes flashing white.“Your blood will purify his.”
Sol cried, “Just kill me and be done with it.”
It took a long inhale. “I can smell the stars on you girl, that Yarrow scent. But what’s the other smell on you, I wonder? How peculiar.” The thing laughed, its teeth shining. “I don’t wish you dead.”
Without further explanation or chaos, it vanished into the waters.
Your blood will purify his.
Against all odds, the creatures had yet to be proven wrong.
