I suck in a breath. As if it were my last.
The air inside me… leaves. Vanishes.
My body hunches over, stuttering each breath I try to take and I slide off my horse. The land before me blurs, and I catch sight of Koen’s curls bouncing as he charges towards the dragon. The sounds of his voice breaking into groans of agony mix with his violent scream for death. But as I watch my man charge towards my sister, straight into a field of bones and ash, my head beats against the ground with a powerful impact.
I hear the screams of Theon and Kaine, their voices cracking into a deep raging plea to the Gods.
This isn’t good.
It’s as if time slows down, watching Koen stumble to a slower pace as he glances over his shoulder towards me. His emerald eyes widen, the dagger in his hand slipping from his trembling hand and falling to the ground.
He cries out to me with eyes wide, tripping over his feet as he runs towards me.
My breathing comes in ragged breaths while my trembling hand hovers over the dark, onyx arrow that pierced my chest. The raven-black liquid drips from the tip of the razor-sharp blade, and I let my finger glide along the surface, feeling the thickness of the toxin.
“I shall embrace the curse, for my Queen.” I hear the sinister cackle of Skydance in the distance. My eyes shut as I inhale a deep, choking breath while a sharp, radiating pain shoots through my heart.
Koen charges towards me, falling into the charred dirt with full force on his knees as he picks me up into his arms. My head rests in his lap while his bloody hands grab mine.
“I’m going to kill him!” Koen snarls, his lip rising with pure rage.
I cough. “No, I’m going to kill him.”
I suck in a deep, painful breath, and Koen helps me rise up on my feet.
“Let us fight this for you.” His eyes are filled with fear.
“No. This is my fight.”
My hands tremble over my chest. My eyes lock onto the arrow.
“Ren!” Theon screams as he punches a darkling in the face. Blood is stained all along his white hair, mixing in with the charred dirt of the Darklands. “Is she going to be okay!”
I can hear the fear cracking in his voice, catching the attention of the rest of the chosen.
Their life matters.
Them living is what I fight for.
My eyes glance towards Koen, watching him focus on the ground trembling beneath our feet. The rocks are jumping along the surface as the insects flee to another mountain. The bones rattle in the air as the dead logs break, chipping apart.
But Koen is silent. He doesn’t respond to Theon.
The constant tick in his jaw makes my heart flutter. He thinks I’m going to die.
Maybe I am.
“I am fine!” I shout towards Theon, nodding to make myself believe this.
“No, you are not!” Koen hisses, his eyes flickering to red.
I reach out and let my fingers tangle into his. “I will befine.”
The rocks kick off the mountain cliff as the darklings part way for…wait.
Skydance walks up on the edge of the mountain, his curls whipping in the breeze with a new dark, onyx eyepatch. But what seizes my breath is the other men that follow. Around twenty men, in dark leather suits that resemble Tileatha’s. Dragon scale armor, wrapping around their chest like ours, yet with a crimson-red hue glistening under them.
Skydance is up front, chin high as his lip tugs into a wicked grin once he meets my eyes.
