Ruse and Alaric whimper as I drop to my knees beside Elora in the dirt, the puppies sitting uncharacteristically still.
I scoop her up and place her head in my lap.
“There was nothing I could do, Sor.” Jarek’s voice is broken, but I don’t look at him.
I stroke Elora’s hair, pushing it from her face. I clean the edges of her mouth with my cloak, freeing it from the blood that’s begun to dry there.
“We should have come with you,” Sam says through her tears. “Maybe we could have stopped this.”
“Nothing could have stopped this,” I whisper. I run my finger between Elora’s brows, smoothing the crease before finding her hand and grasping it in mine.
“But if we had helped you—” Sam sobs.
The wind shifts, rustling the leaves that litter the forest floor. The rain slices lines down my face and arms.
Before long, the leaves create a tunnel, much like the one I was encased in when my heart stopped beating. They swirl around Elora and I. I hold her tightly, hoping it’s enough to keep her here with me. My father’s ring is on her finger, the black metal coated in mud. My fingers twitch to reach for it, but I leave it instead.
The leaves and wind are ferocious and as the skies open up further, Elora begins to fade.
“No!” I shout but it doesn’t do any good. Little by little, her body dissipates into the wind. From her boots to her hair, she floats away from me like stardust.
I clutch the soil beneath me, digging my fingers into the leaves and dirt. Grasping for any lingering piece of her that may still remain. That piece inside of my chest that belongs only to her cracks open wide, and I scream and curse and clutch the ground until my throat is hoarse and my knuckles white.
Memories flash so quickly behind my eyes that I can’t be certain if what I’m seeing is from this life or the past.
Each memory is filled with golden hair and a freckled nose.
A hard-earned laugh and an easy scowl.
A passionate kiss and connection that comes all too naturally.
A crown and a storm and a bargain made.
Then, she’s slipping from my grasp. Fading away into a world of black nothing. No matter how hard I try to find her hand, she’s just out of reach.
“Can you sense her, Sam?” Jarek’s voice pulls me from the depths of my memories.
My head rolls forward, hanging limply from my shoulders.
Sam doesn’t answer him right away. She watches me rise, dirt and blood caked on my hands and clothes. Her face breaks and I know her answer. I push my hair from my face with trembling hands and look away from my sister.
I can’t bear for her to see me like this.
So broken.
“I can’t sense her,” Sam says.
“Because her spirit isn’t here,” I say. “It’s now bound to the Wicked Wood.”
As soon asI see Amis back at the Jade Guild, a small piece of hope ignites in my chest. I don’t wait to explain my plan before I place myself in the saddle.
“Sorin!” Sam shouts as she catches up to me. “Where are you going?” She’s panting as she reaches the horse. She grips the reins tightly, as if that will do anything to stop me from going.
“I am going to get my wife.” I yank the reins from her hands. “You and Jarek will join the others at the Onyx Guild immediately.”
She shakes her head, her lip quivering. Her eyes move past me for a moment and then to her right and then quickly to her left.
“Samaria, look at me.” The sharpness in my tone has her snapping her attention from the spirits I’m sure are flooding her and focusing on me. “I know it couldn’t have been easy?—”
