I rose to my hands and knees, shaking, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stand yet. Grief, exhaustion, all of it weighed too heavily on my body.
I gulped down a full breath and set my sights to where I’d left Kade’s body. Vivienne hovered over both him and Cassandra, who lay still beside him. I choked back the endless stream of tears. How much more death would we face? WouldIface?
The others had to be okay. Please, Fates above, please don't have taken anyone else from me.
Forcing myself up on my elbows, I crawled across the distance toward the body of my mate and Cassandra.
I knew Cassandra said she had to die, but hearing Vivienne’s wails as I approached was agonizing.
I continued to crawl, knowing the true heroes of this battle lay dead in front of me. I sobbed, choking on bile rising in mythroat. I needed to be with Kade. I had to get to him, to hold him one more time.
Making it to his body was pure torture. What these two incredible Fae did for our world would be written into the history books of our time, never to be forgotten. Vivienne looked unharmed, yet just as broken as me.
Her kind eyes, even in her own grief, found mine.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I looked at Cassandra, her hand clutching Kade’s arm where a deep cut bled between her fingers. Even in his death, she clearly tried to heal him, the Fae who took care of the boy who needed love when he received none.
Forcefully, I dragged my gaze to Kade, letting my eyes rest on his beautiful face.
I clutched Apollo in my hand. Heaving my body up, despite the exhaustion. My magic barely responded, but I had it in me to try one last time.
For Kade.
I took a few deep breaths. “Please,” I whispered, glancing up at the clouds. “Please help me. Give me the strength to save him.”
I reached, deep inside of me, giving my light the little energy I had remaining. “We can do this.”
My light responded, surging even though I knew I’d have nothing left if this didn’t work. Still, we refused to give up.
I placed my hands atop his chest, closing my eyes and channeling every pure, powerful thought of love and life into him. I gritted my teeth against the drain on my body as both my heart and my light joined together to help Kade.
“Illiana,” Vivienne said, speaking my name softly. It sounded like pity. I wouldn’t accept this end, and I certainly had no time for pity.
The light shone bright in my hands, pulsing a few times over Kade’s chest before dying out.
I gasped, slumping forward. I reached my hand up to his neck. “It worked, it worked, it worked,” I chanted, willing it into existence.
But there was nothing.
No breathing. No pulse, not even a faint one.
“No,” I howled, looking back to the sky. “How could you? I did everything you needed me to do. Thames is gone.” My voice was hoarse, weak, but I kept screaming. “Give him back.”
Pulling myself on top of him, I managed to lay my chest atop his body, desperate to be close to him before I had to return to those around me and don the crown of queen once more. I didn’t even know if I could lead my people right now. The thought of walking away from Kade’s body caused my last remaining rationality to completely dissolve from my mind.
“I miss you already,” I whispered as tears streamed down my face. “I miss you so damn much. I don’t want to do this without you.”
“Sweet child,” Vivienne said, her warm hands somehow steady as they brushed my tears away. “You did so well.”
“I don’t want to stay here without him,” I admitted.
“Lana?” A strangled sound interrupted us, and Storm fell to his knees beside me. I couldn’t even lift my head from Kade’s chest to comfort him as he brushed a hand across his friend’s forehead. “No,” he whispered, laying his head atop Kade’s.
I let out an unintelligible sob.
Footsteps approached, shuffling toward us, and I glanced over to find the horrified faces of my friends. Raya fell to the ground and howled Kade’s name. Jax stumbled, falling beside her. I sucked in a sharp breath at the soaked bandages around his arm. Besides his bloody form, the others looked worn and dirty but unscathed.
Ian approached and gasped, looking between me and Kade’s body. Dropping to his knees he reached for me. “Lan, oh Lan,” he murmured, stroking my hair. “I’m so sorry.”
