I stilled. Something screamed inside my soul. That voice …
“LYR!”
Jules!
Jules was in my head. Jules was calling my name. Screaming. Gods, her voice! I hadn’t heard it in years. Even in my memories, the way she sounded, the way she spoke had begun to fade. But it was her. I’d recognize her voice at the end of the world.
I spun around, eyes searching with desperation, but no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find her. There was just thelion, being ripped in half, its face full of excruciating pain, its mane so fiery and red, flowing in wild waves.
Familiar waves.
My heart stopped.
Batavia red. The lion’s mane was Batavia red.
Even during its torture, it stilled with a noble calm. Its eyes met mine, holding my gaze. And I saw what I hadn’t before. Its eyes were human, alert, and intelligent. And this time, I saw the recognition in them, felt the knowing, felt the awful truth wash over me.
“LYR!” Jules screamed again, the sound heartbreakingly defeated. The lion’s face fell.
The third wolf leapt from behind, its mouth open, before it bit down on the lion’s head.
“NO!” I screamed! “NO! JULES!”
“LYR!” Meera’s voice rang through the arena.
But I couldn’t answer her. I couldn’t find her. I could only see the lion dying. See Jules dying. I could only hear the fear and terror in her voice, the sudden finding and losing of hope. I could feel my heart breaking because I was too late. Because I’d failed her. Because I’d lost her.
Again.
The vision faded, the arena disappeared and I was back in the cave, gasping, shivering. Meera was crouched before me, her hazel eyes wide. I was cold. So, so cold. Every part of me was shaking and trembling.
“I …” My chest heaved, I couldn’t stay still. “I …” My teeth chattered. The images were still fresh in my mind, swirling around painfully to the point I thought my head would explode.
“LYR!” Rhyan yelled, his voice full of worry, from across the cave. He was back from patrol.
I wanted to answer, to tell them what happened, tell them what I saw. What I learned, what I knew. I tried tostand. But I lost my balance. And then I was collapsing, my body falling.
There was a frantic yell and something warm and sturdy settled behind me. The scent of pine and musk filled my senses, cool air from an aura wrapped around my body like a blanket. For one brief second, I felt a sense of safety, of being held. But then my head fell back as I lost consciousness.
CHAPTER SIX
RHYAN
I hoisted Lyr up into my arms and ran, my heart practically beating through my chest. Within seconds, I reached our corner of the cave, Meera trailing behind.
“Can you light the fire?” I asked urgently. Lyr’s skin was so cold. She felt like ice in my arms. I’d only felt her body like this once before. When an akadim had thrown her onto a frozen lake, and she’d fallen in.
Meera’s stave pointed at the small flames that kept our section heated. Within seconds the fires flared, flames licking beyond the stones at its base. The cave brightened, casting dancing shadows against the walls as the air began to warm. But not enough. Not nearly enough for what she needed.
I laid Lyr down on our bed, and hastily dragged her and the blankets closer to the fire. Then I knelt beside her, removing my cloak, and wrapping it around her shoulders. I took her wrist between my fingers, checking her pulse. Normal.
I pressed my ear to her chest. Her heartbeat was fine. She was breathing. And her nose had stopped bleeding. I rolled up her sleeves, my hands sliding and searching, but there were no injuries on her arms. Wanting to make sure I didn’t miss anything, I unbuckled her belt, pushing back her tunic. No cuts or bruises on her stomach.
Meera vanished and I anxiously pushed her tunic past her breasts. The Valalumir star was glowing with a faint golden light between the bindings of her shift.
Shit.
Ever since Mercurial had tricked her into the deal, the so-called contract had been torturing her. We knew it glowed and heated when it met another Guardian for the first time, when it reunited with another reincarnation of the Gods and Goddesses who’d protected the light. It had nearly burned her from the inside out when I’d touched her bare skin that first night. Morgana, the reincarnation of Ereshya, had also caused the light to burn. Though it was Meera who had been the first one to make it happen. Four of the reincarnated Guardians’ identities had been revealed in this way. And as far we knew Lyr was Asherah, I was Auriel, Morgana was Ereshya and Aemon was Moriel. We still didn’t know for sure who Meera had been—which meant three Guardians were unidentified, and two more reincarnations were out there somewhere.
