There was a jolt in my chest as I was pushed out of the memory and slammed back into my body. Pain lit up my broken arm and my sliced-up hand. My stomach roiled, my throat tightening, like I was about to vomit. My mouth began to move, words spilling out before I could think.
“Ani petrovaRakashonim, me ka el lyrotz, dhame ra shukroya, aniam anam. Chayate me el ra shukroya. Ani petrovaRakashonim!”
The spell echoed through the cave, my voice sounding foreign to my ears. It was Asherah, siphoning through me in her purest form. To save me. To save us.
I caught the hilt of the blade before it touched the ground. My blood coated the steel and handle. But strength pulsed through me—not enough to erase the pain in my body, but enough to fortify me to the point where it didn’t matter, where I was strong enough to stand it.
My eyes met Rhyan’s.
With a scream, I ran forward, the blade poised. And I thrust, watching the point vanish beneath the tear in his leathers, breaking into his skin, and then sliding in and in, piercing his heart.
His body stilled, his face frozen in horror.
He gasped, reaching one hand out for me, as if I might hold it. Might hold him.
“Lyr,” he said, his voice desperate and helpless. His eyes glowed red with pain. Still akadim. “Lyr,” he groaned again. The sword glowed, flames erupting around the blade. Flames that echoed in my heart even as my chest tightened. My aura flared out, golden light doming around us.
I gripped the sword even harder, pushing it further into his heart, before I pulled it out. Rhyan sank to his knees, his eyes still red, but they were losing light, losing signs of life.
“Rhyan?” I asked. “Rhyan?”
The dome of gold vanished, leaving us in the darkness of the mines.
“Me—Mekara,” he croaked out, and fell, landing on his face.
“RHYAN!” I screamed, falling to the ground and turning him over. Blood poured from his chest—from his heart. I’d struck true. I’d done it—I’d done exactly what Auriel and his Valya had told me to do. I’d done it perfectly. But he was still akadim. He was still akadim. It hadn’t worked. It hadn’t fucking worked.
I shook his shoulders, crying out and yelling his name. “Rhyan! Rhyan!”
A blood-curdling, animalistic scream, one that didn’t even sound human, thundered from my mouth.
The ceiling cracked in two, glimmering stars peeking through the breach. Rocks rained down around us.
His eyes closed, and his chest stilled.
He remained akadim.
Dead.
I’d failed.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
LYRIANA
The world was breaking apart. Rocks thundered from the cave’s ceiling—the fissure widening, letting in more night sky, raining down more chaos. Every crack in the wall was webbing out into more. And all I could do was scream. My vision blurred, blinded by tears.
“RHYAN! RHYAN!”
I could hear what sounded like an earthquake erupting. A boulder rolled down the side of the cliff, spinning right past us, until it exploded against the wall. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t leave Rhyan’s side. Not until he changed. Not until he woke up.
But he just lay there, in his akadim body, his fangs still protruding, his claws limp against his unmoving hands. His skin was still stretched over his akadim height, and he was still pale. Too pale.
Gods. I felt like I was dying. Like I had died right there with him. Every breath hurt, my arm felt like it was on fire, and so did my hand. And my heart—my heart was breaking all over again.
He wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t moving. He was … dead. But no, no, no. He couldn’t be. He couldn’t be! I had the shard, and the light. I’d seen the fire, the golden aura around us. I wasAsherah reborn. The Moon Queen had promised me. The Valya had promised me. Auriel had promised me!
