“I love you,” he said as the bridge collapsed.
And then he fell.
Chapter Forty-Two
I felt a blinding, searing pain, as if an unseen blade were digging Xander’s name directly onto my heart, putting him there permanently. I could feel him inside me, that thread connecting us that I knew could never be broken.
I screamed his name as he fell and heard when he smacked into the cliff face. Stephanos threw a spear at Dolion, but it went wide.
Rokh shifted, but two dozen people came out from behind trees and rocks. They all had their bows trained on us.
And then their leader walked out.
Artemisia.
I dropped to my knees. I had never felt so helpless in my entire life. There was nothing I could do to stop this. I could only watch.
Xander immediately started to climb the ropes attached to his waist. What if they cut those, too? If they didn’t, he would go up there and kill every single person.
Was I about to watch my husband plummet to his death?
Dolion went over to the edge with a blowpipe and began shooting darts at Xander. I saw each time they hit, peppering his flesh, but it didn’t slow him. He fought off whatever was in those darts and continued to climb, his muscles straining as he put one hand over the other, hauling himself up.
He had just gotten himself onto the top of the cliff and pulled out his broadsword. He took one step forward and then collapsed onto the ground.
I screamed his name again.
“Your precious husband’s not dead. Just sleeping. I need him for my negotiations. Ilion will happily surrender and open their gates to get their king returned to them,” Artemisia said.
I had thought I hated her before, but it was nothing compared to the raging inferno of loathing I felt for her now.
“But as for the rest of you ...” Her voice trailed off as she raised her hand. “Fire.”
We had no protection, no shields. No way to fight them off.
Every one of her soldiers loosed an arrow at us, but a gust of wind shot up from the chasm and blew all their projectiles away.
Artemisia frowned and told her men to fire again.
They did, with the same result.
Like we were being protected.
“That’s a neat trick,” Artemisia said. “I heard about your magic. Is this all it does? You can call up gusts of wind?”
I stood, ignoring the way my limbs shook. Dolion must have told her about our aspects. That snake. “I can show you exactly what I can do.”
“Oh, I would advise against that. Because if you or any of your sisters try to use magic against us, I will kill your husband. We are going to leave, and you are going to let us.”
“We can take her,” Ahyana whispered to me. I wondered if they could hear her on the other side. “We can destroy all of them.”
“No,” I whispered back frantically. “We can’t. She will kill him.” Of that I had no doubt.
“Good decision,” Artemisia said as she signaled to her men. Two of them went over and picked Xander up, putting him onto a litter. They lifted it and placed it on their shoulders and walked away.
It was like they had stolen my heart from my chest and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop them.
“This isn’t over,” I told Artemisia.
