“I love you. After I’m gone, remember me?”
“Summer,” I growl, angry and fearful. “Don’t do this.” My light burns, growing as she leans deeper into it.
“He’s coming,” she whispers. “He’s almost here. I feel him.”
Fury rips through me. Desperate, detesting Adrial more than ever, power bursts forth, erupting from me. My body heats, my eyes emblazon. “I will not let you give up.” My wings snap outwards. “I will not give you up!”
Summer’s eyes open, her lips parting, staring at me in awe, and she tenses in my arms. “Your light…”
There’s a tug, claws grasping, digging into my back, my chest,everywhere. I lose my grip on Summer as I’m thrust away. She shouts for me as I reach for her.
I blink. The miasma has vanished, and I’m back in the museum, my gaze inches from Adrial’s twisted face.
Growling, I launch at him. My feet slip, and he dodges away.
The floor has no traction, and I look down—there’s blood everywhere, hot with its sickening scent.
Gashes cover my chest; my wings are shredded. Muscles torn and weak, pain radiates through me, and my wings remain limp when I try to lift them. I flex my tail, but the nerves cry out, stinging with unanswered pulses. The appendage is strewn aside, chopped off, and lying on the floor.
Staggering, I stumble, catching on my hand.
“Do you like my work? I hope you enjoyed your goodbye.” His voice is hard, no longer edged with sinister glee.
Forcing my head up, he’s wincing like he’s in pain. His breaths are fast and short.
There’s no darkness left in the room, none of his menace. I peer back down at my hands and see my light bursting out of them, sizzling the blood on the floor.
He’s weakened.
Nostrils flaring, I brace. “Give her back to me,” I roar.
It’s time to end this.
Chapter27
The Last Straw
Summer
Zuriel’s handsare ripped from me.
I can’t lose him, not again, and as the darkness closes in, I lunge forward, chasing his light.
Everything tunnels, his glow dimming, fading into the distance.
No!
No, no, no!
I need him. Running faster, I stop caring about what might lurk beyond my sight, dismissing the terrible sounds of torn flesh and crunching bones. Breaking through plumes of brimstone, I stay strong.
Zuriel found his way in here, which means there has to be a way out.
My chest burns, melting away the fearful ice. My gargoyle’s light ignites me, granting me more hope than I’ve felt since Adrial swallowed me.
Swallowed.
I shudder, pushing the memory away. Regardless, it slithers up my skin. The way his mouth stretched, his teeth grating my skin, catching on my clothes—the pressure of his slimy, enclosed throat, so tight I couldn’t breathe.
