More arrows rained down, sinking into the dirt on either side of her face.
Above her, her Crow hovered, flinching with each arrow that whizzed past on his blind side. Ash and blood stained his scarred features. Sweat tracked streaks through the grime. But his eye was bright as he looked down at her, as he hunched his shoulders and whispered three words to her. Three words she felt echoing through her soul more than she heard curling through the air:
“I love you.”
Love. Her husband loved her.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Three arrows—three impacts meant for her—slammed home into Aldric’s back. He grunted, hunching his shoulders against each one. His body jerked. He did not shout. He did not scream.
But Seraphina did.
Pain seared her through the golden cord buried in her chest—no longer a hum of warmth, but a shriek. White-hot agony exploded in her own back. Three tongues of fire tore through her senses, burning away all other thought.
“Aldric!” She writhed beneath him, shoving at his chest. “Aldric, please!”
Her Crow’s muscles loosened. A ragged breath escaped his lips. He slumped forward until his forehead rested against her shoulder. Dead weight now. Pinning her down. A faint sound escapedhim—not a word, not even a groan, just a wet tremor of breath that terrified her more than silence would have.
The bond flickered. The bright, roaring fire of his presence dimmed to a terrifyingly small ember.
No!It could not end like this. She refused to let it end like this.
Please, she desperately prayed, gritting her teeth, shoving with all of her strength to ease herself to a sitting position. Her arms wrapped around his back.Blood. Blood smeared her fingers. His blood.
Drawing in a shaky breath, she tried to stand.Please, give me strength.
Above her, the sky broke. There was no build-up, no warning.
One moment, the air was merely choked with ash and death; and in the next, a peal of thunder cracked the world open, shaking the ground beneath her feet.
Rain fell.
It didn’t sprinkle; it crashed down in a torrential sheet, cold and furious. Stinging her eyes. Blinding her to all else except the man in her arms. The man far too heavy for her to hold.
She slumped back to the earth, her head bowing beneath the weight of the water pouring over her. Plinking off her armor in fat drops. Soaking her hair. Through the downpour, the thunder of hooves vibrated the air.
Someone was coming.
Shivering, Seraphina wrapped her arms more tightly around Aldric’s midsection and dug her sabatons into the sodden dirt, fighting for purchase as she shoved them both backward across theground, trying to get out of the way. The bond thrummed weakly. His body shuddered within her grasp.
She had to get him out of there.
The rain hit the burning witchfire with a hiss that sounded like a thousand snakes, instantly drowning the flames in clouds of steam. The temperature plummeted. The smoke was beaten down, plastered to the earth by the sheer weight of the deluge. Shapes emerged through the thinning haze—northmen, Arathians, fallen horses—but still no sign of Alyx or Soot.
“Secure the pass!” a voice roared in the distance—Cyneric. “Take the witch!”
Seraphina didn’t care. She didn’t care about the battle. She didn’t care about the one witch left. She only cared about him. “Aldric,” she whispered against his soaked hair, her voice nearly lost beneath the downpour. “Aldric, stay with me!”
Three black-fletched arrows protruded from her husband’s back. The rain had already diluted the blood that soaked his shirt, turning them a horrific, pale pink.
“No. No, no, no.” Seraphina’s lips trembled. Her vision blurred. “Donotdo this to me. Not after—” She choked on the final word.Everything. Not after everything.
Not before she had a chance to tell him she loved him, too.
