I add to the effort, using what little magic I have left and funneling it into fixing her ruined heart.
“What happened.”
Jace is suddenly on the ground beside me, his face drained of color.
“She stabbed herself.”
“No,” he whispers. “No.”
“Help me.” I shoot him a desperate look. He nods, bringing her hands up to his lips.
“Come on.” I give her a light shake, pounding on the sealed partition separating me from her mind. “Comeon.”
What did you do, Serena? What did you do?
I thrash against it over and over, but it’s useless. She’s severed the line between us and left me here alone. In a world that holds no meaning, no light without her smile, without her warmth.
“Please,” Jace groans, burying himself in Serena’s lap.
My stomach churns as the pain subsides, releasing its grip on me. Leaving only ice in its wake.
The absence of that pain can mean only one thing. I slowly regain the ability to breathe, and I know that nothing—nothing—can stop me from ripping out Kylian’s throat with my bare teeth.
Serena goes absolutely still.
Jace’s wails rebound off the chapel walls.
I drag my gaze up to Kylian.
Then I leap forward, sinking my teeth into his throat.
16
JACE
Ihave been stabbed before. Many times in many places. But this…this is a different kind of pain, concocted of my own worst fears—my own worst nightmares.
This is a shot of venom to the heart.
Something pierces my chest. A sharp, paralyzing pain. My knees slam into the hard marble tile.
What’s happening to me?
There’s this sickening feeling coming from Zadyn. His thoughts are racing so fast I can’t even comprehend them.
“Jace!” Dover drives his foot into the chest of a golden soldier.
Get up, I tell myself.Get up, or you’re dead.
“Come on!” Dover wrenches me upright, and I’m ashamed at my inability to lift a sword. We back up until we fall through the chapel doors, sealing ourselves in.
And that’s when I see her.
Serena.
My little witch, lying in a heap in Zadyn’s lap, Kylian’s hands pressed to her chest. I struggle to make sense of the tableau.
Her white gown is stained tar-black, blood seeping from thegaping wound on her chest. A few feet away lies a dagger slick with that same blood.
