Though he moved with the inexplicable grace of their army, I was fighting for the life of my best friend. It was with little effort that I ducked beneath his weapon, catching his wrist and twisting it behind his back.
Swift as a bird, Mila swiped up the ax I’d dropped and dragged its heavy blade across the Engrossian’s throat. His gargled scream swallowed the screeches of battle.
I threw him forward, his body falling in a lifeless heap on the temple ground. In the silence, his eyes stared out toward the city. I wondered what his final thoughts had been. Was he proud to have fought, or was he wishing he’d made the weaker choice?
Perhaps if he had, he’d still have his life, though no path that followed Kakias would end well.
Chest heaving and blood-soaked, I looked up at Mila. Her lips were pursed as if evaluating me, eyes assessing as always. But an appreciative smile bloomed across her face.
For half a second, I returned it.
Then, the adrenaline of the fight drained from me and reality settled back onto my shoulders.
I tore into the temple, falling by Cyph’s side.
“Cyph…Cypherion,” I begged him to focus on me.
He kept muttering pleas to Vale, unaware our fight had ended. His vision swam out of focus, color leaving his cheeks. The mountains couldn’t begin to heal his shoulder—not with the spear still piercing it.
Finally, Vale’s head snapped up. She sprang to her feet, swaying slightly. Her eyes widened for a moment, her dazed stare not truly seeing as she looked at the blood around us.
“I know what it means,” she said dreamily before collapsing to the ground beside Cypherion.
Chapter Fifty-One
Malakai
“For the loveof the fucking Angels,” Mila hissed, diving to check Vale’s pulse.
Cyph groaned—the only sound he was able to make to ask if she was okay. He tried to push himself up, but I pressed a hand to his good shoulder to keep him down.
Mila pulled Vale clear of the fading fog, lying her where we could both see the shallow rise and fall of her chest. The herbal scents still clung to the Starsearcher’s silk dress and skin, rich even from here.
She’d figured it out—whateveritwas. An answer to surviving this battle, hopefully. I chewed the inside of my cheek nervously as Mila assessed her, needing that knowledge from Vale.
“She’s fine,” Mila finally declared. “She probably just overdid it with those tinctures. She should wake soon.”
Cyph sighed, his bloodstained body relaxing.
Mila stood, turning her crystal blue eyes to meet mine, reading the panic written across my face as I held my bleeding friend in my arms.
Distantly, I was aware of the battle still raging and the possibility that we could be found here again. Of how many others were dying. But right now, all I could do was look at the wound darkening Cyph’s skin and clothes, his blood on my hands. It was so much, too much. Hysteria rose in my chest, clouding my mind. I had to do something?—
Then, quick, small hands were there. Clearing away the scraps of his clothing, Mila ripped the already-torn hem of her own dress into pieces.
“Look at me,” Mila instructed, her voice much softer than the assured movements of her fingers. I tore my eyes away from Cyph to meet hers. We both breathed heavily, watching each other, and I tried to match her determination. “You can’t freeze now, do you hear me? He needs you.”
The last sentence rocked through me. It had been so long since I thought someone needed me in any way, yet here was this clear-eyed warrior claiming so.
I nodded fervently. “What can I do?”
“For starters, we need to get that spear out so it can start to heal. That will take both of us.” She spoke slowly. I absorbed every word as she surveyed the weapon, careful not to prod it. “It doesn’t look poisoned like some of their weapons were, so once we remove it, the mountains should begin to work, but we’ll want to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, rather than waiting for only the magic. Once the spear is removed, I need you to search the cabinets for anything that may help us.”
The ground shuddered with a distant blast. Cyph groaned, and I flinched, but Mila remained steady.
“Got it.”
She guided my hands to where she needed them to support removing the spear, her fingers sure and warm. She had me brace Cyph’s body, holding both him and the weapon as still as possible. Fucking Spirits, his dead weight was heavy to maneuver.
