When they pulled away, Elyse could feel herself trembling. She gazed up at the incredible woman before her. If Sera held any doubts, they were buried beneath a mask of resolve.
“We’ll find you,” Elyse assured her.
Sera dipped her chin once. “I know.” She released her hand from Elyse’s and took a steadying inhale before stepping toward the portal.
The eerie surface of the portal cast a bluish glow across Sera’s face. She was so close now that her nose nearly touched thevibrating entrance. Just before she stepped in, she spun her head to gaze one last time at the arena. Toward her husband, somewhere in the chaos, that she was giving up everything for. “Keep him safe,” she called to Elyse.
“I will,” Elyse answered, voice shaking. “I swear it.”
Sera took one step forward, and the portal swallowed her whole.
Elyse stood frozen for a moment, locked in time, waiting as if Sera might come bursting back out. She was frozen, half expecting to wake from a nightmare. Disorder still brewed around her, obvious from the shrieks and growls echoing across the arena. Killian and Manny were out there, waiting for her to return.
Only her.
When nothing happened, and no one—not beast nor human—came through the portal, Elyse accepted it was time. She lifted her hands and recited the spell—a spell she’d learned long ago in her quest to devour as much knowledge as she could. A spell that would seal the portal and trap her best friend in a foreign hell.
The edges of the portal began to dim as she poured her magic into it, but it did not shrink. It remained as large and as imminent as before Sera had disappeared into its ether. Fear cut through Elyse as she wondered what Sera was encountering on the other side, and if she would be able to help close the portal.
“Come on,” she gritted through her teeth. “Come on!” It was as much an urging as it was a plea. She willed Sera to hear her, wherever she was.Stay safe. Stay fighting.She couldn’t bear to accept any other possibility. Her hands began to shake, her voice breaking as she spoke the incantation again and again.
Ten more seconds, Elyse thought.Ten more seconds and I’ll damn this whole place. I’ll go in there myself and bring her back.
But the ten seconds didn’t come. The edge of the portal simmered into a deep black, and Elyse gasped. With renewed vigor, she uttered the incantation. The portal began curling in on itself, like the edge of a singed paper as it burned and shriveled. It groaned with a sound like metal on metal, so at odds with its fluid surface.
“Keep going!” she called between lines of the spell. “Keep going, keep going, you’ve got this!” She could hardly hear herself over the roaring noise of the collapsing portal, but she hoped Sera would somehow hear and know what she meant: Keep going. Survive. Never give up.
The portal was now only a few feet wide, hovering in the air before Elyse. Her arms began to ache with the force of the magic flowing through her, but she held firm. Feet shrank to inches. The portal gave one last rumble that shook the arena before it winked out of existence.
It was done. The portal was closed. Sera was gone, and Elyse was all alone.
She allowed herself a single tear to say goodbye to her friend. It slid to her chin, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. She let out a deep breath.
Straightening her back, she turned and faced the arena floor. She had work to do, and a promise to keep.
44
Killian
Elyseand Sera vanished, a melancholy blue smoke lingering where they’d stood. Killian stumbled as his hand grasped at nothing. At the same time, Manny lurched forward and nearly fell to his knees as he tried to grab hold of his wife. Tried, but failed.
They were too late.
Both men spun, frantic and senseless, and faced the portal. A wave of blue smoke drifted in front of it. Among the smoke stood two women, one of whom they might never see again.
Killian’s gaze dropped to Manny. His features were in a hard snarl. In the most savage voice Killian had ever heard, he said,“No.”
Manny launched himself over the banister and landed in a crouch on the hard dirt. He’d barely touched down before he washurtling himself toward the north end of the stadium, straight into the chaos.
“Stand your guard!” Killian shouted to the soldiers before he, too, leapt over the banister and sprinted into the battle.
Manny was already twenty paces ahead, undeterred by the havoc surrounding him. Hellhounds bolted across the arena floor, chasing their terrified prey. Civilians tried to claw their way to the pagoda as soldiers fought them back. Swords and shields swung in a blur across the arena, and the occasional spell zipped through the air, adding to the maelstrom. All the while Lazarus howled with delight.
Manny was blind to all of it, his focus on the portal. He ducked his head and sprinted harder through the pandemonium. He was going to get himself killed.
“Manny!” Killian screamed. He could hardly hear his own voice above the clash around him. He lengthened his stride in a desperate attempt to catch up to Manny before something terrible happened to him.
An arrow shot through the air, whizzing just ahead of Manny. He slowed for a millisecond, then pressed ahead. A passing Hellhound snapped its teeth at him, and Killian shot a stunning spell at the beast. It whined and fell to the ground. A moment later, a massive black wolf pounced, tearing mangled fur from bone.
