There was still some life left in her.
He clutched her hopelessly, rocking her back and forth on the ground as embers and Shadow danced around them. His howls overpowered the roaring flames, filling the Woods with desperate pleas to whatever gods or winds or ancient fates were listening. To save her. To save his mate.
And at his most hopeless, as he stared down at her, he noticed something peeking out from her pocket. It was the talisman Brenn had given her, and all at once Asterious remembered what he’d overheard him tell her on the ship.
Use this. I will come.
He clutched the charm, whispering the name, and prayed it would be enough.
Long moments followed filled with nothing but the agonizing crackling of fire and the sounds of the writhing Shadows within the Veil echoing their cries as they demanded their keeper.
Asterious watched Caramyn’s chest, counting the seconds in between her feeble last breaths. He squeezed her cold hand, a tear falling onto her wound and mixing with the blood oozing from her stomach.
Footsteps made him jump, and the smallest bit of hope sprung up within him at the sight of Brenn walking toward them through the flames. He did not understand how it was possible for him to find them, or how he’d gotten here. But he didn’t give a damn.
“Help her…please!” His voice cracked.
Brenn looked at Caramyn with gentle, pitied eyes, before addressing the prince. “I don’t know what I can do for her.” He crouched down beside Caramyn, placing a steady hand on her neck. Asterious watched, unable to blink as the warmth of her skin faded to a cold pallor despite the fire’s glow.
“You’re telling me there’snothingthat can save her?” Asterious hit the ground with his fist so hard he thought theearth might crack beneath it. “Aren’t you the healer who spoke so highly of your magic? What good is it if you can’t save her?”
Brenn swallowed, his brow beginning to sweat as the flames drew dangerously near. He wouldn’t look at Asterious. Shadows shifted around him, whispering, threatening to take Caramyn once and for all as the tear in the Veil grew wider.
He finally spoke. “Reviving someone from the brink of death…it just isn’t done. And even if it could be, a life cannot be given without a life taken. Healing magic takes this very seriously.”
“Use mine.” Asterious spat.
“It means you’ll die.” Brenn glanced up at him.
“I don’t care. Use it. Take my life and save Caramyn’s. I gladly give it up for hers.”
Brenn hesitated before looking back down at the dying girl. “This may not work the way you want it to, Asterious, I’m begging you to reconsider—”
“Fucking save her!” the prince roared.
Brenn nodded stiffly. “Very well,” he said. “I...I need a vessel. Something forged to channel magic.”
Asterious turned to glimpse his shreds of clothing lying nearby, immediately thinking of an object that could suffice. He scrambled to his feet, searching the torn shirt for his mother’s ring. It was there, somehow undisturbed in the shirt pocket, thank the Shattered gods.
He couldn’t work it out of the fabric fast enough, and held it up, breathless. “Will this work?”
Brenn studied the ring. “Is it enchanted already?”
“Yes, by Lightborn magic.”
Brenn frowned. “I can't undo the enchantment. Is there anything else?”
“Damn it, Brenn!” Asterious threw the ring into the fire, glancing over once more at Caramyn’s lifeless form. She had to be gone by now.
Then a glint of something caught his eye, the firelight reflecting off something in the ground beyond where they stood. The broken blade of the Shadowblood’s sword. It had been strong enough to hold whatever power had exploded from it when it splintered into pieces. Surely it could channel a healing spell strong enough to pull Caramyn from the arms of death.
He rushed over, grabbing a fragment of the blade and sprinting back to Brenn. The fire should have swallowed them now, but the Shadows seemed to be slowing the flames as they prowled, circling in wait, to claim Caramyn the second she slipped from this world.
“This will work. Ithasto work.” He held the shard up to Brenn’s face, the reflection of his own eyes staring back at him in the obsidian blade.
Brenn reached out to take the broken piece, his fingers tense and his expression leery. “This is a Shadow relic. I don’t know what catastrophe could ensue by channeling Light magic with a Shadow vessel. I know better than to dabble in something that may very well steal my soul in return.”
Asterious’ gaze hardened. “I’ll damn your soul and my own a thousand times if it means saving hers. She is a Shadowblood. It will not corrupt her.”
