Cyrus knew Calix was going to win and used his forbidden magic to gain the upper hand. I rushed to my feet, terrified he was going to use this moment to kill Calix.
Only—
He wasn’t there.
I looked around, certain he wouldn’t have left, only to freeze myself when cold metal licked my neck. An arm banded around my waist, pulling me back into a body I wanted to set on fire, not be pressed against.
I snarled, but Cyrus dug the blade further into my skin, not quite cutting it, but coming close. The pinch of metal was all too real as I swallowed hard, regretting it a moment later when I felt my throat being nicked against the blade.
Calix unfroze quickly, the magic not enough to hold him for long. His last movement followed through only for there to be nothing there to hit, and he whirled around, rage bristling off him as he spotted Cyrus holding a dagger to my neck. I looked at him helplessly, apologetically.
“Now, Calix. You’re going to leave. And you’re not going to bother me and my pet again.” Cyrus stated confidently, making me want to rip his face off.
“Never.” Calix snarled back, and I could see in his face that he wouldn’t leave. He wouldn’t leaveme. Not to this fate.
“Calix,” I pleaded, my voice rough with fear and a million other emotions. “Don’t put everything at risk for me.Please.”
He knew what I meant. If Cyrus killed him here, the Resistance would fall and the world with it as it fell to chaos. We couldn’t let that happen. This was bigger than all of us.
“Yes, Calix,” Cyrus taunted mockingly, grating on my nerves. “Leave. Don’t waste your life and all your little plans on this whore.”
Calix’s jaw was grinding so hard, I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke a tooth. “If you think I’m leaving without you, my réalta, you’re delusional. You didn’t think I came alone, did you?”
The smirk on his face spoke of complete confidence, and I let it fill me with confidence, despite my shaking limbs.
“Drop the blade, or I plunge this one in your heart.” Eryx’s voice was colder than I’d ever heard it. Cyrus froze, a rough snarl coming from his mouth as he realized Eryx had come up behind him. “Let her go. Now.” Cyrus shook in fury at Eryx’s demand.
“If I can’t have her, no one can.” Cyrus promised, sounding completely unhinged. My heart dropped in my stomach, the strange certainty of the end hitting me a moment before I felt it.
Pain—like I’d never felt before as the knife slid across my throat, slicing it open. I barely registered the roar of my name, the fear and desperation in it, as I fell to the floor—only to be caught by familiar hands. Eryx lowered me down as I choked on my own blood. His hands went to my neck to try to stem the bleeding.
“Calix!” Eryx shouted; his face panicked. I managed to follow his eye-line to where Calix and Cyrus were fighting once more.
“Hold on, Asteria. We’ll get a healer. Just hold on for me.” Eryx begged, his voice shaking, and I wanted to tell him it was okay, but blood filled my mouth and stopped any words from forming.
I could feel death approaching. I wasn’t ready. Not at all. I still had too much to do. A world to save, a people to free. So many people I didn’t want to leave behind—those who’d experience the very pain I’d kept my heart closed off for so long to ensure I’d never experience.
But now, death reached out, like an old friend—one eager to say hello. I felt it in every drip of my life blood spilling out. Facing death was somehow simultaneously more and less frightening than I’d imagined. Seeing colors blur together where I stared at the ceiling. Sounds fading out. I existed for an extended moment in a peaceful sort of place, disassociated from the agony, but raw terror quickly filled my heart despite it.
Whispers reached my ears, lapping one over another—fast—too fast to make anything out. Until a man’s deep voice became clear over the others, and I somehow knew exactly who it was.
Arawn, the god of death, was whispering to me.
I guess the gods really do pay attention to everyone after all.
Chapter 39
Calix POV
Theblade flashed across her neck and everything in me froze in a moment of pure terror. Everything good and light and wonderful that she’d brought into my life over the past few months, withering before my eyes.
The twinkle of eyes as blue as the sky when she laughed, a sight more and more common the longer she’d been in Night. Theblush that would take her cheeks when she’d look at me and her thoughts were clearly somewhere very interesting. The laughter and playfulness she seemed to naturally bring out of me. The way she seamlessly fit into my life and my family.
There had been agony too. The torture of trying to stay away from her, despite every single atom of my body being drawn to her—keeping my hands off her was a study in futility. The idea of my mate had always been one of intense longing, but when she came into my life, I was ashamed to say that longing began to ebb away.
My Asteria was a force of nature trapped in a woman’s body. She would do great things for this world, as the gods had foreseen. So why were they allowing this to happen?
No. I couldn’t lose her. Not now. Notever.
