A chill of dread ran up my spine. I tried to stand, stumbling under the pain that throbbed angrily through my leg. I fell to my knees, and a sob escaped my lips. Orin slumped to his side, blood dripping from his mouth.
My very soul darkened. I threw my head back. My scream shattered into layered tones, as if something inside me had awakened, a creature with a hundred voices crying out through my bones. I focused on as many Fae as I could. I could feel the essence of their souls, cursing them to drown.
Thud. Thud. Thud.Dead bodies dropped around us. My eyes cracked open. At least ten Fae had fallen, the sounds of their wet gasps echoing above the bloodshed.Heaviness washed over me, burning as though my nerves had been set on fire. I fought the grip of unconsciousness and crawled to Orin.
“No,” I managed to whisper, voice breaking along with my heart.
His head hung weakly to the side, tears slipping from his eyes. His eyes that were wrong.
“Why did you do that?” I whispered, voice broken by a sob.
“I protected you.” His words choked off in a wet splutter, gaze turning vacant. Unseeing.
“No!” I sobbed. Numbness spread over my body. A heaviness dragged at my limbs, as though grief itself was trying to burn me alive. The world around me erupted into chaos. This was my fault. Orin was dead because I did something to him.
“Kill the cursed one!” someone shouted in the distance. The yelling blended, a melody of hate that damned me in their eyes. But I couldn’t run. I couldn’t fight. My power felt empty.
The world tilted as my body slumped onto the blood-soaked floor next to Orin.
“Lyra, we have to go.” A rough hand shook me. I pried my heavy eyes open. Riven was yelling at me, but I couldn’t quite hear him. As if I had floated away from myself. As if I no longer existed.
Bohdi knelt over Orin’s dead body, pressing his fingers to his neck to check for life as tears slipped over his cheeks.
“Shit.” Riven’s eyes widened, looking at something past me. “I will come for you, Lyra.” Riven’s words sounded muffled. My eyes trailed back to his blurry form hovering over me. His face was panicked as he let go of my shoulders,and I slumped back to the ground. I reached out, clutching Orin’s lifeless hand.
The shadows seemed to move, crawling up Bohdi’s arms. His mouth opened as if to scream, but the darkness plunged into his mouth, cutting off any noise. His skin sunk in on itself, withering and turning grey. Bohdi’s corpse fell backwards, hitting the ground and exploding into a pile of dust.
Numb. I was numb. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t feel my body beyond the heated throbbing in my thigh or the unnatural stiffness of Orin’s hand. He was dead. Bohdi was dead. Maybe I was too. Maybe this is what dying felt like. Weightless. Forgotten. Empty.
Then I sawhim.
Death stepped from the darkness as if it birthed him, shadows clawing at his tattooed skin. He towered over the other Fae, taller and impossibly muscular. Black curls hung over his brow above eyes that weren’t just black, but endless voids where souls went to die.Death.The Commander of Death.
He crouched beside me, those black eyes drinking me in hungrily. He studied me like I was prey. His teeth flashed, canines sharp and deadly.
My sluggish mind told me to flee. But I couldn’t. He tilted his head to the side, like a wolf about to pounce on a rabbit.
“Hello, Little Drownling.” His voice was low and gravelly, thick with a foreign accent. I wished Dreya’s aim was better. That her spear had pierced my heart. It might have been a kinder death.
Seventeen
Kidnapped
The Commander of Death’s voice raked through me, speeding up my sluggish heart. His hand reached for me. I wanted to run.
His fingers wrapped around the blackened shaft of the spear piercing my thigh. His other hand reached for the mutilated flesh where it had exploded through my skin. My muscles tensed, and I braced for pain. Instead, a strange warmth tingled across my skin at his touch. He drew his hand back, frowning down at my blood coating his fingers. I held my breath as he brought it to his mouth and slid it between his lips. His eyelids shuttered closed. A mix between a moan and a growl rumbled from his chest. My fear mixed with a strange warmth that pulsed in my stomach. I knew this is where I would die. Bleeding out next to my first love was one thing, but having my lifeblood drained by the Commander of Death?
No, that will not be my ending.
With the last bit of strength my body possessed, I lashed out, smacking my hand across the Commander’s face. His head snapped to the side; predatory eyes springing open.My breath hitched in my throat. Darkness spilled through his eyes, devouring the whites until only voids remained. But it was the dangerous smirk that slid across his blood-stained lips as he looked back at me that lit my body on fire. Without warning, he snapped the spear still embedded in my thigh. Pain tore through my body. I screamed. Or maybe I only thought I did. Blood poured from the jagged wound. Warm, endless blood. Darkness swept over me and carried me into unconsciousness.
Warmth wrappedaround me like a forgotten dream. I nestled deeper into the soft furs that cocooned my body, the texture feather-light against my skin. I sank into them, lulled by a strange peace. The scent of pine trees and something sweeter that didn’t belong, like caramel, enveloped my senses. I breathed in deeply.
Wait, where am I?
My eyes snapped open, the spell shattering. Canvas walls loomed around me in the dim amber glow of a lantern perched on a table. A soft rustle of wind made the tent fabric breathe around me. Furs covered me on a large makeshift bed laying directly on the floor, but it was surprisingly comfortable. Pain flared through my thigh when I tried to move.
And then it hit me. The battle. The blood. My own people turning on me. “Orin,” I whispered, the name breaking in my throat. My heart caused me far more pain than my leg in that moment.
