I could make peace with that.
I started to let go.
A hand closed on my ankle.
I barely had time to register the grip—cold, strong, wet, like water given form—before the ground vanished beneath me.
The world turned sideways.
I slid down the slope, shadows ripping free of the furyfire as my concentration shattered. The furywave roared overhead, devouring the space where I’d been standing a heartbeat before.
Ice-cold liquid swallowed me.
The river’s cold embrace gripped my bones as it sucked me below its surface.
I thrashed, instincts screaming as my body plunged into black water so cold it stole my breath. The current seized me,dragging me down, spinning me end over end. The roar and crackle of the fire vanished above, replaced by the dull rush of water against stone.
Hands pulled me down.
Not one. Several.
They gripped my arms, my shoulders, my coat, dragging me deeper, away from the burning sky. I caught a glimpse of pale faces—eyes that glowed faintly in the dark, hair streaming like riverweed, webbed fingers tight around my wrists.
Naiad.
I tried to speak, to beg, to demand they save Aurelia—but river water surged into my mouth, stealingthe words. Stealing my breath. My life.
Cold carved its way into my bones. The last of my air tore free in a stream of bubbles that spiraled upward, toward the distant smear of gold that was the surface.
“Aurelia,” I thought, as the dark closed in.
Then even thought was sucked away, and there was nothing left but water and hands and the relentless pull of Beneath.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Aurelia
The world was burning, and I was the spark that had ignited it.
Fire roared up the hillside in a black-gold wave, devouring frost, tents, and soldiers alike. The air was so hot it scorched the breath from my lungs. My mark blazed at my throat, furyfire pouring out of me faster than thought.
At my back, Rydian had vanished into the smoke. Gone to deliver Lesha to safety. It had been the only option, but I’d never felt more alone without him beside me in this fight.
Frostwights appeared through the haze of smoke. More than I could count. Unlike the Obsidians, who still possessed mortal fae bodies, these undead monsters were unaffected by thick plumes of smoke that left the other soldiers coughing and doubling over.
The nearest Frostwight raised a blade of blue-white ice, and the cold coming off it was so sharp it made my teeth ache. Behind its bone mask, nothing breathed. Nothing blinked. Just that hollow, waiting hunger.
Hunger. Not unlike my own.
The Frostwight lunged.
I met it head-on.
Furyfire clawed down my arms, splitting into two streams that slammed into its chest. Heat exploded across its armor. Frost shrieked as it met my fire, ice turning to steam.
The creature staggered, but didn’t fall.
I drank in what was left of its life force, draining it dry until it was only a husk of bones and ice.
