In denial.
His spear and torso split in two, toppling in the sand. Red elves dropped all around them like broken pillars.
Rawn’s eyes rolled. Raiden lurched forward and caught his limp body. He pressed fingers to his father’s throat and nodded that he was alive. The green elves cheered as they got to their feet.
It was over. They won.
Dyna’s shoulders slumped, and she allowed herself to breathe.
Cassiel looked up at her and smiled as the others began to remove the boulders off him.Nice shot,he said through the bond.
She smiled at the sound of his voice, simply so happy he was there. Now everything would be all right now.Cassiel, I?—
The earth ruptured with a detonation beneath the keep. The violent quake knocked her onto the floor and Dyna gasped. She had forgotten about this part of the plan. The Blood Keep groaned, cracks splintering through the bricks.
It was coming down.
The ceiling caved in as the walls began to collapse. Dyna leaped out of the way of falling bricks. She dove for the broken stairs as dust and boulders rained down. Her Guardians shouted for her outside, Cassiel’s frightened voice ringing in her head. She missed a step and dropped through a hole. Her body slammed into the main floor, bricks hitting her. She bit back a pained whimper. Rolling to her feet, she ran outside onto the front steps, but there was no more ground to run onto.
A massive fissure split the earth between the courtyard and the Blood Keep, swallowing elves and horses. Shouts cried out as everyone fled. The rift grew too wide for anyone to jump, including Zev. He shouted for her on the other side, Von and Elon holding him back.
“Dyna!” Cassiel yanked desperately to break free from the boulder that still pinned him. “Raiden, get to her!”
Raiden’s wide panicked eyes looked between her and his father being carried off by the sand that was falling down the chasm. He had to make a choice, and they both knew the right one. She nodded that it was all right.
The ground gave away.
Raiden dove and caught Rawn’s arm.
“No!”Cassiel shouted.
The earth trembled, the building crumbling above her. Dyna exhaled a shaky breath, knowing she couldn’t escape this. Tears streamed down his face as those shattered eyes met hers. He was trapped, but a decision crossed his face.
“Don’t,” Dyna whispered in horror, suddenly understanding what he was going to do.
Cassiel shoved against the boulder with a pained roar. He tore himself free with a spray of blood and feathers. She screamed with him at the terrible agony washing through her body. He crawled on his hands through the sand, pushing himself to his feet.
Sprinting to her, Cassiel leaped across the chasm with the last of his Seraph fire. He crashed into her, and in the same momentum, he tossed her. She sailed away from his crushed, starlit eyes, and she landed in Zev’s arms. Pushing off him, Dyna spun to her mate. He stumbled back, blood streaming profusely from his back.
His wing.
It was gone. He couldn’t fly to her anymore.
Cassiel gave her a watery smile. You’re right,lev sheli. I can’t run away from our fate. So I’m changing it.
Dyna screamed as the building came crashing down, and he fell out of view. She flailed against Zev, kicking to break free. He yanked her away from the chasm as it spread, and they fell back into the sand.
Then all fell still. Dyna trembled with ragged breaths, staring at the crumbled building her mate was buried under. The bond shook and cracked, and after so many months of silence, she felt him. It started as a vicious twisting in her gut and spread to her whole body. An unbearable weight crushed her, squeezing all the air out of her lungs, her throat clamping with cries she couldn’t make.
Pain. She felt his pain.
And the last beat of his heart faded.
Dyna’s broken cry echoed in the skies as the rest of her being split open.
“CASSIEL!”
CHAPTER 85
