We worked fast, freeing him from the vines. Tarrin helped him up, and as the remnants of my cage burned away from the sun, I wished more than anything that Kaelun had just valenned himself away.
“Sidrick!” Kaelun called, lunging forward. Tarrin put an arm across his chest, stopping him.
With blackened grass underfoot, Lothar and Njal stood tall, and I stopped breathing. Between them, hands bound and eyes filled with sorrow, knelt Caius’s third-in-command—the fae I’d grown to admire deeply.
I realized then that we’d just traded one brother for another.
“Oh, Sidrick,” I whispered, my heart cracking.
“Unfortunately, we can’t kill this one,” Lothar said, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun.”
I didn’t care how drained I was when I pulled for that primordial power, the cost be damned.
“Stop,” Kaelun said.
I looked at him in shock. “What do you mean?”
His throat worked as he swallowed. “If you attack now, they’ll kill him and claim he got caught in the crossfire. The rules are different in battle versus capture,” he explained.
“Smart kid,” Njal said, sounding disappointed.
“So, we do nothing?” I hissed.
“No, Ny. We get the fuck out of here alive and get help,” Tarrin said.
My attention snapped back to Sidrick, who nodded almost imperceptibly, then mouthed,Be brave.Kaelun stiffened beside me, and I knew the words were meant to remind him of his orders—that no matter what,Icame first.
I love you,Kaelun mouthed back, then went to slip a hand in mine to valen us away, until nearly a dozen arrows barreled toward us from the ether.
Instinctually, my magic began to throw up a shield, only a balmy hand grabbed me, killing it as we started to valen, and just as the world began to wink out around us, Kaelun screamed, his grip slipping from mine.
Everything was thrown into chaos.
Kaelun and Tarrin’s figures fuzzed, then snapped back into place.
Blood leaked from Kaelun’s shoulder on the side closest to me—but worse than anything else was how they lost their balance and toppled backward off of the cliff, tumbling with no sense of direction through the air.
“No!” I screamed reaching for them, only for a crack to ring out as something wrapped around my neck, and yanked me back. My arms flailed, and my feet kicked as I reached for Kaelun and Tarrin.
My back crashed against the obsidian surface, and Tarrin screaming my name was the last thing I remembered before everything faded.
Chapter 50
Reunions
Firm hands gripped my shoulders and shook me, and it wasn’t the first time. Not even the second. I was cold, and the air was heavy. No, dank. They shook me again, then poured water on my face. Stars, I hated when they did that—how the wetness ran down my neck and soaked past my leathers and into my shirt.
“Stop,” I croaked, then winced, the single word cracking the pain in my head wide open.
“Come on, Spark, I need you to wake up,” the voice coaxed.
Spark.Why was that word so familiar? His voice…
“Ar—” I tried to swallow so I could speak, but my mouth was so dry that I almost choked on my tongue.
“You’re okay,” the voice—Artton’s voice—soothed.
Gods, I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be him or not. If he was with me, then he was alive—but captured. If it was a dream, then it was possible I’d wake to a world where he no longer existed.
