A blinding light cut off his words as the electricity around them flickered. A crackling noise echoed through the room. Lora shielded her eyes with one hand.
Then the light went out abruptly. The electrified field crashed down around them and disappeared all together. Lora was too stunned to react immediately, but Karwyn’s voice pulled her back to the present.
“I will havemy revenge,” he finished. His tone promised death.
Raising her burning dagger, Lora prepared for the attack. Karwyn twirled the knife in his hand, but to her surprise, he aimed elsewhere. Her heart skipped a beat as she caught his intention just before the knife left his hand. Lora called on her fire, panicked, seeing Karwyn’s open path to Amira, who was staring at the non-existent dome with a proud smile on her tired face.
Yelling a warning, Lora threw fire at Karwyn, hoping she wasn’t too late. But at the same time, a sword flew from somewhere behind Amira, straight towards Karwyn. Instead of colliding with its original target, Karwyn’s shoulder—as far as Lora could tell—Lora’s fire hit the sword first, redirecting its course into Karwyn’s chest.
To Lora, it all happened in slow-motion. The almandine-coated sword slicing through the air. Her fire blasting it. The blade cutting into Karwyn’s flesh with enough force to make him drop his arm, affecting his perfect aim at Amira’s heart as Karwyn’s knife flew through the air with frightening speed.
Someone called Amira’s name in the distance, but all sounds around Lora seemed to disappear. Shock made her bones immobile as a cold dread froze her veins.
Lora’s eyes locked on the sword sticking out of Karwyn’s chest, blood seeping through his silver satin blouse. Her fire that he usually pushed back had reached him this time, tearing at him viciously, the almandine of the blade weakening his power. She pulled her fire back, but it was too late.
Karwyn’s mouth opened in surprise as Lora’s forgotten dagger fell out of her hand to the stone floor, her limbs numb, her head empty. His eyes met hers, and there was real fear there, honest, raw fear—it almost made him look human. Time seemed to slow even more, Karwyn’s life draining in front of her eyes, the chest wound combined with her afflicted burns forcing him to the ground. He had been struck through the heart.
This was it. This was what she’d dreaded. She’d failed.
No.No.
This couldn’t be happening. Her frantic eyes searched the crowd.Saydren.That was who they needed. She’d seen him earlier, where the hell was he now? Lora’s gaze landed on Tarnan instead, who seemed more than happy about the events taking place.
Three words echoed through her head.This isn’t real.
“Karwyn!” Rhay yelled, the sound slicing through the drowned-out chatter around her. He ran forward, falling to the ground next to Karwyn. Rhay removed the sword piercing his chest to get the almandine out of his system. But Lora knew it was too late, even as the chant continued in her head, trying to numb the pain. She had seen her hope evaporate the moment the blade had hit his heart. Afatalwound. No fae could come back from that.
Blood spluttered from Karwyn’s mouth as Rhay kneeled next to him, his hand desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Karwyn’s blouse was charred, a mix of black and red. The light in Karwyn’s eyes flickered.
“I’m sorry. Fuck. I’m so sorry, Karwyn,” Rhay uttered helplessly as his oldest friend’s blood seeped into his clothes, pooling around them. “I didn’t…I didn’t wantthis.” Tears fell from Rhay’s eyes, running down his nose as he leaned over Karwyn.
Karwyn coughed up blood as he met Rhay’s stare. Lora expected him to yell at him, to insult him, make him pay, make himhurt.But the king said in a strangled voice, “Break your promise.”
Rhay blinked at him. “What? No. I’ll get Saydren—” He looked around, but the healer was still nowhere to be found. Lora saw the realisation on Rhay’s face. Time had run out. She knew it, knew the voice in her head was lying to her, keeping her from breaking down completely and accepting her fate.
“Break it,” Karwyn gritted from between his bloodstained teeth. “Do it now, Rhay. Do this one last thing for me.”
Glancing at his hand on Karwyn’s chest, Rhay’s brows drew together. He sucked in a sharp breath, his lips parting as he met Karwyn’s dull eyes. Tears streamed down Rhay’s face as he shook his head. “By Caelo, Karwyn, I can’t imagine…” The king’s—her cousin’s—eyes were fixed on Rhay. Soft for once, not hard and unrelenting as he’d always shown himself.
“I’ll take the pain away. I’ll make it all better,” Rhay whispered, his lips trembling. Karwyn’s eyes glossed over as his life source faded, yet a smile pulled at his lips. A smile Lora had never seen. It wasn’t twisted. It wasn’t cruel. It was peaceful,happy.
Still with that smile on his face, Karwyn’s eyes fell shut. Rhay put his free hand on his shoulder and gently nudged him. “Karwyn?” He put more pressure behind it. “Karwyn!” The pain in Rhay’s voice rattled her bones.
A rush of electricity hit Lora’s body. Her hands seemed to glow, light dancing on her skin and moving up. First, confusion took over her mind, then realisation. Every nerve in her body tingled as the ritual concluded, Karwyn’s power merging with hers. The feeling subsided as the light stopped glowing. The usual buzzing in her veins felt different—more.But it didn’t change the fact that she was so tired, exhausted, her power used up.
Lora pushed all thoughts to the side. She instinctively wiped her eyes. She hadn’t even noticed the tears on her cheeks. “It’s over,” she said as she put her arm on Rhay’s shoulder. He flinched at her touch. It really was over.
No, this isn’t real,the self-preserving voice in her head continued to lie to her.
Rhay removed his hands from Karwyn’s unmoving body and turned to her. “Don’t fucking touch me. This isnotwhat we agreed on.”
“I didn’t mean to kill him,” Lora replied, retracting her arm as Rhay got up on unsteady feet.At least not like this.“My fire wouldn’t have killed him if—”
“If I hadn’t thrown that sword,” Rhay said, laughing darkly. His clothes were soaked in blood. She’d never seen him like this, the look in his eyes crazed as if he was nothing more than pain. Her heart squeezed at the agony written plainly on his face. In all the chaos, she hadn’t known who had been the one to save Amira. “I know. You didn’t kill him, Lora.Idid. But I blameyou.You and Amira. You should’ve stayed out of my fucking life!”
Anger replaced the panic rising up inside of her. “I didn’t ask you to be in it! I didn’t ask Karwyn to damn my life. And my mum…” She didn’t even try to hold her tears back now. “I lost too. I just lost...” Her lips quivered. She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t accept what this meant for her mother’s fate. “Blame me all you want. I’ve already lost itall.”
Rhay ran his hand through his hair, staining it red. He opened his mouth just as pain radiated through her, something hitting the back of her head. Lora bit out a scream as she dropped to her knees, out of breath.
