And they did not blink again.
“No!” I screamed, this time gripping her and shaking with all my might. “Heraphia! Come back to me!”
But she didn’t. I smacked her chest, hoping to force her heart to beat again.
“Heraphia!” Her name was a shattered plea, a forlorn prayer on my lips.
Still, she did not move.
I sat back on my heels, nails raking through my hair and digging into my scalp. Grief roared inside me like I’d stepped beneath a mighty waterfall.
I lifted my head to the ceiling, dotted with floating white bubbles. “Why?” I yelled like our Radiant Mother would appear in them and give me a reason why we had to suffer so greatly.
“I didn’t get it. I didn’t find the memory of what she had Seen,” Iaoth moaned, drawing my attention—and my tempestuous wrath.
All she fucking cared about was whatever vision the Goddess had offered my friend. Not that Heraphia was a kind, thoughtful person. That all she wanted was for everyone to live in peace. That she’d held me during my nightmares. That we’d hidden in caves and coves and cupboards, hands over each other’s mouths so the hunters couldn’t hear our jagged exhales.
And in the end, we were caught anyway.
Now Heraphia,my sister, was dead.
I snapped.
“You bitch.” In an instant, I leaped across Heraphia’s lifeless body, toward the female who had pushed her past her limits.
The Korona and I hit the ground with a hard thud. White detonated from me, pinning her in place. With the amount of magic she had used, her answering rally was pitiful compared to my fury.
She shrieked for aid, but I was gone, sorrow lashing me like rain. All I wanted was for her tohurtlike I was. For her to drown in the wake of her actions.
I slapped her again, this time drawing a dot of crimson toher lip. “You’re a monster! Look what you did! And you don’t even care!”
Blood thundered in my veins.
I cocked my fist, ready to slam it into her face, when someone caught my arm and hauled me backward.
The bond twisted in my chest as two strong arms wrapped around me from behind. I kicked and thrashed and dug my nails in, trying to break free. Instead, he lifted me off the ground, leaving me no purchase.
“Sylaira,” Vaeron ground in my ear. “Enough.”
“Never,” I snarled, twisting and torquing, trying to dislodge him. I poured more magic into my binds, ensuring his sister would stay the fuck down.
He gripped me tighter.“Take a breath, little fugitive."
But I couldn’t have, even if I wanted to. Vines constricted my chest, making it utterly impossible to expand. Glass filled my lungs, raking against what air managed to work its way down my throat.
Light unfurled over the floor, his power pooling around his boots, primed and ready to be unleashed.
“I’m here,”he crooned, his voice velvety and soothing, into my mind.“Let go now.”
All around us, servants waited, poised on the verge of intervening. Not servants—Sightkeepers in polished armor, some with hands on their hilts.
Fear spiked through me.
“No one will hurt you. I’ve got you,”Vaeron continued, his gentle rock reminding me of a ship moored in a harbor.
My vision blurred, and then hot salt spilled over and carved a path down my cheeks.
“She’s dead,” I whimpered, body slackening, claws retracting.
