"You can't die here," I tell her, pressing my forehead to hers. But she's not responding. She's so pale. Her skin is growing colder under my touch.
I reach inward with everything I have, searching for something, anything that could pull her back from this edge. But none of the monsters inside me are the healing kind. I was created to destroy, patchworked together by dark magic, animated by a curse. Every part of me was made to ruin.
"Help!" I scream the word across the ruins of Aelfheim. "Someone, anyone, please! We need help!"
Only the wind answers. Any elves who survived the burning fled long ago.
"Whoever's out there, please! Help us!"
But we're alone out here. Coral is panicking beside me.
I need help. Now.
"Coinneach!" I summon my shadow familiar.
He materializes instantly. One look at Rhianelle and something shifts in him, the careful shape he holds for her benefit falling away all at once. The shadow Rhianelle once teased and called Ken dissolves. What stands in the ruins beside me now is what he was before she softened him.
This is what he truly is. Not a trick of shadow. But a creature born of death and silence.
"Take us back to Völundr," I command.
He doesn't hesitate or question.
The shadows rise around us like a tide, pooling at our feet before surging upward. I clutch Rhianelle tighter against my chest, trying to shield her from the chill of the shadow path. TheYsendral's realm has a bone-deep cold that can sap the warmth from living things. She has no warmth left to spare.
"Coral, come!" I call to the wyvern. She limps after us, stepping into the shadow curtain just as it closes.
The journey through darkness feels endless. I whisper desperate pleas into the void. To gods I don't believe in, to anything that might be listening.
Take my immortality, my life, everything.
I'll give anything. Just let her live.
The darkness doesn't answer.
We emerge in Völundr at twilight.
Völundr is a disaster. The two massive waves left destruction everywhere. Water still floods the lower streets, reaching halfway up buildings in some places.
I'm running before the shadows fully dissipate, my legs shaking with each step. Coral paces beside me despite her injuries. Her distressed chirping draws attention.
People see us coming and react.
I don't blame them. I must look like something from a nightmare, drenched in blood with demon ichor still dripping from my claws. They press themselves against the wall to clear a path.
"Move!" I shout when someone doesn't get out of the way fast enough.
I have to navigate around collapsed buildings and through flooded intersections. The water slows me down, dragging at my legs. A group of knights appears ahead, helping to clear rubble. They see me and immediately draw weapons.
"Stand down!" one of them shouts. "The vampire is—"
"Out of my way!" I roar. "The queen needs help!"
They see Rhianelle in my arms and hesitate. One of them, a woman with a captain’s insignia, takes a step forward.
"What happened to her?"
"Demons from Hel. Where's the healing house?"
