Which meant Eira was fighting her. Alone.
Eira.Eira.She would die. Calista would kill her.
I had to move.Now.
Gritting my teeth, I shoved every ounce of strength into lifting my arm. Slowly, my body shifted, and a burst of pain shot through me, powerful enough to make me slump backward in defeat.
I couldn’t. Icouldn’t.
Then, I heard her scream again. The sound pierced me, boiling my blood, setting my insides on fire. The agony of hearing her suffer was far worse than the agony of my failing body.
“Eira!” I bellowed.
And my arms moved. Then my legs. White-hot flames burned inside me, and I roared, raging against it, fighting my own body as I climbed to my feet. My very skin was melting off my bones. I was dying, dying, dying… Needles in my flesh, tearing and slicing. I could feel nothing and everything at once.
Eira cried out again, and a bolt of clarity entered my mind. I clung to it, and my feet shuffled forward. Through the haze of pain, I heard her voice.
“Theron!”
I was coming. She had to know I was coming for her.
With each step I took, sounds became clearer. Shouts. Screams. Some familiar, some not. I recognized Denton’s voice, and Stella’s. Which meant Eira’s friends were here.
I was torn between relief that she wasn’t alone, and dread that her allies would be slaughtered.
Move,I told myself.Just keep moving.
“No!” Eira shouted. Her voice was closer now.
I needed tosee. How could I protect her if I couldn’t see?
Focus,I thought.Use your other senses. You’re a hunter. You can do this.
I closed my eyes, though it didn’t matter because it was pitch black. Still, the motion helped me activate my other senses, relying fully on them. Calista’s foul odor burned in my nose, but it was farther away now. I sensed Eira’s familiar frosty pine scent and focused on it, drawing closer to her.
A horrifying scream echoed in the room. This wasn’t like the other shouts and cries; this was the sound of someone dying.
A sickening crunch followed, then a loud, wetthud.
I flinched. And Eira’s voice broke on a sob.
Calista had just killed one of her friends.
Panic pulsed through me. I knew Eira was about to do something reckless. Something she would regret later.
On instinct, my arm shot out and clasped hers. She jumped, pounding a fist against my chest, and then froze.
“Theron?” she whispered.
“I’m here.”
She collapsed against my chest, clinging to my tunic and weeping openly. “I can’t—I can’t—she’skillingthem, Theron.”
“Her thread,” I murmured. “Can you see Calista’s thread?”
“What? No! I can’t see anything!”
Shit. I wasn’t sure if the necromancy would work in the darkness.
