I gasp, choke, and try to breathe, unable to scream as my life streams away from me.
Chapter 14
She’s killing me.
And all it took was a touch.
The last of my logical thoughts are cynical. If she can kill with a single touch, then it’s no wonder Graviter has remained at the edge of the clearing. Even now, despite lurching toward me, he hasn’t intervened. But his body is shivering, ripples flowing through his scales, and heatwaves flow across the air above my head.
I’m certain that he wants to help me.
But I chose this path.
I couldn’t let Erik go. And now his sacrifice for me will go to waste.
As death darkens the edges of my vision, I seek Erik’s still body across the short distance between us.
I can’t reach him.
I’ve lost him.
With that final thought, I exhale and stop struggling, sinking into the memories that I can cling to until my final moments. All the good and all the bad.
The way he shouted at me when he was dying.
“You were meant to leave me.”
The way he whispered…
“I wanted to do one good thing.”
“You did,” I say within my mind, unable to utter the words, my vision blurring as the memories take over.
I’m standing opposite Erik on the balcony outside my tower, the wind plucking at my transparent robe, its white sash flying from his fingers, his body pressed to mine while the sky weeps blood onto us.
And now, again, the sky is weeping.
A cold droplet of rain falls onto my cheek, slipping across my skin like an icy finger trailing down my cheek.
I follow it down to the little body held carefully in my arms.
She has the smallest and most perfect fingers and toes, but her tiny lips are turning blue, and her chest is struggling to rise and fall.
She’s too quiet.
She hasn’t cried.
My baby girl has barely taken her first breaths. She’s dying in my arms, and I can’t save her…
With a sudden, startling clarity, I realize that these are notmymemories.
Power pushes at my consciousness—my own power—and my left hand twitches around my hammer, the first movement I’ve been able to make.
The darkness clears from the center of my vision, and Glass’s face comes back into focus.
Her brow is deeply furrowed, and beads of sweat rest on her forehead.
Tears stream down her cheeks.
