I peer through the rain and find the silhouettes of Sira and Wrenley. The Bow of Radiance glows bright enough to shine through even this storm.
My bow did this. My bow.My bow!
What good is my cursed love if it made me save the one who killed him? Killed he who is better than us all? He who loves and gives so much of himself?
No … He wholoved.He whogave.
He’s gone now.
Wrenley took him away. BecauseIsaved her.
My compassion did this.
Gently, I place Dayton’s head on the ground. Then I stand, body shaking. My voice echoes in every raindrop, every gale, every strike of lightning. “You have made a very poor choice, Queen of the Below.”
I step through the storm until my eyes pierce Sira. “You will live to regret this.”
Her only response is the slightest tremble of her lip. Then she turns to her daughter. “Now, Wrenley. Do it NOW!”
Wrenley is sitting on the ground, knees clutched to her chest, the bow tossed in front of her. She rocks back and forth before Sira’s words cause her to straighten. Again, that voided darkness takes over her eyes.
Before I even have a chance to look back at my dead mate, iridescent vines leap over my body.
With my last moment of freedom before I’m pulled below the earth, I stare at the Queen of the Below, my gaze pure lightning, to remind her of my promise.You will live to regret this.
CHAPTER 119
Ezryn
Dark clouds have rumbled over the horizon, shadowing all of Hadria in gloom. Rain pelts down, and I half-expect the familiartingoff my armor before remembering I’m not wearing any.
I can barely breathe through the pain. It’s as if someone has reached through my ribs and seized my heart. My mate bond is taut with grief.
And … and so is his.
Caspian lies on the ground, nails digging into the stone. His face is contorted into a mask of anguish.He feels it too.
Mate of my mate.
I could slay him right now. It would be so easy; he’s in no state to defend himself. But to kill him would be to kill a part of Rosalina’s soul.
I will never hurt her again.
Right now, there’s only one thing that matters.
I stalk over to Caspian and grab his forearm. He looks up at me, eyes shining. With a raspy growl, I say, “Can you take me to her?”
He nods, and his briars crack through the earth. Whatever has happened in our past, it will have to wait. The silent truce lays thick between us: Rosalina comes first.
My stomach churns as Caspian’s vines whip us through the earth. We surge up, exploding onto a flat-topped roof looking over the churning sea that’s swallowed Hadria.
I peer through the rain. “I don’t see her.”
“This is the last place I felt her magic,” Caspian says.
There’s no one here except … I spot it, a shadowed lump through the rain.
“Please, no.” I sprint over, falling to my knees beside it.
