“Can you stand?” Her voice shook.
His fingers were covered in crimson, pressed to his abdomen. “We’ve won,” he rasped, “but there are still Misean soldiers afoot. You need—find Thessilnn. Fly back to camp. Tell the king I have a message for him:fuck you.”
His words were broken, becoming fainter and fainter as he spoke, his face pale. She sucked in a breath and caught him, pulling his near-limp body against hers.
Thessa. I need you. Now.
Heat filled the air as white fire cleared the area.I know you do.The dragon sounded enraged.
Please, Thessa, I don’t what to?—
I know. We need to hurry. He is dying.
Tears of rage, at both herself and Vane, ran down her face as she choked out, “I can’t get him onto the saddle.”
Thessa didn’t move, but Soren jumped as Vane’s dragon landed with a thud, picking him up gently with her mouth. For a few seconds, Soren stared, shocked, but it broke quickly, replaced by fear.
She scrambled onto Thessa’s back clumsily, ignoring the blazing pain in her leg.
You are injured.
“Just go!” she shouted.
Thessa huffed but took off into the rain. Both dragons kept low, as if searching for something. The downpour began to slow as they landed by a small stream.
Here should do.
Soren jerked her head, scanning the area.How is this helpful?
You need water to wash the blood and dirt.
“Water will not heal him!”
No. Nothing will heal these wounds. He is nearly gone, but you have a place inside you where you keep Death, where you can coax him and cage him until it is time.
Soren watched as Vane’s dragon carefully set him down by the stream. She felt numb as she slid off Thessa and walked towards him, so still and so pale. She had no idea if she could truly do what Thessa spoke of, and if she failed, if Vane?—
Part of her still hated him for all he’d done, but she had to try. He couldn’t die now.
Collapsing to the ground next to him, she hovered her hands over the gaping wound and shut her eyes. At first, she felt nothing, but as the moments slipped by, she heard the whisper. It was not a word, but a presence. The shadow of Death hovered over Vane, waiting for the moment he could finally take him. Inside her, she opened all the cells. Death chuckled, smiling at her, his daughter, as if to say,You cannot trick me.
But she was Night’s daughter too, the very power that had seduced Death in the first place. She threw a cover of impenetrable darkness over Death, the valley around her plunging into a thick, unnatural night. Quickly, she struck in the dark, ripping him away from Vane, shoving him into her prison and slamming each barred door.
Clever, my child, he whispered.
Night faded away, Death with her.
Chapter 26
Time felt odd,slogging along too fast, and at the same time, moving oddly slow. The world was hazy, and he only caught pieces of it.
Bloody hands, small, braiding back silver hair.
Blue eyes ringed with exhaustion.
“I thought he would be awake by now.”
He tried to claw his way up through the heavy water he was floating in. Her voice was a tether, but he couldn’t quite break the surface. Heles lingered with him, the dragon’s presence a small comfort.
