“You’re a monster,” she says with a firm nod, but her eyes don’t leave mine. “It turns out I’m not afraid of monsters.”
I can’t keep away from her a second longer.
I plow toward her, ready to sweep her back into my arms. Kiss her. Drink in her scent. Demand her permission to peel off this black suit and?—
I’m two paces away from her when her legs buckle and her eyes fly wide.
A blast of golden energy rushes across her right arm and torso. Yellow light fills the air between us. No mere stream along her arm.
Fucking blade vision.
It will steal what little time I could have had with her.
“No.” Her cry rakes across me as I catch her, scooping her into my arms so she doesn’t hit the ground.
Her body is heavy and her eyes are closing, even though she’s clearly fighting to stay awake.
“Promise me,” she gasps, still furious at me. “Promise meyou’ll be here when I?—”
Her eyes go blank, her eyelids close, and her head tips back in my arms.
I cushion her against my chest. I’ve landed in a kneeling position and now I nestle her on my lap and bring her head to my shoulder.
I’ll only have seconds before the blade vision will drag my mind from my body too.
I prepare myself for the agony of watching her float above dusty ground again. The pain of wrenching on the threadbinding her heart to mine while never getting any closer to her.
I brace.
But…
My mind doesn’t leave me.
Thyra’s appearance transforms, her hair darkening to inky black, her lips blushing crimson red, all the signs of a blade vision.
Yet I’m still lucid.
My mind is still my own.
Why is it different this time?
Is it because I’m with her?
The softestsnapof a breaking twig alerts me to the enemy creeping up on my left.
Stellen’s gray clothing is covered in black soot. His white-bladed swords are drawn but not yet glittering with ice. His ghostly features are dusted with snow that has turned crimson colored, either with blood or the highly flammable thistleberry oil in Hadrian’s weapons, I’m not sure which.
Only minutes ago, I watched the Frost King charge into the black fumes, conjuring a fucking snowstorm to extinguish the fire and disperse the smoke that was choking both his warriors and mine. Because theyweremy warriors. All loyal to me and therefore expendable to Hadrian. Only his followers are given protective masks.
I’d only just arrived. I was already drawn near the border by my brother’s warning of danger to Thyra, but it was easy to identify this location by the smoke that was visible for miles.
Even with all my physical strength, I couldn’t have done anything to stifle the flames. Only try to get my people out as quickly as possible.
I’d be impressed with Stellen’s skill, maybe even grateful, if I weren’t so fucking opposed to the fact that he’s stillbreathing.
Stellen breaks the fraught silence between us as he continues his slow pace toward me. “I don’t know how you survived our fight in the bloodlands, but if you’ve hurt Thyra, I will make you suffer.”
I don’t take his warning lightly. He got the better of me once. Although in fairness, I was out of my mind at the time.
