The bullets she’d been struggling to deflect, to send flying into the glass window, slowed and stopped and a sob lodged in her throat at the abrupt absence of more pain.
Shockingly hot fingers wrapped around her other wrist and squeezed gently.
“Hallie, you can stop now. The tactical team is here. You saved us. You can stop now.” Girard’s voice was low, urgent. The words made no sense at first, but he kept saying them until somehow they penetrated and she understood them. Hallie let go of the shield with a sigh of relief, flopping onto her back, trying to breathe. Just breathe. Why was breathing so hard? Everything was purple and black and grey and everything hurt from her toes to the top of her head. And there was a great, yawning void beside her where something living and vital should have been.
She heard gasps around her and managed to get her stupidly heavy eyelids open and roll her head to see what the fuss was all about and managed a gasp of her own. Emmet was lying on the ground beside her. In his natural form, thehochlendisguise stripped away, his silky white hair spread around his head like a halo, pale green skin lifeless. It didn’t look like he was breathing. Cotovatre was kneeling next to him, cradling his head in her hands, and crying ugly, heartbroken tears that sounded like they were coming from the depths of her soul.
A stabbing pain ran through Hallie and a guttural sound forced its way out of her from the very depths of her being. Not Emmet. No. He couldn’t be gone.
Thezauberat her hip, the barest flicker in the dark and purple shadows, stirred and Hallie could sense the pain and effort as it formed a single thought and sent it to her. It wasn’t words but Hallie understood the meaning. Hallie and Emmet were both dying, their magic stretched too thin and too far. Thezaubermight be able to save one of them. But only one.
“Emmet,” Hallie whispered, the choice easy in the face of Cotovatre’s agony and the good that Emmet brought to the world.
Thezauberfaded from her mind, accepting her choice, and Hallie saw and felt a tiny spark of energy transmit from the artefact to Emmet. It was barely there. But it was enough, just enough, to send breath into Emmet’s body and jolt his heart into starting again. He opened his eyes, looking up at Cotovatre, and the sweetest smile bloomed on his face.
Hallie turned away from the private moment, finding Girard’s face above her, his face too pale and furrowed with concern. She tried to smile, tried to speak, but couldn’t. The black and purple pools all around her were too strong and she fell down into them.
Chapter twenty-eight
Saints,breathinghurt.Itshouldn’t hurt this much. Even thinking hurt. She opened her mouth, to see if that would help with the pain. It didn’t. Her lungs filled and emptied and tears leaked out of her eyes in reaction to the pain of it. Emptied and filled, over and over, until she wanted to cry.
There was a jolt through her body and a sharp pinprick to her neck, the tiniest little scratch compared to the agony of breathing, and the agony began to fade. The black and the purple were gone, lifted away by shades of grey and flickers of light as she tried to open her eyes. Everything was heavy and she badly needed a drink. Even one of those awful energy drinks. Her mouth was so dry.
“She’s back. Pulse is steady and recovering. I’ve given her a painkiller which might make her a bit woozy for while.”
Hallie knew that voice. The crisp tones, calm and professional. The words didn’t make a lot of sense, but she knew the voice. There was a name attached. Modron. That was it.
“There are no obvious injuries.” Another voice, also familiar. Duncan.
Modron. Duncan. Tactical team members. Medics.
She blinked, seeing nothing but blurry shapes the first few tries, and then her vision cleared enough to realise that Modron and Duncan were on either side of her.
“What happened?” Hallie asked, the words thick and difficult in her dry mouth. “Hoel?”
“Here, try this,” Duncan said. He put something down next to her shoulder and moved what looked like a long straw towards her mouth. “It’s not the nicest flavour, but it will give you some energy and take away that dry mouth you probably have.”
Hallie managed to get the straw into her mouth and took a drink. Cool liquid flowed across her tongue. It was bitter and tart, but a blessed relief after the awful dryness. She nodded her thanks to Duncan.
“I’m not sure how much you will remember. You were at the end of your strength before you collapsed,” Girard said. He was sitting on the floor beside her, carefully out of the way of Modron and Duncan. His eyes warmed as he met her gaze, but she could hear the aftermath of fear in his voice as he went on. “I thought we’d lost you.”
“Not yet,” Hallie managed, voice rasping. And then, because she really wanted to know. “Hoel?”
“Commander Rojas and his team arrived just before you went out. Hoel and his people ran away rather than face them,” Girard said.
Hallie became aware that there were a lot more people around her than had been earlier. She turned her head slightly and saw Emmet, still in his true form, sitting on one of the steps with Cotovatre tucked in beside him, her head on his shoulder. Thesinisirlooked exhausted, as if a strong breeze might finish himoff, but he seemed to sense Hallie’s attention as he turned his head and gave her a soft smile.
“I do believe you saved my life,” he told her.
“Thezauberdid. Gave its last,” Hallie said. She wanted to sit up. She didn’t like being on her back with so many people sitting and standing all around her. She just wasn’t sure she could move on her own just then.
A hint of sadness crossed Emmet’s face and he closed his eyes briefly. “Then I thank you both.”
“We were both glad to help,” Hallie managed, not wanting to think about the hollow void where thezauberhad been. She turned her attention back to the drink Duncan had provided. She could feel some energy seeping back into her body. In about half a day or so she might be able to actually stand up on her own.
Modron and Duncan got to their feet, moving away, and Hallie caught sight of Echoid Bondar’s body, lying where Hoel had killed him, blood darkening as it dried. She made a low sound of frustration and struggled to sit up. Girard helped, putting an arm around her shoulders, supporting her and helping her move sideways until her back was propped up against a bench. He lingered a bit longer, giving her a one-armed hug before he let her go. Hallie wished she had the strength to hug him back. She knew what it had felt like for her to watch him unconscious and injured, and could imagine he had felt the same way.
From her better vantage point, Hallie could see that Echoid was not the only casualty. There was another Conclave member dead on the steps not far away, along with two people she assumed were his aides.
