K’haram.
“Grab him and go, Omri,”he rumbles in my head. A wave of heat rolls forward, hitting me in the back, as the air trembles around us. A low, vibrating growl emanates from his chest as bluish-green flames lick the ground, turning the onpyrs into blistering torches. The fiery torrent hits Morweena, and she loses her grasp on Killian’s shadowy form.
I grab his slouched form and haul him up, not caring that he might already be lost to me forever. I half run, half drag him, searching for shelter.
There’s nowhere to hide, and Killian’s unconscious state is making it impossible to advance. My teeth grind against each other as I pull him with all the force I have in my body, my muscles screaming in pain.
“Please, love, please. Hang on,” I whisper brokenly as I drag him into an outcrop of trees left unscathed by the fire. Their bare branches providelittle coverage, but it’s better than nothing. I touch his ashen, clammy skin, searching for his fluttering pulse. It’s there, beating slow but steady, and a relieved breath escapes my trembling lips.
“What the fuck is happening here?”
Blaise’s voice comes out of nowhere, him and Sariah appearing beside us. I throw myself into Sariah’s arms, sobbing into her shoulder.
“She—she touched his shadows. Turned him. I—I don’t know,” I answer frantically, barely forming any coherent thoughts. “K’haram is holding her back. We need to help him. We need to run.”
I’m not making any sense. Sariah squeezes my arms in a comforting hug that does little to appease me.
“Is he…?” she trails off, the heavy question dying on her tongue.
“I don’t know. Heavens, I don’t know,” I hiccup against her leather-covered chest.
“Only one way to find out,” Blaise says, his mouth set in a grim line. His fingers clench on his bloodied blade, while his other hand raises in the air and comes down with a heavy slap that jostles Killian awake.
Thank heavens, the sickening redness has receded from his eyes. They’re still not quite right, rimmed in crimson, blood dripping from his eyelashes.
“What happened?” he asks, voice groggy as if waking up from a nightmare.
“You almost took a slight detour on the onpyr side,” Blaise says with a humorless chuckle. “We’re losing the battle, brother. We should regroup.”
A silver deluge of power lights up the sky, blinding us. K’haram’s wail splinters the night as his massive body barrels to the ground, hitting a castle tower. Part of Sangeries tumbles down like a deck of cards in the wind, heavy boulders smashing into the clamorous dragon.
“K’haram! K’haram!”My mind refuses to acknowledge what it sees, my cries turning hysterical.
I struggle against Sariah’s hold, trying to break free and run to him. She clings to me like a weighted chain.
“Let me go. He needs me,” I whine, twisting my arms to push her away.
“No, Omri. This is my purpose. My redemption.”
“K’haram, you honorable, stubborn fool. I forbid you to die, do you hear me?”
“There are some things worth dying for, Omri. The fragile warmth of life. The belief that this broken world is worth protecting.”
His words hold a finality that shatters my heart.
No. No. No.
His majestic head, bruised and battered, inches from the ground, rubble falling all around him. His emerald eyes blink slowly as he releases another wave of flames that doesn’t reach Morweena. She floats away from the ground, her entire body turning an incandescent silver before she hits him with another blow of electric argent shadows; his scales turning to ash. Black turns to muted gray, scales crumbling like burned paper.
“It’s been a pleasure, Omri,”his weak voice purrs one last time before the soul bond erodes into nothing.
The emptiness in my chest is deafening.
Bile rises in my throat, and my insides break into a million shards. I claw at Sariah’s arms, drawing blood.
“He’s gone. He’s gone,” I chant in a hollow voice. Snot and tears drip from my face onto my leathers as Sariah rocks us both, whispering how sorry she is.
“Fuck. First Ereshkygall, now K’haram,” Blaise breathes next to us. “We’re screwed.”
