The High Fae Prince of Aelius, Seamus Duran, stood beside Neera with a hand clasped to her shoulder. Emerald eyes blazing with a deep emotion, his gaze centered solely on her.
Blood staining the blade in his grasp dripped onto the grass. The blade he used to kill his cousin, Anjani.
“And the other guards?” Zola asked. “The fallen and others hunting us?”
“I’m in their minds. You will not be followed,” Seamus answered with confidence.
Zola turned her gaze to Neera.
“I’ll be safe with Seamus,” Neera said, her voice devoid of fear. “You need to go.”
Zola arched a brow, eyes narrowing on Seamus. “Your blood oath?”
“Broken… for now,” Seamus said, looking to Neera. “But we need to get moving.”
Skylar’s voice was panicked.“Where are you, Shaw?”
I had enough strength to answer,“Solace,”before fading into the black.
Chapter Twenty
Skylar Cathal
“No, Talon!” Rhea’s scream tore through the air, sending a chill down the bones of every soul who heard her as we appeared on the deck of theOpal.
“No! Skylar, heal him!”
Panic seized my chest as a lifeless Talon lay sprawled on Rhea’s lap—an arrow embowed with shadow and darkness protruding from his chest.
A chest that failed to rise.
Instantly, I called on my healing powers. A golden light formed in my palms as I leaped forward to keep Talon on this side of the crossing.
Tears were streaming down Rhea’s cheeks as she clutched onto her mate with all the strength she could muster. “Skylar, he can’t—”
My eyes flew open to find hers. “We’re not losing him.”
Rhea’s lip quivered, and for once, I saw true panic in my best friend’s eyes. But she bravely swallowed her fears in the next breath, trusting me to bring him back.
“Daxton, the arrow!” I said, my voice cracking despite my attempt to remain calm.
My mate was already there. His hands trembled as he gripped the shaft of the arrow, reaching around to break the head before preparing to pull it out. As Daxton’s hands curled around the fletching to pull it free, he released a hiss through his teeth.
Castor was there in an instant, grasping Daxton’s wrist to pry his hands away, discarding the arrow on the deck.
“It’s laced with something—something dark,” Castor said, his eyes narrowing as blackness spread across Talon’s lifeless chest.
“Dax?” I asked.
He nodded.“Focus on Talon.”
I returned my focus on healing Talon’s wound. I pressed my hands to his chest, light pouring from my palms like liquid sunlight. It sank into his flesh, meeting the wound, only to hiss and recoil. The darkness within himmoved.It twisted around my magic like smoke with a mind of its own, leeching the light before I could push deeper.
“No, no, no…” I whispered, forcing more power into him. The glow grew blinding, the air around us trembling under the clash of opposing forces. “Stay with me, Talon. Please!”
The shadows responded with a violent pulse, shooting up my arms like black veins of frost. My breath hitched as a cold, suffocating ache spread through me.
The shadows were somehowalive, feeding on me just as they fed on Talon.
