‘Don’t!’ I choke out, not even sure who I’m speaking to as the sound of my voice is swallowed by the magic that roars in my ear.
Wild, ancient, an echo of the obscene hunger. Of hatred. Hatred for … me? I feel roots growing beneath my ribs, curling around my heart and claiming it as their own. Pulling me away from everything and everyone I love.
Kay’s and William’s faces flash in front of my mind, as if they are the last images I’m ever going to see.
I will not lose them!
No!I scream the words in my mind.You can’t take me! You can’t take any one of us!
A whorl of magic snarls again at my heart, butI push it away with everything I have.
I push until I have nothing left.
Kyor grabs my face in both hands, forcing my gaze to his. ‘Stay with me, Thorn. Breathe. Just breathe.’
But I don’t think I can.
The forest tilts sideways. His voice warps – distant, panicked, and breaking in ways Kyor’s voice has never broken.
‘Rose!’
My vision tunnels.
The last thing I feel is Kyor hauling me against his chest, the tremor in his arms betraying more fear than he’d ever admit to feeling.
He loves me. He truly does. And I’ll never hear it in his voice again. Never find a way to save my brother. Never hear my little niece or nephew’s first laugh.
The thought strikes some untaken part of me. I’ll never get to meet the child I was supposed to help guide in this world. Never see my sister become the mother she was always destined to be.
No, that’s not something I can accept.
With my last ounce of strength I draw on the place that the darkness hasn’t yet claimed and force it to grow. Grow enough to push the roots out from me. Out from my magic, my soul.
‘You can’t have me …’ I whisper as the world turns black.
Chapter 30
When I come to, I’m pillowed by something so soft, and I’m sure I must be back in the High Hold. I turn and bury myself into it, nuzzling into the soft fur of my new, warm cushion, only vaguely aware of the earthy aroma that emanates from it.
Yet as I shuffle deep, the rumble of a growl vibrates against my cheek. My eyes flare open.
Great Mother! A yelp escapes me as I realise I’m nestled into Elska like her cub, utterly surrounded by her heat and warmth.
‘Rose!’Whether he was alerted to my awakening by my noise or by Elska, I don’t know, but Kyor is at my side within a heartbeat, though for a split second I struggle to believe it’s him I’m looking at.
Exhaustion is in every line of his body, from the sallowness of his cheeks to the grey bags beneath his eyes, and he has more than a two o’clock stubble gracing his usually clean-shaven jaw.
‘I’ve got you. It’s okay.’ He helps me sit up, but my head swims.
‘I don’t feel so good,’ I admit.
‘You’ve been out a whole day,’ Kyor confirms, trying to keep his voice even, like he hasn’t been worried out of his mind for me.
‘Caz?’ I ask.
‘I’m all right,’ she calls over from where she’s sitting bythe fire with Benny. Next to her – I blink just to make sure I’m not imagining it– are the two Quiet Ones. When I’m certain my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, my gaze moves past them to the rest of the group: Loch who is sleeping and Ruben who is pacing nearby. All of them are here. All of them are safe. Thank fuck.
As my head starts to steady, Caz comes over with a plate of food in her hands. ‘You probably need to eat and drink some. Thessa made you a broth, but we couldn’t manage to get you to drink much of it.’
