Vaspar released me as three shades attacked him at her command. His curses pierced the stars as the shades tore into his flesh, leaving little mess to be tended to later. A dark piece of me relished in his suffering, his helplessness. Good. He deserved the death dealt to him.
Once finished, the shades moved onto another target. Bits of clothing were mixed with unidentifiable bits of flesh. And amongst the wreckage, a gray ring of keys.
I lunged for them, wrapped my shaking fingers around the iron bow that held them together, and immediately moved for Dommik.
He was five feet away.
A Northern Hive guard begged for his life beneath the ravenous blanket of a shade.
Three feet.
Oddo screamed for me to duck as an arrow flew overhead. I hit the pavement as the bolt pierced the sky and landed in a hedge to my left.
Dommik was there. One foot away.
I pressed against the earth, my grip tightening around the keys as I lunged for him. My body fell into his. He was cold beneath my touch.
“Hello—lovely—” he rasped as he looked down at me. His stormy eyes were unable to focus on just one of my features.
“Hello, deviant,” I whispered up to him. My fingers pushed his tousled dark hair to the side and he pressed his cheek into my hand. “I’m getting you out of here.”
Cova motioned for me to give her the keys and she set to work on the shackles. The lock clicked and all of his weight fell onto me.
“Whoa—” I lowered him to the ground and looked over his extensive injuries.
I cradled his head as my own vision blurred. “Look who needed saving this time.”
A ghost of a smile feathered beneath his stubble before his eyes fell shut and my panic multiplied.
“No. No, no, no. Dommik. Stay with me.”
He groaned, straining to look at me again, but his attention was drawn behind me. I twisted and found hungry red eyes and misty claws ready to reach for us.
“Not him!” I shouted.
The shade slowed but didn’t stop. “He bears the mark.” Its dragging hiss drew the attention of others.
The token. Of course.
“He isn’t one of them. Leave him!” I cried, shielding him with my body.
“Theeee toookkkeeennn.” The shade’s claws were inches from his flesh. Dommik’s eyes fell shut in silent acceptance of his end. At that, something broke in me, shattering into a million little pieces. The thought of losing him when I was this close to saving him wasn’t a memory I could live with.
That untamed, feral thing that had been coiling inside of me finally loosed itself and I screamed to the threatening orange hues of morning, “NOT HIM!”
My shout conjured a blast of light, pushing away not just the shade that had approached us, but any others that were too near. The unrelenting wind toppled bystanders, snuffed out torches, and bent the mature hedges of the Moon Garden.
When it subsided, I panted over Dommik’s body as he lay still in my arms.
“Reyva…” he groaned, the sounds of chaos starting to subside around us.
“Do not give up. You hear me? I won’t let them get to you.” I assured him as I began to weep.
“Lady Reyva.” Oddo crouched down to us. Gorvin stood tall at his side, his lips downturned in concern rather than disappointment. “They’ve poisoned him with bloodbane. It’s very likely his body won’t be able to recover.”
“No!” It was a truth I couldn’t accept. It wasn’t fair. To come so close, to go through so much, and lose him anyway.Not like this.I thought before I wept, “Not like this.”
Dommik coughed again, breathing slowly as he attempted to speak, “Reyva. It’s okay. You can let me go.”
