Page 70 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

He lets go of my mouth and takes the dagger from my hand, slicing his palm before tossing the knife to the ground. Onyx blood drips from his hand, and he takes my cut hand in his.

“Together,” he murmurs, tracing his thumb over the side of my cheek and pulling me in for a kiss.

“Always,” I say against his lips. “The sacrifice was always meant to be us.”

Kalel doesn’t seem surprised or upset. He only shuts his eyes and rests his forehead against mine. “If our love can save the kingdoms, then let it be done.”

Our hands are warm with our blood.

His eyes are the last thing I memorize as I pray to the gods.

Use us to replace the veil, and remove the hatred from their hearts. Let them feel what we’ve cultivated in ours. To create a place where demons and demigods can coexist, protected from the gods. A place we can all call home.

Chapter 26

Nikolai

Children whimper as they cover their ears. The lightning and wind seem to have gotten worse, and the sounds of the fighting draw closer. Women shout of fire cast from the mouths of dragons, and all I can do is try to block it all out while I heal a knight’s injured chest.

My breathing is erratic and hard to keep steady as my power stutters. I’m almost tapped out.

A lightness threads through the air and a hush falls on everyone in the castle. My entire body stills and I look around. Whatever that was…everyone felt it. The bells have stopped ringing, the fighting isn’t as loud, and a sense of relief fills my heart without knowing why.

I press my hand to the knight’s shoulder. “You will be okay. Keep pressure on it and don’t get up.” He nods at my words, seeming more interested in the strange phenomenon that’s happening outside.

I quickly move through the crowds of people trying to get a look out the limited windows and make it outside. The fires are smoldering, the smoke smothered, and the dragons no longer fly in frenzied patterns. Now they are calm and seem to be flying farther away.

“What just happened?” I murmur to myself, eyes scouring the fields and the land beyond the bridge where the knights were fighting. They’ve all stopped and are staring at something…

“It can’t be,” Tessa says with a raspy voice beside me.

I can’t tear my eyes away from what I’m seeing. It looks like petals made of purple-hued light are gathering together and building the veil back up around the kingdom.

“A new veil.” The words make my lips feel cold.

I look at Tessa. Her expression is grim, but there’s hope where there was none before. “Where are Kalel and Alira?”

We run toward the horde of knights; they have stopped fighting but don’t seem to know why. The veil and the cease of lightning seem to have at least captured their attention for the time being. Meanwhile, a larger group is gathering farther up ahead.

Tessa coughs and covers her face with her glove as we cross the damaged bridge and the burned bodies that are scattered throughout. This doesn’t look good. As it stands, I’d say about half of the army on both sides has been slaughtered by one another, by gods, or by dragons.

Once we get closer to the gathered knights, I see what they are staring at. Both of our kings. Dead. A chill races up my neck, and I swallow the knot in my throat. What will we do now that we have all the demigods and demons here? No rulers…a new veil.

“What does all of this mean?” Tessa whispers, sounding defeated.

I look at her and take her hand. “Let’s keep looking for Kalel and Alira.”

My attention is stolen by the veil once more; it’s building higher and higher, a dome just as it was before. But this one feels different. I’m not yet certain how.

“Nikolai!” a woman calls out. I turn and find Nina running up the muddy slope with her dress in her hands. Ustel is beside her, his arm is bleeding, but it doesn’t look deadly.

“Nina, are you all right?” I ask as she comes stumbling up to us, bending over and taking deep breaths before collecting herself.

“Over there.” She manages to get the words out between her breaths and points to the top of a hill overlooking the battlefield below.

I spot two figures standing together.

“It’s them!” I shout and take off toward them. Tessa, Nina, and Ustel are behind me.