Page 122 of Veil of Night & Flames

I scream, but it’s not going to be enough, it’s too fast, she’s too close, and⁠—

Mr. Griffin is there.

He doesn’t hesitate. Doesn’t even slow. And I watch in a horrible mixture of horror and relief as he throws himself between Tia and a mare armed with terrifyingly long fangs and a long obsidian blade.

In an instant, the mare turns away from Tia and lunges for Mr. Griffin, who reacts with a level of speed and grace I’ve never seen in him, and I mentally cheer when his blade lands, slicing across the mare’s throat.

The creature drops, and the tension in my body starts to drain—and then I go cold when I see what I’d missed before—that somehow as the mare fell, its blade landed, too. A blade that now protrudes from Mr. Griffin’s chest.

“No!” I scream the word, then cry his name as his eyes find mine for one short beat.

Then he crumples onto the path, and it feels like my heart’s exploded.

“No—NO—” I try to stand—to go to him—I’m still trapped on the ground by the rot, but then Chase appears, and I see the grief hit him, his face going harder and harder as he surveys the scene.

When his eyes land on me, I think he’s going to shatter, but then the Hunter takes over, and he’s moving toward me with both blades out.

Three mares race to meet him, and he cuts through the first one without breaking stride, and I watch and pray and struggle to loosen the damn rot that’s keeping me bound. To pull up more magic. To do something—anything—that will get me free.

But I can’t.

I can’t conjure anything.

All I can do is watch helplessly as another mare rushes at the man I love. Chase pivots and takes it down with a solid kick, but now there are five mares between him and me, then six, then more, and as he tries to battle his way toward me, the rot yanks me another foot toward the maw.

“CHASE!”

I see his face the moment he hears me. Every muscle in him is throwing itself toward me through bodies that aren’t letting him through.

Fight, Cora!

I twist around to find Tia on her knees, and I have no idea how her voice is in my head. She’s looking at me, her nose bleeding as she tends to Mr. Griffin. And though her lips don’t move, I hear her as clear as a bell. Fight! We’ll find you! Don’t you dare give up⁠—

Tia? How are you⁠—?

Later. Just stay alive.

I want to answer, but fear fills my head as the dragging speeds up, and once again, the Threnir approaches. It looks at me, and I feel an icy, horrible chill. Then it chitters something, and though I have no idea what that language that was, I somehow know what it said. Soon.

And then it steps out of this realm. Gone, yes. But it feels like it left the terror behind.

Once again, the rot tugs at me, drawing me closer to the breach, and though I clutch at the dead grass and dirt, nothing I do slows it down.

I cry out for Chase, who’s barreling toward me as he strikes down mares, one after another.

He’s close. He’s so damn close.

But the maw is closer.

And the last thing I see before the cold dark of the breach closes over me is Chase in motion, his blades out, and his face completely wrecked as he cuts down another mare and another and another, not stopping, not even slowing.

Running for me.

But not fast enough.

Then the world goes dark, and the last sound I hear is Chase in agony, screaming my name.

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