Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Fire scorched the sleeve of my gown. I hissed but didn’t slow. There. Ahav. He stood just a few paces ahead of me, making his way up a hill, leading many monstra away from the battle. Exactly as I’d foreseen.
He still intended to die.
“I need you here,” I shouted, surging forward. “Live!”
A claw sliced my midsection, pain blooming hot and bright. Poison? The heat flooded my bloodstream. Keep going, keep going. But the world tilted, and I went down hard.
The ground knocked the air from my lungs. My vision blurred, stars bursting behind my eyes. I tasted blood.
“Moriah!” Jasher shouted.
I tried to focus, tried to push up. Failed. My vision dimmed, and my arms trembled, strength draining fast. The sounds of battle warped, stretching and echoing, as if I were underwater again.
A flicker of light brightened inside me. A coil of new strength, the Ember stirring beneath my skin. Prickles. I held my breath. Was this the moment I defeated the monstra?
But no. My vision cleared, yes, and my thoughts sharpened. Nothing else. I gritted my teeth and climbed to unsteady legs, scanning for Jasher.
Horror hit. Four monstra, each biting into a limb, pulled his body taut, stretching him to the max, attempting to rip him apart.
He fought but only bled faster, their teeth sinking deeper.
No, no, no. I stumbled forward, desperate to reach him. I couldn’t trust him, but I refused to watch him die. Just couldn’t…couldn’t watch it. But my feet were dragging, as heavy as boulders. I wouldn’t reach him in time.
The air shimmered beside him. Elowen shot from it, sword already in motion. Fierce and heartbreakingly calm, she cut down a monstra, then another. She didn’t look at me, but concentrated solely on Jasher and the beasts doing their best to kill him.
No! I’d seen this. Knew what came next. She’d sworn to me she would stay away.
Swallowing bitterness, I forced my limbs to move. To carry me across the battlefield. Too slow, too slow! Reaching for her…
She moved swifter than thought, swifter than my vision, killing more beasts as they came. Then another appeared. He wasn’t the same as the others. He was bigger. Double Ian’s size, with scales a strange, glittering silver-black. Exactly as I’d foreseen.
His sinister grin sent cold shivers down my spine. His silver eyes glittered.
She faced him and stopped, just stopped, as if frozen. He looked past her—at me. Time slowed to a crawl.
Never glancing away, he blew a stream of silver fire straight through my sister’s chest, leaving a steaming, fist-sized hole behind.
The creature winked at me as she fell, then vanished in a puff of silver smoke.
Time picked up speed. “Elowen!” I dropped, too, dragging my useless legs, finally reaching her. Hands shaking, I gathered my precious sister close. “Tell me you brought serpens-rosa.” She must have. I’d warned her about this.
Her blood poured over me, warm but cooling fast and changing from scarlet to black to fading gray.
“Wouldn’t help,” she said. “No longer…works for… me.”
Her scars, I realized, shaking my head. No.
“Mom with Daniel. Memory wiped.” She spoke between panting breaths, her grip on me weakening, her eyes desperate. “Malkom key.”
“What was that creature? Why did you come back?” I sobbed, cradling her. “You swore—you swore—”
Her lips curved faintly, already pale. “Didn’t return… for you. Kept word.”
Tears streamed down my face, blurring her features. But though the tears glowed, they didn’t absorb into her skin. Not as they’d done with Ahav. Why? Why, why, why? “Why won’t it absorb?”
“Can’t. Already died. Not twice.”
“Yes! Yes twice.” With my free hand, I rubbed the moisture in, trying to force the absorption. “This isn’t fair,” I cried. “Who? Who did you come back for, if not me?”
Her glassy gaze flicked to Jasher, still fighting, still standing. “Him.”
The tears fell faster, harder. Because…because she couldn’t survive this. No one could. Smoke was curling from the edges of the wound—a wound that was spreading, eating through her. The hole continued to widen.
“Saw his death. Not mine.” She laughed a little. “Just wanted one of us… to have a chance. Love.” Her voice faded. “Let it…let it be you.” She reached up weakly and fisted my shirt just above my heart. “Malkom key. Sin lock. Tell Mom. Sisters until…” Her arm fell. Her head lolled to the side. Her body went slack…and crumbled into ash, those silver flames eating through her entire body, leaving me with nothing.
“No. Elowen. Elowen!” I slammed my fist into the ground, crying. Sobbing. “Stay. Please. This isn’t the end. It can’t be the end. I’ll fix it.”
A ball of heat uncoiled in the center of my chest. The Ember, stirring. “Is this what you demand of me?” I screeched. “Everything?”
Around me, the world stopped. Sound folded into a dull, distant hush, the battlefield dissolving into smears of meaningless color and motion. There was here, now, me with the Ember but no Elowen. Terrible stillness occupied the space where her breath should’ve been.