Chapter 20

‘… Rhordyn.’

The rough, whispered thought comes to me like a blow of wind rustling the trees. Like a star shooting through my cold oblivion.

I strain to catch the next, feeling it burst against me. A punch of warmth.

‘… making my heart lurch, like it was trying to leap from my chest to his … his mighty weight upon my body …’

I crush the thought against me—a quenching pocket of air in this inky void—reaching for another.

‘… feel safe … his icy breath pouring upon me …’

‘Don’t cry.’

The last words don’t sound right—too deep and harsh.

They sound like … like …

Me.

Islam into something hard and hostile, my essence compacting down, stretching against the limited space. Too tight. Too—

Real.

My lids snap open, pupils tighten, and I draw a sludgy breath, squinting through my smeared vision, trying to untangle from the dream’s sticky web.

The feel—the sound of moving water comes to me, and I blink, clearing away some of the cobwebs clinging to my mind. A curling river reflects the moonlight, weaving between arched trees connected by drapes of messy vines.

Where the hell am I?

Wheezing wet breaths into my heavy lungs, I roll my gaze around. Notice I’m lumped against a precarious bundle of logs stacked upon each other by the water’s swirling flow. Snapped twigs and branches have impaled my leg and torso, poking out the other side, skewering me in place.

Fuck.

My vision sharpens on the talon still lodged in my heart. Despite the prickly ache deep inside my chest, I find myself sadistically proud of her perfect shot.

Nice try.

Groaning, I try to move, but it’s as if my muscles and bones have seized. Something nudges at my shoulder, followed by a dull pull.

I crank my head to the side in slow, painful increments, sketching out the shape of a massive black krah perched on a wet log behind me, lit by slabs of moonlight shafting through the canopy, a sliver of gray, rotten flesh caught in its clawed hands.

Is that—

I think it fucking is.

His tufted tail peeks over his shoulder like a charmed snake, swaying from side to side, both sets of leathery wings curled around his crouched body as he blinks those large gloomy eyes. Head cocked to the side, he puts the piece of flesh in his mouth and gobbles it down.

Did he just … eat me?

He releases a shriek, exposing a savage maw of razor-sharp teeth, and hops onto my arm, claws piercing my flesh. I lift my other to swat him away, then roar in agony as searing pain rents through my hand. Like it was hammered through with a nail.

The krah flaps off, and my eyes narrow on the festering wound in my palm. I turn my hand over, inspecting the black scrawls of rotten veins just beneath the surface of my pasty, waterlogged skin.

How long has the talon been in me?

My gaze rolls up, past the small flock of krah being led in circles by the one that was feasting on my flesh, seeking the bloated moon that sits low in the sky. Mocking me with its near fullness.

Panic rips me in two.

I draw another rattled breath, checking that tiny lustrous seed—like a star tore from the sky and settled amongst my ribs. A bright, twinkling beacon, contrasting my fucking dim.

The only star I’ll ever kneel to.

Rich, wriggling, foreign fear squirms through me like an earthworm, and my skewered heart stills, skin prickling all over. That thing inside me bristles, arching up, head to the side.

What the fuck is going on—

A scent seeps from the seed—salty.

Citrus.

His.

A blunt bite of crippling pain latches onto the side of my neck, the septic ache in my heart nothing compared to the ravaging hurt that tears across my shoulder, up into my jaw …

Not my pain.

Hers.

The cold, carnal violence inside me roars, and my fangs slide down, murderous rage crackling through my veins …

He.

Fucking.

Bit her.

Thunder rattles the sky, electrifying the air, and the ancient, otherworldly runes carved across my flesh dig their teeth deep enough to draw blood. More of her agony shafts through me, bold and screaming and so fucking clear I ache in places I never knew existed.

Cainon’s a dead man.

I suddenly feel as if my neck’s about to snap, my throat aching with the urge to scream—

‘My sound won’t come.’

Her thoughts strike like that fucking talon, and my muscles bulge with the urge to shred. I chain that thrashing darkness inside me, snarling through gritted teeth as I try to sit up.

Try to move.

Thick, putrid muck erupts up my throat with a spluttering hack, pouring down my chin.A slicing pain lances through my chest every time my heart trips over a punctured beat—paling in comparison to the phantom tug at my skin. Like he’s draining her in greedy draws … biting deeper …

Deeper.

Another boom of thunder, and the malice inside me gnashes at his chains.

My lungs fill with liquid ice I can’t seem to shift, a sensation that chills me to the core. Because they’re not my lungs …

They’re hers.

I scramble for that seed, reaching for it—

Its twinkle sputters out.

Another violent roar rattles my ribs, and my gut flips. Head tipped to the side, more thick goo pours out of me in strangled heaves.

Orlaith …

I sift every ounce of warmth from my blood and feed it to the roots tethering the precious seed to my wretched soul—willing it to ignite.

To thrive.

Beat!

My internal scream goes unanswered. Not even the fleeting whisper of a thought to tame the shadow slashing at my insides, tearing me to ribbons.

I hunt for more scraps of heat in all my dark and dusty corners, a stark, condemning cold threading through my veins.

Fucking beat!

Those roots begin to singe, curling up, tearing from my insides in slow, agonizing pulls. The seed begins to implode, like it’s falling into itself, creating a hole I’m certain all of existence could sink into.

Every cell in my body stills, a deadly calm washing over me as I watch her try to leave.

Doesn’t she know I’d follow her to the fucking end?

I punch my internal hand between my ribs and sink my claws into the seed, feeling them pierce through that hard outer shell that wrestles me. Trying to rip from my grip like she wants to go.

To die.

‘Wait—’

Her taut, frantic voice comes to me.

‘Wait!’

I’m done waiting, Orlaith.

‘No.’

The faintest flicker ignites, and I retract my claws, catching it like a firefly. I crouch forward and blow more warmth onto the frail, throbbing ember, giving it everything I have.

Breathe, I growl, nuzzling it. I brush my lips against it and order it to fucking live.

Another luminous pulse …

Another.

Relief douses me from head to toe, but I shut that feeling down.

She needs me.

Now.

Still cradling that seed—my salvation—I lift my leg and slide my thigh free of the wooden saber, releasing a spurt of inky blood that reeks of impending death. A howl gurgles up my throat, almost splitting me down the middle.

I cough, sputter, heave, vision smearing, the wooden mound beneath me creaking as I look at the remaining stick jutting from my gut.

Fuck me.

Face twisting, I arch up, the stick sliding free of my innards, each knobbled bend grating against my bones.

I snarl through gritted teeth, heaving choked breaths, more rotten, foul-smelling blood piping from the gaping wound, dribbling into the water in an inky swirl.

Chin pressed to my chest, I look down at the talon again …

I thought if she lashed her damage at me hard enough, dealt me the pain I deserve, it would make me feel better about … everything. Instead, that prickly ache won’t ease, and the more I look at the fucking talon protruding from my chest, the worse this feeling gets.

Growling, I reach for the hilt—

The rickety mass beneath me shifts, and I still, poised. I feel the next creak in my fucking marrow.

Everything gives way with a turbulent splash that swallows me whole.

I’m churned up, tossed about, pinned beneath the might of rolling tree trunks. More liquid pours into me, and my barely beating heart slows, lungs convulsing as my body jerks and spasms.

I don’t hate you at all …

The whispered echo of her words are the breath of air I can’t pull. They’re sun on my face, and the smell of spring crushed against me. They’re a warm, comforting hand escorting me into the eternal shadow of a bitterly cold oblivion I’ve grown too familiar with.

Something hard collides with my head, and the pain slips away.

Darkness consumes me.