Something squirmed within me, the power that had been fed wanting more. And perhaps it was unwise, perhaps it was reckless, but I wrenched up those strings of soul from the emblems.
And with the power of Angels, I lashed light down the stairwell, whipping it sharply against the stone walls.
Ancient rock caved in with the cataclysmic force, echoing down the descent and sealing the way into the catacombs.
Then, we left the dead to rest.
Chapter Thirty-One
Malakai
The chamber eruptedas Titus stilled, drowning out Vale’s shrieks.
Starsearchers charged to their fallen chancellor’s defense; the room became a mess of clanging weapons and my blood beneath my hands and knees.
My blood…fuck. It was so warm down my exposed back, my gloves were sticky with it.
And the scars that had been ripped open burned.
Mila flipped her guard over her shoulder and slammed the woman into the floor effortlessly. With the Starsearcher’s own dagger, Mila impaled her through the throat. Fucking incredible.
Then, she was ripping her twin swords from the guard, and she got to work on the other opponents.
Heal, I wanted to scream at my wounds. I needed to get up. I needed to help.
I breathed heavily, each inhale painful as my ribs expanded. It hadn’t hurt this badly last time. Maybe because I’d given up, then.
Now I was desperate to help. I focused on the way crimson was smeared across the ivory floors, marring the reflection ofthe Fates in the dome’s glass, something oddly poetic about the seeing chamber resulting in so much death.
As the pain in my back became a steady ache, I assessed the fighting through swirling vision. Dax and Barrett had weapons now, too. Harlen, stumbling and face contorted in pain, had his chain wrapped around the throat of a warrior. There were maybe eight of them in Starsearcher garb.
Too many…
There were too many.
Vale was still collapsed on the floor, biting back cries of pain. Celissia crouched beside her, whispering to the Starsearcher and pressing her hands over Vale’s shoulder, as if that would absolve the ache.
With tears streaming from her hollow eyes, Vale nodded at Celissia. One hand still clutched something to her chest, but with the other, she ripped a dagger from Celissia’s waist. The Starsearcher grunted, launching it at an approaching guard. It landed squarely in his eye.
Celissia pulled a hatchet from her belt and joined, skillfully beating back a Starsearcher guard while keeping one eye on Vale.
Vale, who poured every ounce of desperation—of rightful vengeance and tormented tears—into crawling toward that guard’s body. Into relieving him of his other triple blades and fighting as fiercely as anyone.
Because she had a reason to fight, too.
The open wounds across my back stung as I stumbled upright, feet slipping in my blood. There was so much of it, my stomach turned. I wasn’t used to seeing it in such bright light. My cavern prison had been a blessing in one way, I supposed.
The warrior who had been seeing to me was fighting Mila now. In a flash of steel, they danced about the room. There was no way I could lift a sword or throw a dagger, but...the chainshanging from my wrists clanked together. My vision swam, and an idea took shape.
Tightening my grip around the chain, I waited to catch Mila’s eye?—
There it was.
A flash of a glance, not enough to lose her opponent, but enough to check on me. And see that while blood dripped down my back, I stood.
Her eyes swept over my hands, and she understood my plan. I crouched down.
Back, back, back she drove that Starsearcher.
