“I haven’t had this much fun in centuries,” he jests. “I’ll rush him to Alaric’s dungeon and come?—”
“No,” Xera cuts him off, and with a swift hit to Lars’s neck, his body goes limp, falling to the ground with a thump. “You won’t come back.”
I knew this was coming. We’d spoken about it before meeting up with the group.
In these seconds of quiet, I feel a shift in the air around us—a dark, haunting presence that consumes me entirely. It’s like a foreboding tale, warning me that I, too, need to leave.
Xera releases a breath, and as though I can feel it as well, she reaches through the blood link between them. “Niyla, Brice, Alaric, Sydni… you will leave and hide until this is over.”
When I shift my gaze, they’ve all gone stiff.
“You will not come back unless the fight is done.”
“Kayn.” My friend looks at me as I speak to him. “This was the plan all along. Only Xera and I are going to fight Tali.”
His brows pinch in frustration. “You have to be fucking kidding me.” The moment he steps to me, I throw my hand up. “Kai, the more people fighting her, the more likely we will win.”
“You’re wrong.” My girl never shifts her gaze from staring at Sydni.
Her best friend is bubbling out a sob. “Please don’t do this, please don’t do this! Let me fight with you!”
“You’ll be targets for her to weaken me. She can’t kill Kai, because that would be damning her. He is my greatest chance of winning this, and you all will only get in my way.”
The feeling of doom grows closer, and I don’t remember this when I was just a mile away from Tali on a boat. I wonder if it’s because wecompleted our bond, and her Amoro is warning me something is coming for what’s mine.
“I’d rather die by your side, Phiny.” As Sydni steps toward Xera, my girl raises her hand, halting her. I can tell she’s using the blood that runs through her best friend’s veins to do it.
I look to Xera, who shakes her head and smiles softly. “The thing is… I’m unwilling to risk your life more than I already have. I can’t live without you.”
Those words cause Sydni to nearly buckle and fall, tears stream down her blood covered cheeks, creating lines of light pink. “And I can’t without you, Phiny, please!”
It’s then that, for the first time likely in their entire friendship, Xera rushes to Sydni and wraps her in a hug.
“I’ll be fine,” she whispers against Syd’s frazzled blue hair. “Let me protect you and keep you safe.”
A moment of silence follows, broken only by sniffling, but I don’t bother looking to see who’s crying. I just watch my girl close her eyes and bury her head into her friend’s shoulder.
“You never deserved what I brought upon you,” she whispers, her voice cracking. “But I wanted to deserve the friendship you gave me. That’s why I selfishly stayed. Now, you’ll do as I command and leave, because I will no longer be selfish with your life.”
The moment she forces Sydni back, I look up at Kayn. “Keep the Crimson Dawn up over Sidence.” He looks back at me, and I drown out Sydni’s screams of defiance. His expression tells me he doesn’t like this, but he won’t defy my request. This isn’t his fight, and he knows it's our decision. That’s why Xera didn’t offer her blood to him—because I told her he’d do exactly what was asked of him without it.
“I’ll keep an eye on everyone.”
“Only when things are done, will you come back.”
“What if Tali gets her?—”
“She won’t,” I say with confidence. “We’ve got this.”
His hand comes to my shoulder, and I mirror the gesture, placing my hand on his. “Take care of them, please. Tali wants Xera, so I doubt she’d run after you guys, but you know, just in case.”
“I’ve got them.” He releases a sigh and squeezes my shoulder. “Don’t die, do you hear me?”
Letting out a light laugh I shrug my shoulders. “No promises.”
“Fucking asshole, man.”
As the weight of that request settles over me, Kayn and I turn in unison; Xera now stands alone with only her Familiar, everyone else gone.I can barely make out Sydni and Brice in the distance as they walk away, my butterfly’s cry of how unfair this is growing weaker and weaker.
