Maren
Irecognized him. The Rivean guard from the market.
Kazimir.
The tip of his blade found the groove in Kye’s leather armor.
With a single thrust, steel entered Kye’s chest.
And erupted out the other side.
78
Maren
Thecordaebetween us broke.
My hands curled around it. An invisible rope tethered to my heart; the other end tied to him. But it whirled away before I could hold on. Like a piece of twine stretched too taut, it snapped and skittered from existence.
My knees pierced the surface of the snow.
And I wasn’t sure if the wind’s voice was the scream that filled my ears.
Or if it was mine.
79
Maren
Fire became my bones.
Lava became my veins.
Embers, my eyes. Ashes my lungs.
And the agony of my own fury cut straight to my bones.
The sky ripped into two. Dark clouds billowed and oozed overhead. A flash of light bolted from one side of the horizon to the other, following the fire of a screaming nerve deep within my flesh.
Kazimir didn’t even look at Kye as his sword fell from his hands. As he dropped to a knee. The Rivean thrusted a boot against Kye’s shoulder, shoving him away to reclaim the use of his blade. As though he were nothing.
There were suddenly hundreds of them. Armored uniforms of bright red, swarming the base of the summit where we stood. And I couldn’t see Kye under them anymore. They walked over the top of him as easily as a mat, welcoming themselves to our doorstep.
But I felt the snow clench its teeth under my knees. And the sky burned as it fell, stars raining like comets, each one born of my fire.
The world shuddered. The mountain shifted. Rock split.
The cordae.
It broke. It broke. It broke.
And something in me cried out his name, searching for his voice in the dark, for thoughts that I could send to him, and thoughts that could be answered. But there were none.
Arms came around me, warm bodies dropping close, words in my ears.
I couldn’t hear them.
I couldn’t hear anything but the blaze of my own soul, screaming into a void as cavernous as the ocean’s fury.
