“Ki—” He choked before he could fully form her name, blood splattering across my face.
“It’s gonna be all right,” I said, my voice breaking. “We’ll make it to her. We’ll make it out together.”
“Ki...” His grip on my tunic slackened, his struggles slowing, his body easing in my arms.
“Rhyas?” I whispered, tears rolling down my cheeks.
He didn’t respond, didn’t move, his amber eyes no longer that bright shade I’d grown to know, to love.
“No,” I muttered, my vision blurring. “No, please. Don’t?—”
I pulled him closer to me, the sound of his heartbeat gone.
“Don’t leave me,” I sobbed. “I need you.”
My cries turned into screams as I called out to him, rocking his body amidst the chaos.
“Thalia!” Lucia grabbed my shoulder and her eyes widened at the sight of Rhyas, of his blood coating my body. “I’m so sorry.”
“Help him!” I begged.
Sorrow clouded her expression. “I can’t.”
“He has to... He can’t be—” My voice broke, sobs clawing their way up my throat.
“We can’t stay here,” she said, but I couldn’t look at her, couldn’t take my eyes off his face. “You’re the only one who may know where the prisoners are, and I need you now more than ever to be our guide.”
Our promise to one another echoed in the recesses of my mind.
No matter the cost.
Was this the cost of our freedom? How many more lives would we lose? Would Kish...
I didn’t allow myself to finish the thought as I eased Rhyas onto the ground.
“I’ll get her out for you,” I promised him, my voice breaking. Tears threatened to fall once more as I slid my hand over his eyes, closing them, hating how they would never brighten my day again. His deepest regrets resurfaced, and I hated that he wouldn’t be able to see the end, to all this, wouldn’t be free of the guilt he felt all these years. “I swear, I’ll kill Santor, and we’ll bring Arden down so we can all finally be free.”
I’d killed so many guards—so many of my fellow fighters. I knew some of them, tried to reason with them to stop fighting us and to help, but Arden had them too terrified.
And so, I continued to kill.
I wasn’t sure who exactly Lucia was, but the power she had at her disposal was too much to comprehend. She wielded every magic, just as the gods did...but she was immortal. With her leading the attack, the guards hadbecome desperate before we’d broken through, coating their blades and arrows in Aethersbane. Lucia had been hit, leaving her powerless and us at a disadvantage.
“We’re through!” one of Lucia’s warriors shouted as they broke through the line, forcing guards to back into another tunnel, opening the path to where I knew Kish and the other prisoners were likely hiding.
I kicked a guard off my blade before sprinting toward the head of the fight, leading them into the tunnels toward the lower level.
Fates spare them. Let them be safe.
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach as we drew closer to the cavern, bodies of prisoners littering the ground. I searched every face, checked for pulses, but none were hers. None were alive.
I ran faster, leaving Lucia and her warriors to check for any survivors. “Kish!”
I stumbled into the mouth of the cavern to find a group of survivors huddled together, fighters at the forefront.
“Thalia!” Kish cried out, running for me. “Santor and his men nearly broke through to us, but they suddenly retreated and...” Her steps slowed as she drew closer, and her reddened eyes fell to my bloodied tunic.
She could smell him—his blood. They were mates… Had she felt it the moment he’d fallen? When he’d taken his final breath? Her cheeks were stained with tears, and my heart constricted. She blinked away more tears and looked back at the prisoners hiding behind her. “We need to get them out.”
