It was like a blow to the gut not to feel her pull me into a hug, to not acknowledge what I feared she already knew.
“We’ve cleared a path,” I said, but I hesitated. “We have to hurry though; they likely have more reinforcements coming.”
She nodded and looked back at the others. “Hurry!”
They hesitated, exchanging nervous glances, before rising to their feet.
Lucia emerged from the tunnel. “Come on!”
We ran, allowing Lucia and Damien to take the lead while her warriors, Kish, and I took up the rear to guard their backs. Kish hadn’t said a word about Rhyas, and I couldn’t find the strength to speak his name. I had to focus on getting her out, on getting them all out. Then, I would return for him. I wouldn’t leave him in this place. He deserved to be laid to rest beneath the sky, beneath the shade of a tree.
Shouts echoed from the tunnel behind us, and I looked back to find more guards rushing for us. My blood chilled and boiled all at once at the sight of Arden leading them.
“Keep going!” I shouted as I slid to a stop. Kish ran to my side, along with several warriors. “We’ll buy you time!”
We couldn’t let them follow any farther. We had to barricade them in somehow, had to kill Arden if we truly hoped to escape.
“We can bring the tunnels down on them,” Kish said.
“How?” I asked, glancing at her as they drew closer. “We don’t have any wards to trip.”
“I rarely used it,” she said. “Was forbidden to.”
My brows furrowed. “Use what?”
“Get them out,” she muttered and ran toward them.
“Wait, Kish!” I cried out, running after her.
Her pace quickened while my strength waned, and the distance between us grew. She dragged her hand along the wall as she ran, and the ground beneath us heaved. I stumbled forward, crashing against the ground as the tunnel shook, rocks and debris falling from the ceiling.
“Kish!” I cried out, shoving to my feet, dodging boulders as they fell.
Arden and his men slid to a stop, scanning the ceiling, and his eyes flared as he looked at Kish. I immediately felt his influence in the tattoo, pain splintering across my skin. Whatever magic she was using, he would cut her off, and she would be defenseless. She pulled a dagger from her tunic and threw it through the air. It sank into his shoulder, and he stepped toward her before realization flashed across his face. He pulled the dagger free, inspecting it before throwing it aside. At that same moment, I felt his influence fade, the pain vanishing.
She’d somehow laced the dagger with Aethersbane.
A hand grabbed my arm, and I twisted around to find myself face-to-face with one of Lucia’s warriors. His shaggy brown hair was covered in blood and dust, his soft blue eyes searching the collapsing tunnel before falling on me. “It’s gonna cave in. We have to get out!”
“No!” I cried, turning to find Kish had slowed her pace, her hand firm against the wall. Arden and his men charged for her, and she turned around to look back at me.
She smiled, and tears flooded my eyes. “Kish! Stop!”
Her lips moved, all sound dying out as I narrowed in on what she tried to say but couldn’t voice.
Whatever the cost.
And the tunnel collapsed on her—on Arden and his men.
Screams flooded the tunnel, ghastly, painful screams, and it wasn’t until pain sliced into my throat that I realized it was me. I was screaming. I fell to my knees as Arden’s magic died out from my arm, and from the corner of my eyes, I watched as the ink faded, inch by inch, dying out…
As he died.
He was dead.
As was Kish.
I pulled from the male’s hold, crashing into the boulders keeping me from her. She couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t be… I sank to my knees, tears flooding my vision. Hands grabbed me, pulling me from the ground and up against a hard body, and I was carried out as the rest of the tunnel slowly collapsed.
