Page 177 of Blade of the Nightking

He caught my other hand. The rippled steel flashed. I gasped at the pain as he sliced across my palm. For the briefest instant, I could’ve sworn I felt the blade hum against my skin.

His fingers laced with mine, tight and unyielding, as he extended our joined hands over the mouth of the well.

I knew before our blood ever struck the water that something was about to happen. I could see the same certainty reflected in Rìan's eyes. The ancient magic saturating the temple thickened until it became difficult to breathe. The well waited beneath us, no longer stone and water, but alive. Like the gaping maw of some enormous beast, hungry beneath the earth.

Time stretched into an eternity as our blood fell together toward the darkness below. I could see every line etched into Rìan's face, every strand of dark hair falling across his brow, every fleck of silver glinting in his gaze.

Then the well exhaled.

A violent wind erupted from its depths. Darkness surged upward and spilled over the stone rim like smoke, consuming the chamber in seconds. The walls disappeared. The crumbling roof vanished. Even the last traces of daylight dissolved until there was nothing left but me and Rìan, facing one another across a tumultuous black void.

My fingers tightened around his.

For the briefest moment, his grip tightened in return.

A low whine filled the air. No—not the air. My head. My bones. The sound climbed higher and higher until it became a shriek, scraping through my skull like rusted metal dragged across glass.

And then the darkness swallowed us whole.

Cold wind lashed suddenly at my face. The scent of salt filled my lungs. Waves crashed against the shore.

Noctharis.

Someone stood at the water's edge. My heart lurched into my throat.

Then I realized… it was me.

Tears streamed down my face as I pointed toward the water. “Levinica!”

No. Not this. Please, not this.

I didn't want to see it again.

I couldn't⁠—

But as I sprinted toward the shoreline, I realized the terror flooding through me wasn't mine.

It was Rìan's.

This was his memory.

I was seeing Levinica's death through his eyes.

The realization had barely formed before the panic slammed into me. His. Not fear for himself. Fear for her. A desperate, choking certainty that there was still time. That if he reached her quickly enough, if he got to her before the current carried her too far, before she disappeared beneath the waves⁠—

She was already far out in the water. The sea tossed her about like driftwood, dark hair dragging behind her as the current tore relentlessly at her body.

“LEVINICA!” I felt the scream tear from him. Felt it shred his throat raw. “LEVINICA!” Felt the icy water around his legs. Felt the desperate violence of his need to reach her. To save her. To stop her.

I watched through his eyes as Levinica was pulled farther out.

He would go after her, throw himself into the waves and fight the sea for her if he had to.

Shadows erupted from nowhere. They wrapped around his body just as he leaped forward, locking around his arms and chest, holding him fast.

“LEVINICA!” The scream ripped from his chest as he fought against Veylan's hold. Veylan shouted something, but the wind snatched the words away.

Far out in the water, a swell broke over her and Levinica disappeared beneath the surface. His heart stopped as the seconds crawled by, each one more unbearable than the last. When she finally emerged again, coughing and sputtering, relief hit him so hard it was almost painful.