AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You couldn’t just fucking die!” he hissed, his light skin turning a dark shade of red. “Well, good thing the trial isn’t completed.” He sneered as he grabbed another dagger. Before he could do anything, I pulled the one from my stomach and threw it at him. It embedded itself into his forearm, making his other dagger fall to the ground. It only pissed him off more.
I fell to my knees as the effects of losing too much blood took over. My eyes closed waiting for the final blow to kill me, but it never came. When I opened my eyes, Haden had just driven a blade through Riven’s heart. I tried to rasp out a thank you, but I fell face first towards the ground. Something caught me before I hit it. My eyes fluttered open when I heard him yell.
“Thea!” Cassius’ voice boomed so loudly in the colosseum that the ground shook. It was dead silent. Had everyone left? Cassius slid to his knees next to me as his shadows slowly lowered my head to his lap.
“Thea?” He sounded panicked and I should have felt it too, but I didn’t feel anything at all. “Open your fucking eyes!” he demanded.
I cracked my eyes open slightly.
“It’s alright,” I murmured.
“Heal yourself, damn it."
“Riven took it.” He looked at Riven’s dead body and his shadow tendrils moved quickly to retrieve my amulet. It was in my hand a moment later, not that I needed it to use her magic. It already lived inside of me, but it didn’t matter because there was nothing for me to use to fuel it.
“Heal yourself, Thea. Come on, I’m not losing you.” His voice sounded so broken.
My body was so weak that I had nothing left to give. I couldn’t even feel my fire magic. My head shook no as a slow agonizing darkness crept in.
“I’m dying,” I whispered as silent tears trailed down my cheeks. “I can feel it coming.”
“No." Cassius declared. "How do you use this healing amulet?” He grabbed my face and lifted my head so I could gaze at him. I turned my head so he could see my elite magic mark behind my ear.
“Any elite magic can power it?” he asked. My head wouldn't move so I could answer him, but he was lifting me up and running.
“Move!” he yelled.
Then, everything went dark.
Chapter 16
Dying was weird. I was suspended in black nothingness, and I felt peace for maybe the first time in my life.
It was nice, until it wasn’t.
A small faint light in front of me caught my eye. My body floated toward it slowly. When I got to it, it was a Wisp with blue and purple flames. Reaching out, I touched her, causing orbs of light to explode into millions of pieces.
Brightness filled the darkness I was suspended in. Flashes of fae I didn’t recognize and some that I did appear in front of me. A moment later, the images slowed down and I could make out more of the faces. I saw Sybil, Kai, and Kaz, but they weren’t in Exile. They were by a stunning gray castle smiling at me.
Then it flashed to Cassius. He walked into a small room dressed in his armor. His face was hard and cold until he turned and locked eyes with me. A bright smile appeared on his face, but then he disappeared.
The crest I saw on the wooden door appeared in front of me in a bright flash of light. Then I watched myself standing there as if looking in a mirror. Only my reflection was wearing a blue guardsman uniform with that mysterious crest on it.
Had I been a guardsman? What was this? Some sort of life flashing before my eyes before everything goes dark and I die? Only these “memories” I didn’t recognize. I had never seen Cassius in his armor before. Sybil and the twins all said they didn’t know who I was, so why did I have memories of seeing them somewhere not in Exile?
The image shifted to a man and woman standing with two children. I recognized their hair and clothing from my dreams. They were the void-faced fae I had dreamt about.
Only now could I see their faces clearly. The man was tall, a bit heavier set, with graying dark hair and beard. His eyes were bright green like mine. The woman at his side was very short with long blonde hair. Her face was pretty with her dark eyes, but she looked miserable.
The kids looked like them. Both of them were girls, with blonde hair and dark eyes like the woman, but were tall like the man. Their clothing looked expensive, so I guessed they were nobility or royalty. They each wore the mysterious crest on the chest of their clothing. I took a step forward but stopped when I saw another version of myself standing off to the side, watching them with hurt in my eyes.
They all turned away from me and ignored me as they left the room.
My mind flashed to Cassius again. We were both in a field wearing armor. We had our weapons drawn and were both bloodied. As soon as I took off my armor helmet, he dropped his sword and stared at me.
Then all the images were gone, and darkness obscured my sight again.
“Thea?” Turning, I saw Cassius standing in the darkness.
