For the person who held the other half of my soul.
He couldn’t be dead.
No—I wouldn’t believe it. I refused to believe it. I scanned the field of broken bodies, hoping he wasn’t one of them.
I had finally gotten him, I couldn’t lose him.
My heart couldn’t take it.
I had prepared to die by his side in battle—I knew there was a possibility we might go together—but just him—I wasn’t ready for that.
I never would be.
“Lennox.” I turned toward the sound of my sister’s voice.
“Kara,” I all but sobbed. Her face was caked with dirt and blood, her leathers stained with the same, but otherwise, she appeared unharmed.
“What happened?” Her eyes went wide as she assessed me.
“Adreona.” I put my hand tomy mouth—I couldn’t even say it. “Keziq—she did the spell.”
Kara’s shoulders caved in, her face crumpled.
“I have to find him, he has to be okay.”
She swallowed thickly. “Last I saw him, he was this way—he went looking for Luce. I was going to follow after him, but I got caught up helping fallen soldiers.” She led the way through the bodies, me at her side as we stepped over corpses.
I had no idea when the fighting had stopped—when both sides had retreated. But no living soldiers remained on the battlefield.
If Kara had helped the wounded they were no longer here.
Or they were a vampire, the life sucked from them now with Keziq’s spell complete.
We continued through the abandoned battlement—my eyes scanning every body in my periphery.
My magic pressed against my skin as emotions swelled in my chest.
I had to find him.
My legs wobbled when I spotted him. His dark hair was plastered to his face. A large cut crossed his cheek. His sword lay discarded at his side. His eyes were closed as he lay on the muddy ground.
I ran to him, falling to my knees at his side, my head falling to his chest as I threw my body over his. My body convulsed—everything felt numb.
Kara was calling my name, but I couldn’t hear it.
Luka was?—
“Lennox.” I jolted as a hand flexed on my back.
“Luka?” I sat up, my eyes scanning Luka’s body—finding his eyes were no longer closed, but those blue pools I loved so much stared back at me.
He let his head fall back to the ground, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Fuck. That soldiergot me good, smashed his head against mine like a fucking idiot. How long have I been out?” I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I sobbed, deep and heavy—my chest convulsing.
Alive, by some string of fate, he was still alive.
Luka sat up, his brows pinching with concern. “Lennox, what’s wrong?” He pulled me into his lap as I continued to cry—the tears unstoppable.
“I thought you were dead!” I finally managed to get out.
