“Thank you, Lex.”
My mouth was a tight line as I jerkily nodded once.
I didn’t want to die, far from it. But I also didn’t want to cause her more pain.
More than either of those, though, I didn’t want there to be an Elyria where Faylinn didn’t exist. She was kind and strong, intelligent and justgood. And I believed her when she said she wouldn’t survive if I died.
I had little problem dying tomorrow if it would cause less strife for those I loved.
Dying was easy. Living . . . living was hard.
“Turn around, Lex. I’m going to place the rune in an inconspicuous spot. I don’t want them to see it tomorrow.” I obliged, pressing my bare back against the cool metal. I heard rustling from Faylinn’s cell, and I turned my head slightly to see what she was doing.
Somehow, Faylinn had worked one of the nails loose from the cell wall. I chuffed a laugh.
Resourceful minx.
I felt her presence warm my back as her hand came to rest against my left shoulder blade.
“This is going to hurt. But you need to stay quiet, okay?” she breathed against my neck.
I nodded in response.
“Okay,” she said more to herself than to me.
She took a deep breath before exhaling forcefully and pushing the nail into the skin of my neck, just under my hair.
I hissed in pain as the nail scratched against my bone.
“I’m sorry, Lex, I’m sorry. But it’s the only place I can put it. And it needs to bleed in order to work.”
“It’s fine,” I gritted through my teeth, thinking about anything other than what was happening behind my head.
Faylinn muttered words I couldn’t hear as she drew into my skin, and I could feel my blood—hot and sticky—running between my shoulder blades.
Abruptly, the nail came out of my skin, and I heard Faylinn’s hiss of pain as she cut herself open. I squeezed my eyes shut, desperately trying not to think about her hurting herself for me.
Soon, I felt the warmth of her fingertip as she traced the rune on my neck, a tingling sensation rising in my fingers and toes. It wasn’t uncomfortable, necessarily, just foreign. It moved quickly as Faylinn traced, traversing up my legs and arms, until I felt it everywhere. As quickly as she began, she pulled her finger away, and I felt an explosion of warmth from somewhere within my gut.
I grunted as the sensation became all-encompassing, trying desperately to keep quiet. To keep from alerting the men in black robes.
Before I blacked out from the feeling, I heard Faylinn’s muffled cry as she fell away from the bars of the cage.
“Come, Child. Come with me.”A deep, unfamiliar voice reverberated through my mind, forcing me to consciousness.
“Who are you?” That voice I recognized—Faylinn. But she was weak.
“Fate,” the voice said with a hint of amusement.
Fate? I’m hallucinating.
I pulled my eyes open with a herculean effort, trying not to move and alert Fate—or whoever the man was—that I was awake. I needed eyes on Faylinn. I needed to protect her.
The room was bathed in darkness, a soft glow from the orb nearest the door the only light by which to see. My vision was clouded—like I was looking through fog, and I squinted to see better.
“I know you’re awake, boy,” the voice chuckled, and I abandoned all pretenses of sleeping. “If I didn’t want you awake, you wouldn’t be.”
I carefully pushed myself to a seated position, my eyes never leaving Faylinn’s prone form clutched in the man’s arms.
