No, not away. Toward Aeric.
Aeric, who still hadn’t moved.
Aeric, whose blood had seeped into the snow around him. Rushing out of his body too quickly.
The Watchman pulled out a dagger from its sheath at his belt as he stalked toward him, his intentions clear, and it sparked something within her. If she didn’t do something now, he’d kill Aeric.
Anelize got to her feet, supporting herself with her good hand, and stumbled after the Watchman. She didn’t have time to close her eyes and will her gift to come to her, just as she didn’t have time to think about anything other than stopping that dagger from sinking into Aeric’s chest and ending his life.
Her body screamed in protest as she ran as fast as she could toward them, putting all of her strength into her legs as the Watchman stood before Aeric, and raised his dagger high enough that the steel shined bright beneath the pale light of day.
Releasing a desperate cry, Anelize shoved the Watchmanaside with all her might. Long enough to stun him and throw herself atop Aeric’s still body.
She snarled as she sent him a vicious glare. “Stay away from him.”
The Watchman staggered but quickly righted himself, fury shining in his beady eyes as he cursed her before resuming his attack, raising his dagger once more. “Fine. I’ll kill you both myself and save the trouble of hauling you to the king.”
He raised his hand high and brought the dagger down toward her this time.
Anelize raised her hand, shutting her eyes as she waited for the pain. The life draining from her the moment the tip of his dagger met its way home.
Nothing happened, save for a desperate choking sound.
Anelize opened her eyes and looked up to find that the Watchman was clutching at his neck, his face growing red. Then she realized he couldn’t breathe. Not as her power stalled his lungs, the oxygen that could have gone to his head to keep him alive. She felt it through the blood running through his body. The pulse and stuttering of his heart, the roaring in his veins. The Watchman’s eyes bulged out as he stared at her, the fear—the same fear she had seen on countless people today—was reflected in his gaze. Silently begging for mercy.
And where was the mercy shown to her people? For Aeric, who laid behind her dying in the snow. When had any of them been showed kindness or granted peace in all the twenty years the Vedrans had slowly been hunted down?
It didn’t matter how much the man before her begged for his life; he would go back to killing Vedrans again. Revert to blaming them for the poison he’d been fed by the king andcountless others who thought just like him. There would be no mercy.
Not when the Watchman’s eyes narrowed, and through halting breaths he rasped, “Monster. I will kill…every last one of…you.”
It was in hearing those words, the unyielding hatred that she would never understand, that Anelize rose to her feet and sent the Watchman staggering back two paces as she followed after him. Her hand turned slowly, shifting the current of blood in his veins up until blood pooled within the whites of his eyes, red tears running down his face. His hands grasped toward the invisible hands choking the life out of him.
“You’re right. Only I am a monster made, not born.” Anelize slowly closed her hand into a fist, hearing the Watchman’s heart stop beating. The rushing blood finally slowing.
She knew the exact moment the Watchman’s soul left his body as he released one final gasp. Then his arms went limp at his sides as he swayed, and then he fell backward like a stone sinking in water. His eyes open and bloodied as they stared up at the sky above him.
Anelize released a shaky breath as the power roiling inside her finally ceased, retreating back into its cavern like a vicious beast of shadow waiting to hunt its next prey. She had done it. Taken a life.
Before she could allow herself to truly comprehend what she had just done, Anelize breathed out, “Aeric…”
Spinning around, she ran back to him, dropping to her knees as she carefully, oh so carefully, assessed the damage the arrow had done to him.
“Aeric?” From how he laid on his chest, it wasdifficult to see if he was breathing beneath the cloak and leathers. There was so much blood…
Placing her hands upon his back, she leaned down and placed her ear against him, trying to listen. Waiting for that familiar heartbeat. There was nothing. Nothing at all.
Aeric was dead.
“No, no, you’re not—” Anelize’s words choked on a whimper as she sat back up, refusing to admit what she knew was true. What logic and years of training as a healer had taught her about death and it’s unexpected, cruel threads intertwined with fate.
Anelize had never believed in fate or saints, and she certainly had never dared to dream about anything in her life. Thinking herself undeserving of any of those things, that they could ever be meant for her.
But this…she refused to accept this. Tolosehim.
Closing her eyes, she cast out her power one more time and searched for him in the dark. For that flickering glimpse of his life still tethered to his body. It felt endless as she searched through the ebony realm within both. Sweat trickled down her back and pain began to take root behind her eyes, but she didn’t care. Didn’t want to stop until she found him.
“Stay with me. Come back,” she called into the darkness, her voice echoing in the vastness laid out before her. A world she had yet to discover and would likely never get the chance to do so again. “Aeric.Come back.”
