Bale
I couldn’t look awayfrom Wrath, but I could still see him beyond Mytaz’s shoulder. I was sure my eyes were now frozen too; that all of me was frozen, but I was painfully aware of what was happening around me.
Was I going to be trapped like this and aware of it for the rest of eternity?
A scream swelled inside me, but without the ability to draw breath, I couldn’t release it. Instead, it remained lodged in my head as it echoed endlessly around. I would tear away my skin, shred it from me, and throw it away if it meant escaping this tomb, but I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t do anything but stare at the hope and dread etching Wrath’s face. He radiated sadness as he stepped toward me and stretched out his hand. I’d never expected to see such a powerful demon look so distressed. He was Wrath, a horseman, my enemy, my lover, my Chosen, and he looked broken.
Mytaz grunted, and a golden light burned away his eyes before bursting out of his head. He opened his mouth to scream, but only more golden light emerged until he became blindingly bright, but I couldn’t close my eyes against it.
His hands rose at his sides before he exploded. A brown, mud-like substance splattered my face. I couldn’t see Wrath anymore as the thick coating blinded me. I inwardly screamed in frustration and shouted with joy at Mytaz’s demise.
Suddenly, my vision cleared, and I found myself staring into Wrath’s concerned face as he wiped Mytaz’s remains away from me. I couldn’t feel him until his fingers caressed my forehead, and I inwardly sobbed from that connection.
Was that the only place I’d ever feel his touch again?
They had to destroy me; I couldn’t remain in this semi-frozen state. I’d rather die. They had to kill me, but I had no way to communicate that to them.
That scream rebounded through my head again as a cracking started along the edges of my sanity. How had Wrath survived being trapped like he was? I recalled his comment about hibernating and understood why his mind had retreated from the hopelessness of his situation.
However, as I thought it, my body eased, and suddenly, I blinked. Free from staring straight ahead, my eyes flicked down to the gold covering me. However, when I looked at Wrath again, his mouth was parted, and excitement lit his eyes.
His palms clasped my cheeks, and the heat of them warmed my face. I tried to breathe, but no air entered my lungs. I attempted to speak, but it was impossible. Too scared to hope, I could only sit and stare at him.
“It’s fading,” he assured me. “The gold is going away.”
My mouth parted, and when I tried to breathe again, air flooded my lungs. I cried out, and tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away. I would not cry. I wouldnotcry.
Feeling returned to my fingers next; the cold of the ground seeped into their tips as they danced across the earth. When I could move enough to do so, I threw my arms around Wrath and clung to him. He was everything I shouldn’t have and the only thing I wanted.
I will not cry.
He tried to pull me closer, but the gold still encompassing my legs made it impossible. He pressed my head into his shoulder as I nuzzled closer to him. Finally, my legs broke free too.
He held me close, and in his embrace, I could almost forget the horribleness of everything that occurred since I first woke in his chamber. But that feeling of being able to forget didn’t last. Leaning back, I looked up at him to discover Mytaz’s remains now covered him too.
I tried to wipe some of it from his cheeks, but I only succeeded in smearing the sludge across his striking face. When the corner of his mouth quirked into a smile, his dimple appeared again. He knew exactly how to get to me.
“Why am I free?” I asked.
“You were never completely frozen,” he replied.
I looked at the other statues. Were theyallas aware of what was going on around them as I was? Or was the fact I never completely froze the only reason my mind still worked? Would I have died once the gold completely covered me?
“They might be aware of us,” I whispered. “I was aware. I was screaming inwardly and pleading for death, but was that because I never completely froze?”
“I don’t know.”
“We can’t leave Caim and Fiora like this. If there’s a chance they’re still aware and trapped in that gold, we have to destroy them.”
He glanced over at Caim’s frozen form as Raphael rested his hand on a wing again and righted his brother. “He might not let us.”
“He will when I explain it to him. Even if they despised each other, he would never leave Caim to suffer such a fate.”
“We’ll take care of it then.” He took my hand and helped me rise. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be a lot better once I’m free of this place and cleaner. I don’t know how you did it.”
