You. Can’t. Have. Him.
Its upper lip peels away from its teeth, and a violent roar blasts free of its boastful chest while the others alternate between slashing at the dome and trying to bore beneath it.
“W-what do they want?”
My brother’s small, fractured voice has me snatching my hand back, gasping as I battle the shadowed haze threatening to overtake my vision. He’s watching through wide eyes, his jagged limbs flinching at every blow—each quivered recoil an axe to my heart.
I cup the side of his face to shield him from that blood-lusting stare.
But I hold it. Threaten it.
What do they want?
Me.
You.
“Everything,” I whisper, bringing my gaze back to his. “But they can’t have you.”
Because in this nightmare, I’m bigger. Stronger.
I’m going to behishero this time—not the other way around.
He blinks at me with big eyes that lack their usual luster. “They already got me, Ser …”
The words lock my spine.
“No.I’vegot you.” Teeth chattering, I tighten my grip. “You’re here with me. S-safe.Forever.” A snarled challenge to the circling beasts.
Another onslaught strikes the dome—the strident sound cutting through me like a blade. He doesn’t flinch. Not even when a splintering crack attacks us from all angles.
A warm dampness blooms against my palm, and I look down, pulling my hand from his back. I blink away the frosty haze, trying to focus on the smear of wetness there. Like I’ve been finger painting with liquid starlight blushed with a kaleidoscope of muted colors.
It’s … it’shim.
My heart splits like a seam, inch by painful inch, and I try to breathe past the pit in my throat as I bury my face in his hair.
Chase his fading scent.
I close my eyes, but can no longer see the patchwork paintings. The colors. The half-moon smiles.
All I see is black.
My face crumbles, and I squeeze him tight while thorns attack the backs of my eyes. While the monsters continue to slash. Hack.
Roar.
“Stop!” I scream, voice cracking, heart shredding.
Please don’t take him again.
Another screech splits the air.
I look up to see a fracture scribbling across the crystal like forked lightning, and I stamp my hand against it, letting it gulp.
My body grows colder. Slower.
Another savage swipe rattles my bones, and the cracks spread like a mosaic plague.
