Arkyn lifts the toothy crown, sets it atop his head, and spins.
Breath strikes the back of my throat at the full sight of his melted face. Looking like some thin, gnarled version of Pah.
“She will learn to tolerate me in your absence.” His face twitches as I take him in, like he’s judging every sweep of my eyes. “But first, she must be properly broken, like any loyal beast.”
I snarl. Thrash.
Don’t see the thin pocket blade in his hand until it’s slitting across my chest, drawing a shallow wound that yawns with every flexed jerk.
By the feasting glee in his eyes as he watches my skin open, by the shuddered pull of his breath as he draws another slice, he believes I’m suffering in the wake of his blade—oblivious to how numb I am.
Physically.
How fucking hopeless it is for him to think any amount of pain can deter from the cystic wound in my heart. From the knowledge that Raeve is in a fighting pit, prey to a monster who just flayed her past wide open, then stuffed its corpse down her throat for his own sadistic pleasure. From the knowledge that my daughter is currently in a cell nearby, beaten up, perhaps wrestling to stay alive.
Kyzari should be in my arms. I should be crushing her so close she forgets the pain, making her feel safe.
Loved.
“I would’ve enjoyed ending you, brother … but I’ve grown attached to the itch at the tips of my fingers.” Arkyn lifts the blade and steps back, examines his handiwork, then sets it against my sternum and starts another grueling slice. “Parting with my bloodlust simply for the satisfaction of stealing your final breath seems wasteful. Besides, I’d rather watchherdo it.”
My gaze snaps up, pulse roaring.
“Fire Lark!”
“Fire Lark!”
“Fire Lark!”
“Given you believed her little note all those phases ago—let her flutter off with your offspring in her womb—she deserves the right to end the male who failed her when she needed you most.” A sadistic smile pulls the corners of Arkyn’s mangled mouth, gone in a blink. “But first, a parting gift. So that every breath you pull until your last, you think ofme.”
He pushes the small blade between my ribs, angled toward the bottom lobe of my right lung. Despite the sharp stab of pain, my muffled roar is all forher—because he’s right.
I failed Elluin. Failed Kyzari.
Just like I’m failing Raeve.
She’s going to be forced to kill me, and I know she’ll never recover. This will be the end of us both, one way or another.
Arkyn twists the thin blade, like having a finger between my ribs, prying them farther apart. “With your death, I prove myself stronger than you, even if Pah was too blind to see it.That, I will feast on for the rest of my daes.”
He rips out the blade.
I gasp, too shallow. Not nearly enough air to keep my head from spinning, my next breath sharp, coupled with an aching cough that tastes like metal and oozes blood from the fresh stab wound.
A sure sign he punctured my lung.
My vision splits as I look past the monster intent on destroying my family. Hone my focus on Raeve, barely visible through the swirl of smoke.
I glimpse her eyes—open. Looking through the grate at me, black glimmering with flecks of light just visible from this distance. Confirmation that she’s given herself to Slátra.
Or perhaps Slátra took her by force.Perhaps she’s awareof what’s been ordered of Raeve and has taken the task of ending me. Protecting Raeve, as she always has.
As I hope she always will.
“Fire Lark!”
“Fire Lark!”
