Each beat of his wings echoed around them.
He didn’t stop until they arrived at the hidden waterfall.
Graves let her go, and she stumbled as her feet touched the smooth stone.
"Graves," Luella sobbed, undone. "What do we do? I cannot?—"
He hushed her, stepping in front of her and taking her face between his hands. He held her fiercely. The moon drifted through the thick rain-filled clouds overhead, only sparingly. White moonlight fell over the stone and illuminated his face. There was blood splattered on his cheeks.
"Stay here," he ordered, words rasping over her raw skin.
"Wait?" she implored. "You’re leaving me h-here? What about—the Tenebrae—he’s here for me." Her words were gasping and out of order. "Conquered Princess," she wheezed raggedly. "He’s here. I heard him. Please?—"
Graves’s thumbs soothed over her cheeks. His touch was so light, as if afraid to graze the burning, angry scrapes on her skin. He hushed her once more. "We’re out of options, sweetheart." He searched her eyes. She tried to memorize the deep blue shade. One of his hands released her, and something pressed into her palm. Her fingers curled around it, unbidden.
Luella looked down to find a dagger in her hand—one of his.
"You do whatever you have to do. Promise me," Graves begged. "Promise me."
The hilt of the dagger was warm in her hands. A tiny droplet of blood fell from the side of the blade.
"I-I promise," she managed to say.
Everything was happening too fast. She couldn’t keep up.
He nodded as if her paltry words were enough. They would have to be. They had no time for anything else.
He crushed her to him. She whimpered as his palms dragged over her bruised body. She was glad for the pain. An embrace like this should never feel good. It should hurt. It should burn. Because he had imprinted himself upon her.
His stubble scratched her brow as he kissed her temple.
Graves pulled away, releasing a pained sound as his hands left her. Like leaving her was the last thing he ever wished to do. He studied her intently, rage sparking inside the thread that connected them as he took in her scraped and bruised skin. Even swallowing hurt—she felt the memory of the shadow’s touch on her neck. She was sure she was already bruising.
Even from a distance, she felt the others, but slightly less animated compared to the feel of Graves before her. She hadn’t realized until this moment, but distance dampened theirbond. It made sense, considering prolonged distance from them caused her to feel sick. The realization was short-lived.
"Don’t die," Luella begged him. She reached for him, hands hovering between them. "I—please," she settled on, "don’t die. Don’t get hurt."
He stood there, wings proudly unfurled. In this moment, she felt nothing short of beaten and broken. She wanted to curl up into him and let his fierceness take away her pain.
"I won’t," Graves swore.
Those two words lingered as he took to the skies.
She watched him fly away until she could no longer see him. Her hand ached from the force with which she gripped the dagger.
Luella looked down at it. Blood dripped slowly from the tip. Alone, her breath was too loud, heart too chaotic.
"They’ll be okay. They’ll be okay. He’s coming back for me," Luella whispered—again and again.
The stone was cold at her back, chilling her wings. The warmth of the Fallen Isles was gone; the cold had seeped into her bones, slow and merciless.
The trickle of the waterfall fell before her. She huddled behind it in a shallow dip of stone, using it for cover. Her knees were pulled to her chest, knuckles white as she gripped the hilt of the dagger. She held it out, pointed toward the dark. The sharp blade trembled in her hands.
"He said he wouldn’t die. They won’t d-die." She gave a low, quiet sob. Pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle it.
The darkness on the other side of the waterfall was so pressing she felt like she’d been thrust into that nightmarishdream—where the water had pooled at her ankles and darkness had wrapped around her on all sides. She kept expecting that awful, ear-shattering sound to return—but it never came.
The only sound she heard was her ragged breath.
