Kellan grunted as a spider landed on his back, its long legs wrapping around his torso. I surged forward, slicing through another as it jumped from a nearby branch, nausea climbing as the yellow sludge slapped across my face and chest.
A piercingclickcut through the air at the same moment a pained moan escaped Kellan’s lips. A surge of adrenaline pulsed through my veins as I spun, shoving my blade into another spider and turning toward Kellan.
He grappled with the creature on his back, the spider’s eight long legs slicing through his cream tunic and leaving long lines of crimson in their wake.How…
Horror roiled in my gut as I spied the long, razor-thin claws protruding from the tips of the spider’s legs. Rage thundered through me, and I screamed as an inexplicable force rose from deep within. It fueled my elven strength and precision as I leaped over an oncoming spider, running the tip of Enya’s blade through its back, before slicing it through the legs of the creature attached to Kellan.
An eerie silence stretched as I knelt next to Kellan, blood pooling through his tattered shirt. I wrapped his thick arm over my shoulder, his bleeding bicep soaking the back of my neck, and he grunted as he got to his feet.
“You’re okay,” I breathed. “You’re going to be okay.”
“I’m fine, Bonscaíh,” he rasped, straightening as we hobbled from the center of the tree.
My gut sank as I looked over our shoulders at the black shadows emerging from the deep trunk of the tree.
“We have to move?—”
A war cry erupted from the mists above, and my head snapped up in a panic.Isla?A massive boom echoed from the same direction.
“GO!” Kellan screamed and shoved me toward the single remaining bridge.
The clicking hiss of the approaching spiders grew in a threatening crescendo as they scurried over the black branches. I stumbled forward onto the bridge, looking back for just amoment. The blood drained from my face as my eyes landed on the approaching horde.Hundreds of spiders.
A rumblingcrackblasted from above, and Kellan paused. His face shot up as massive chunks of rock rained down. Hisses turned to screams as boulders crashed into the black tree.
“RUN!” Kellan demanded, the command coming out desperate and harsh as he shoved his hand against my back.
I sheathed Enya’s blade and clenched the glass container as we stumbled across the last remaining bridge.
The edge of the crater loomed feet away as another boom echoed from above. I forced my gaze to the ledge as I sprinted forward, leaping the last foot just as a chunk of rock fell from the mists above and crashed into the bridge.
Kellan jumped as the vines dropped from below his feet, his eyes wide as he reached with both arms. A pained grunt escaped his lips as his hands slapped against the stone edge, and he held firm. I gripped his arm with one hand and braced myself as he hauled himself up the stony side before plopping down.
The glass decanter shook in my other hand as we caught our breath and stared at the half-crushed tree in the center. The remaining spiders scurried around its branches in a frenzy.
“Fuck.” Kellan sighed, his head slumping against the stone. A chuckle rose up his throat. “Well done.”
My chest moved in rapid huffs as I looked at him. A wave of relief warred with hedging concern as I scanned him, an unyielding force swelling in my chest. A jagged gash cut across the side of his face, and his blood-soaked skin shown through the tatters of his shirt.
His face softened, and his lips tilted upward, stretching the scar in his lower lip as my gaze met his.
“There it is,” he murmured, something brightening the darkness of his eyes. “I see it in you.”
My brows pinched, and I opened my lips. He shook his head, stray strands of dark auburn hair floating along the sides of his face. He stood and reached a hand toward me, pulling me up with him. Our hands clasped between our chests.
“And maybe you’re not ready to acknowledge it,” he continued, his dark eyes hopping between my own as he caught his breath. “Or maybe I’m wrong, and you don’t feel the same. Maybe there was another reason you pulled on our air oath as Ganmira and Renova raked their nails across my body and rammed their spear through my chest.”
My breath hitched as the image of Kellan dying slammed into my mind. A wild sort of desperation surged forward as I remembered time itself stopping.
“Maybe you don’t know why you leaped through the arch. Maybe you regret it, but?—”
“Kellan, I?—”
“But I should be dead, Lyvia.I died. And you came for me. You found me in the Abyss.In Hell.And I knew long before that, I’d bleed for you, that I’d die for you.”
A warmth swarmed in my chest, and my mind’s eye replayed our quiet moment on top of the rocky cliff on Kayj after we’d saved the ashen.
“But why—” I began.
