My entire existence narrowed to him. To the stupid grin on his face and his brilliant-red hands as he held his abdomen together. Intense ringing seared through my ears, and I sank beside him in wounded shock.
“What are you doing?” Veins twitching along his neck, tears brimming in his eyes, he gripped my hand. “Go get her.”
A sob caught in the back of my throat. Kost and Ozias sped toward us, sliding on their knees as they dropped beside him, everything else forgotten. Agony, hot and terrible and all-too consuming, burned me from the inside out.
Not Calem. Not my brother.
Life dwindled from his gaze, and his head sank heavily into the ground. The pocket of his jacket sparked to life, and Effie appeared in a fluster of shrieks and mint-green magic. She took one look at me—one piercing look filled with heated betrayal—before positioning herself over Calem’s wound.
The Council murmured, but none of it mattered.
All I could see were Calem and Effie. She wailed, clacking her beak to the heavens and spilling tears across his chest. Trying to save her master, she desperately poured magic from her wings.
Calem didn’t move.
Earsplitting shrieks pealed from her small body, and again she showered him in magic and tears.
He stayed still. Silent. Dead.
“Calem, quit kidding around.” Ozias spoke around tears, the soft words breaking my heart.
“Get up. Please, get up.” Kost. Soft. Pleading.
Nothing happened. Effie never stopped. And Calem never opened his eyes.
My brother was gone.
Thirty-four
Leena
Effie’s agonizing wail shattered Wynn’s hold. The veil that had pulled tight across my eyes dissipated, leaving before me a devastating and bloody scene of death. Each beat of Effie’s wings was an unyielding tornado of anguish—a mother helplessly begging for her child’s life.
Regaining control of my limbs, I sprinted toward my family.
My family.For that is what they’d become. They were here for me. To save me. And I’d led them to this.
“Leena!” Wynn yelled at my back. He’d never again own me. Never again touch me.
As I slid to the ground to cradle Calem’s head in my lap, Noc disappeared, trading sunlight for shadows. I knew exactly where he was going as all eyes fixed on us.
Running my fingers through Calem’s knotted hair, my chest shuddered. My beast had done this. Onyx lingered on the fringe of my vision, his worried gaze shifting between Calem and me. He hadn’t known. How could he?
I did this.
Effie cried, laying tired wings across the expanse of Calem’s wound before dropping her head to his chest. Tears streamed from my eyes.
This is my fault.
Calem. Shameless flirt Calem. Tactless Calem. Caring Calem.
“Those kids need you,” I whispered, pressing my lips to his forehead. “You can’t leave them behind. Not yet.”
Oz cradled his head in his hands and Kost simply stared, face bone-white and sweat-slicked. They would blame me. For the rest of my life, I would be a source of pain and suffering. They’d endure me for Noc, but they’d never forgive me.
I wasn’t sure I’d forgive myself.
Wynn took a few steps toward us. “Leena. Get back here.”
