Sean’s entire world slowed.
The wet, sickening noise his father choked out as the Indy yanked the blade from his body would haunt Sean’s nightmares. Kywyn dropped to his knees, and the Indy rushed Sean.
Powered by adrenaline and vengeance, Sean gripped his knife. The Indy sprang, uncoordinated, and Sean ducked the blow. In a move he’d practiced hundreds of times with Anna, Sean snatched the Indy’s wrist and twisted it behind his back. Immobilized, the Indy fought for freedom, but Sean yanked hard, slamming the man to the floor.
The Indy rolled, but Sean was on top of him in moments. He crushed his blade to the Indy’s throat.
Purplish, haunted eyes widened as Sean sliced through the delicate, vital tissue. A blast of Luster dragged from Sean’s magical core and sheared the Indy in two. The human gasped, clutching his throat.
Leaving him behind, Sean stumbled toward his father. Bowenn and the others had the last of the Indies in hand.
“Sean,” his father gasped.
“Let me get Bel,” Sean said, pushing away.
“Wait.” Kywyn reached for his hand. “The baby. You can’t.”
Sean glanced up to watch Bowenn face a single remaining Indy, who turned and ran. Trystian gave chase.
“It’s fine. It’s safe now. Find Isobel!” Sean shouted at Kiana.
Her blue eyes widened as she spied Kywyn on the floor, and she took off to where Sean had left David wounded.
Kywyn lifted a weak hand and set it against Sean’s cheek. “I…l-love you.”
Sean gripped his hand. “No. Don’t. Isobel will be here?—”
“I’m…sorry. For everything.”
His heart clenched, like it was trying to shut its eyes against this. “No, Dad. Stop.”
“You”—Kywyn coughed, staining his lips red—“are…the Light, Sean. Never forget.”
Sean took his father’s face in hand. His father, who he hadn’t known long enough to lose. His father, who was the only remaining blood he had left.
“Just hold on,” he whispered.
But David must have taken Isobel somewhere well-hidden because Kiana didn’t return.
“Sean…listen to me.” Kywyn took Sean’s hand, but his grip was weak. His breath rattled with each inhale. “Take…care of…your daughter.”
“I will. Of course I will. Just save your energy, okay? Isobel?—”
Kywyn gazed into Sean’s eyes, his face lined with pain, and gasped a wet breath.
It occurred to Sean then, in the distant reaches of his awareness, that death was uncontrollable, that even when a girl existed to kiss away the end of life, it could still come. He remembered his mother’s blood spinning down the bathtub drain, and a chill spread from his heart outward.
This man, his father, had become a foundation to stand on, his love boundless and unconditional. He couldn’t die. He just…couldn’t.
“Please don’t go,” he whispered. “Ijustgot you. You can’t go.”
Something hot splashed down his cheek, but Sean ignored it.
Kywyn blinked heavily. “You…are strong,” he slurred. “Take the crown. Be the Light.”
“I’m not the man they think I am,” he said again, his voice scraping against ragged valleys of grief he didn’t want to feel.
“You are not bound by fate,” his father rasped, his grip tightening on Sean’s. “And you are not alone. Protect what matters. Do not bowto something because they told you it was right. Love fiercely, and when your instincts speak to you, listen to them.”
