Page 99 of The Bonds of Indigo

He tuts, jutting his chin defiantly. “Vendra has forsaken us, and instead chose your kind to do her bidding.”

“You’re wrong!”

Static crackles through the air, sharp and violent, rattling the stones beneath my feet. Power—raw and furious—surges through me, straight from my God. I grit my teeth as the force rips through my lungs and bones.

“You know what they say about eyes of gold.” His voice drops, dripping with venom. “Annihilator of civilizations.”

My stomach turns.

I lift my gaze toward my companion. Thornwyn shifts, taking one heavy step toward the men, ready to protect me. Ready to kill if I command it.

My heart races… then slows.

Through the bond that connects us, I speak to him. “You must let me go.”

His head jerks down to me. “You have lost your mind.”

“It’s the only way. You know it to be true.”

“I will not. Vendra would not agree.”

“It doesn’t matter what she agrees to. This sacrifice will alter everything… Let me go.” I reach up and place my hand against his chest. “Let me go.”

“Amarah.”

Jerking my head back toward the three men, I shout, “Listen to me. Please, just listen! You have to end my life if you refuse to run!”

They stare at me like I’ve crawled straight out of an asylum.

“There isn’t enough time to explain. You hate me and my kind. End me here.”

“We can handle this, Witch. We won’t fall for your tricks! You’ll curse us with your dying breath!”

“No! That—you’re all fools!”

The force of her arrival crashes through the air like a shockwave, nearly driving me to my knees. I grit my teeth and refuse to bend. I will not show weakness. Not now.

“The only fool is Vendra for placing her trust in you and your people,” the mayor spits.

The man with the rifle flicks the safety off and raises the barrel, aiming down the sight right at my heart. “I do so wish I could⁠—”

A crackle of power booms in the distance, and it startles the man, causing him to tap the trigger.

The shot snaps across the space between us.

I don’t move. I don’t flinch. If death will spare them, if it will stop the slaughter, I’m willing to take it. Falling here will bring me to my family. To be back with them for eternity in the afterlife.

Pain explodes across my face as I’m yanked violently backward. A sharp sting tears through the bridge of my nose, ripping a scream from my throat. My hand flies up instinctively, cupping the blood that spills hot and fast over my lips and down to the gray stone.

“You will not die for the sins of others,” a deep voice rumbles behind me. “You will fight.”

“Why would you do that?!” I choke, half in fury, half in disbelief.

“W-What is that…?” the mayor stammers. But it isn’t what. It’s who.

Thornwyn’s vines tighten around my waist, holding me upright and shielding me from the mortals on my right… and the far more dangerous presence approaching from my left.

“Well, well, well.”