Page 309 of The Edge of Darkness

“Thank you,” he whispered, so quietly now that I barely caught it. “Thank you . . . for giving me . . . a purpose.”

I tried to gather my words, but I couldn’t.

Don’t go, I wanted to say. Please, please, don’t go . . .

With one final exhale, his gray eyes went distant, and his mighty wings sank to the dirt.

Silence fell between us, so hollow and final that I couldn’t bear it.

My heart cracked.

A scream flayed my throat, and a shock wave of power burst forth from me in all directions, pulsing out over the plains, carrying my pain and anguish with it.

My Remic was gone.

I gathered him up in my arms as much as I could, digging my chin into his hair as I tucked his face into my neck, and waited. I didn’t know what I waited for. Maybe I expected to blink and he would open his eyes, and his wings would rustle back to life. Perhaps I thought that I would wake up and realize this had all just been a bad dream.

But none of that happened.

In my grief, a softer light emitted from my skin and fell over him, over that beautiful face that stared blankly to the open sky.

I wanted his haunted eyes to find mine again. I would have given anything to see that one-sided grin, just one more time.

My tears dripped onto his chin, and I smeared them through the dirt along his jaw as I traced his face, committing it to memory. There was no longer a pinch to his brow. No tension in his expression. He finally looked like he was at peace.

He had found and fulfilled his purpose.

Frantic voices were yelling for me, growing closer, but they were drowned out by my heavy sobs.

The next thing I knew, Roirdan and Aremis were there in a rush of armor and swords. Upon seeing Remic lying limp in my arms, they immediately moved to lift him up, but I cried out in denial.

“No! Don’t!”

Roirdan hesitated, but Aremis put a strong hand on my shoulder. “Auren, please, let us help. We need to get you both out of the open.”

I whipped my head up to him, ready to scream at him to leave me alone, but when I saw that the right side of his face was covered in blood from a wound he’d sustained across his cheek, and both he and Roirdan were gasping for breath, I stopped myself. I blinked away my tears until everything came into focus, and realized that he was right. We may have been a good distance away from the fight, but we were sitting targets out here.

Finally, I let go and released Remic’s body to them. “Be careful,” I ordered. “Please.”

They were silent, but nodded and lifted Remic as one.

I got to my feet and froze at what I saw.

Seven of the largest arrows I’d ever seen protruded from Remic’s back. They had pinned his sheath to his spine and trapped the innermost portions of his wings in place. All were directly aimed at this heart. And all had struck true.

A strangled sound broke from my throat as I stepped up to his body and gently folded his damaged wings, smoothing and tucking them in tightly so that Roirdan could hoist him over his shoulder.

When I drew back, a soft, gray feather clung to my armor. I carefully lifted it off and cradled it in the palm of my hand. It was a treasure greater than the most prized jewels in all the realms.

A piece of him left for me.

Rage. Rage filled my soul and burned my lungs as I clutched onto Remic’s feather. It seemed so small, so fragile, yet it symbolized all the strength and resilience in the world. I reached into my pocket in space and placed it safely amid the other items I held under careful protection.

At my feet, Remic’s sword still lay where he’d left it in the dirt. I bent down, picked it up, and held it close, praying that if I lingered long enough, I would hear his voice behind me, asking me for it.

But I knew better.

I slid the weapon into my empty sheath, finding that it fit like the two were made for each other. The implication threatened to tear me apart again. I’d lost my sword, and his had taken its place.