Page 248 of The Dark Lord’s Guide to Honeymooning (and Other Acts of Tyranny)

“Kaz?” Her voice was hoarse, weak, but utterly her.

“You’re safe.” The relief that crashed through me was almost painful. “He’s gone. The Shadow King is—”

A cough from behind made me turn. Sebastian had managed to prop himself against the wall, but fresh blood was spreading across the stones beneath him. Too much blood. Far too much.

“Shit.” I started to rise, but Arabella’s hand caught my wrist.

“What happened to him?” She struggled to sit up, gaze sharpening as she took in Sebastian’s condition. “Why is he—”

“Amaryska.” I helped Arabella to her feet, steadying her when she swayed. “She poisoned the blade she used on him for the blood sacrifice. I was so focused on—I didn’t check for her tricks.”

Arabella stumbled over, dropping to her knees beside Sebastian. I tore open his shirtsleeve. The wound was worse than I’d thought—not just deep, but already showing signs of corruption. Black veins spider-webbed from the cut, creeping up Sebastian’s arm.

“Tell me what happened,” she said without looking up. Golden light sputtered from her palms, then flared as she pulled power through the Heirloom. Her magic poured into him, battling the spreading poison. Sebastian’s back arched, a strangled sound escaping his throat. Flowers burst from every crack in the floor—morning glories, their blue petals unfurling in defiance of the chamber’s darkness. “I remember the Shadow King wanting freedom, but after you put me in that stasis—”

“I found Amaryska at Sunspire.” The words tasted bitter. “She knew about the Shadow King for a long time. She’d been working with Auremar to weaken the prison, but for her own reasons. She wanted chaos, destruction, the unmaking of the world that had wronged her.”

Arabella’s hands stilled for just a moment before resuming their work. “And Sebastian?”

“He volunteered.” The black veins retreated slowly, grudgingly. I watched the color slowly return to Sebastian’s face as Arabella’s magic neutralized the poison. “The ritual to free the Shadow King required willing heroic blood. He didn’t even hesitate.”

“Of course he didn’t.” Something in her voice made me look closer. Not surprise—resignation. As if she’d expected nothing less from him. “He never could stand by when someone needed help.”

“He loves you.” The words escaped before I could stop them.

Arabella’s hands paused again, longer this time. “Kaz—”

“I’m not blind. Or stupid. Usually.” I crouched beside her, close enough to feel the warmth of her magic. “He sacrificed himself to save you. That’s not something you do for casual friendship.”

She finally looked at me. “That’s not—he doesn’t—”

“He does.”

She was quiet for a long moment, studying Sebastian’s unconscious face. I watched emotions flicker across her features—surprise, confusion, a touch of sadness.

“I don’t love him,” she said finally. The wound began to close, flesh knitting together under her touch. “Not like that. He’s my friend, my childhood companion, but I—” She shook her head and looked up at me, her gaze sweeping over my face and then down to the blood on my torn shirt.

“You’re alive,” Sebastian said.

Arabella and I looked down.

His eyes were open, looking at Arabella. “You’re you.”

“Thanks to you, apparently.” She sealed the cut with a final pulse of magic, then leaned back on her heels. “That was incredibly stupid, Sebastian. Noble, but stupid.”

He managed a weak smile, then noticed me watching. “The ritual worked, I take it?”

“Spectacularly.” I helped him sit up against the wall. “The Shadow King is free, Amaryska is dead—crushed by the ceiling when the chamber collapsed—and we’re all probably doomed.”

“Ah.” Sebastian closed his eyes again. “At least Arabella’s safe.”

There it was again—that note in his voice that spoke of feelings deeper than friendship. But before I could address it, Arabella’s expression shifted, the full weight of our situation crashing down on her.

“The Shadow King is free.” She said it slowly, as if testing the words. “Actually free. Not bound, not contained, just… out there.”

“Yes.”

She finally looked at me. Really looked at me, those hazel eyes seeing straight through to the guilty, desperate core of me. “And you didn’t hesitate.”