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“He’s not welcome in my clan, Fire Reader.” Aktor swallowed with another wince but crossed his arms, portraying an arrogant young chief, high on his own inconsequential importance. “Whatever invitation he might have had is revoked. He’s the reason Kivva is dead. He’s the reason I might always walk with a limp. He’s the reason—”
“You’re betrothed to my adoptive daughter. The reason you’ve finally been named as Tral’s heir. The reason you were marked with the Quelis leadership tattoo and the very reason you will become one of the greatest leaders our clan has ever seen.” Solin marched angrily into him and stabbed a finger in his chest. “Not because of your own goodness or pure heart, Aktor, but because of hers.”
Solin looked down at Runa and shook his head with a sigh. “The fire might’ve made your match possible. It might have bound you to one of the most powerful mortals I’ve ever seen, but it does not give you any right to be unkind.” His voice turned to stone. “I meant what I said before the ceremony, Aktor. Raise a single finger to her, and you will answer to me. Darro might not be permitted to discipline you, but I can. The fire will give me leniency to ensure you are punished and not her.” He cradled Natim close. “So don’t test me, nephew. Not tonight. Not when I’m sick to my belly for my part in this.” His arm shot outward, pointing at the silvery plume of smoke in the distance. “Go home. Do not make me ask again.”
Aktor sniffed, the shaved sides of his skull shiny while the single thick braid down his back swung as he lurched forward. “Not without my mate, I won’t.”
It happened in slow motion.
I saw him coming, descending so sluggishly.
I felt his hand cut through my shadows.
I snarled as that hand latched around Runa’s lax wrist.
I didn’t think.
Feral protectiveness snapped the leash on the darkness pulsating around me.
All it took was a simple wish.
A wish to see him fly.
To die.
A blast of blackness slammed into his chest.
His body turned into nothing more than a piece of rancid meat as my shadows backhanded halfway to the river below.
“Darro, don’t—!” Solin charged forward, dropping Natim in his rush. The little fawn righted himself and galloped toward Runa just as Aktor landed with a bone-crunching smack. He rolled down the small embankment, his arms catching on two young willow trees.
Rage fed through me, immediately becoming nauseous horror as Runa arched in my arms. She cried out. Her head tipped back, and she coughed at the cloud-wreathed moon.
A spray of blood escaped her lips, a crimson mist in the night.
Horror.
Absolute. Fucking. Horror.
No.
I didn’t mean—
“Runa—!”
“Darro....give Runa to me.” Solin appeared, arms outstretched and his face full of panic. “I’ll take her to a healer. She needs a healer. Quickly. Please...let me have her.”
I cradled her close, shaking my head as she choked on another mouthful of blood. Her skin grew cool, and her ever-present faint luminosity dulled.
I’d done that.
I’d been the one to hurt her, not Aktor.
I’d
hurt
her.
I-I couldn’t take it anymore.
All my fury.
All my grief.
It percolated and circulated, growing, growing, growing.
My skin threatened to break apart.
My heart ballooned until my ribs were the only thing keeping it from exploding.
I quaked so hard, the ground beneath me rumbled.
Shadows bled faster,
thicker,
angrier.
They hissed of death,
blood,
and endings.
And I wanted that.
I wanted it so badly my mouth watered, my body tightened, and I lost myself to the killing song.
Runa moaned in my embrace.
Reminding me of what would happen if I let go. Who I would hurt if I freed all the ferocity within me.
“Darro...let her go. You have to let her go.” Solin’s touch landed on my arm. “Please, let her go...before it’s too late.”
Before I kill her...
Spirit-slicing terror tore through me.
Pressing my forehead to hers, I begged my shadows to help. To cut the blood bind. To slaughter Aktor. To rewind time so none of this ever happened.
Please keep her safe from me.
Please don’t let me hurt her.
I never wanted to hurt her—
I couldn’t stand it.
Couldn’t survive it.
My heart fissured—
Get me away from her!
“You summon, Moon Master. We obey.” The voice that’d appeared when I’d been tied with invisible ropes and gagged by unseen power tore through my fracturing mind.
The world turned black.
Absolutely, murderously black.
Runa vanished from my arms.
I was nothing.
In nothing.
Surrounded by churning, chilling nothing.
I opened my mouth to shout.
I raised my arms to fight.
The darkness vanished as quickly as it’d smothered.
I blinked as the world returned, painting a picture of a calm, quiet night. Of pretty trees swaying and luminous insects buzzing from one moon-blooming flower to another. Frogs croaked from an endless lake that was so still and so perfect, the surface reflected the galaxy above as if there were two of them.
Two moons.
Two cosmos.
Two nights where I stood spliced between, neither living nor dead. Forsaken nor chosen.
