AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With an ache of regret pressing heavily on my lungs, making it hard to breathe, I tapped Grace’s arm, hating to distract her but needing to sign to her that I was going so she wouldn’t panic.
I waited a moment.
Her eyes didn’t open.
A shot rang out overhead. More shouting. Grace’s eyes didn’t open.
I went to reach for her again, to shake her arm with a little more urgency, but a strange, flickering sensation in my chest froze me in place. An unnatural,uncomfortablefeeling where my own bond with Grace sat.
There was a pained shout of agony from directly above me that I knew without a doubt came from Riot.
And then Grace collapsed over Bullet’s body with a quiet thud.
Chapter 13
“AmazingGrace?”Bulletasked.“Oh no. Oh no, no, no, you are definitely not supposed to be here.”
Where washere?
Somehow, seeing a light sky again was jarring, even though it couldn’t have been more than hours since Nyx blocked out the sun. The field around us was a lush green, a wide, rushing river not too far away, and the sky above a dusky purple streaked with gold. What was this place? The underworld? That didn’t seem right—I’d seen the underworld, and it didn’t look like this.
But therewererivers in the underworld. Rivers thatledto the underworld…
Surely, such a place would be busy, but I couldn’t see anyone else around.
I couldn’t see Bullet.
Where was Bullet?
“You’re not meant to be here either.” My voice sounded strange and hollow, and when I went to reach for Bullet, I realized I had no body. Whatever this place was, it was nothing like the usual dreamscape we visited. “I’ve come to take you back.”
“Are you… are you dying?” Bullet asked, horrified. “It shouldn’t be possible for you to be on the banks of the Styx, otherwise. No, no, this can’t be happening. You’re not meant to die, Grace—”
“I’m not dying.” I paused. “Well, I don’t think I’m dying. I followed the bond here to you, and I have no idea how it works or why it’s possible, but I’m going to use it to drag you back with me.” I said the words with more certainty than I felt. I’d neverheardof anyone using the bond this way, but then again, we were an agathos and daimon pairing. There was nothing normal about us.
“This shouldn’t be possible,” Bullet muttered. “None of this was meant to happen. I thought I’d just go visit Nyx, to plead with her to stop the darkness. I didn’t think it was going to be too much for me. I should have been able to handle it.”
He’d tried to visit Nyx? That was what had caused all of this? The guilt threatened to swallow me whole. He’d already told us he would, and I hadn’t protested. I should have told him not to, that we could have found another way.
Bullet had looked exhausted and frail for days. He’d pushed himself beyond his limits, and I’dlet this happen.How could I have let this happen?
I’d been in denial. Hoping for the best, hoping there was another way, that the Oneiroi curse was something that affectedotherOneiroi, notmyOneiroi.
“This isn’t possible. I must be imagining you. I’m in the denial stage.” The distress in Bullet’s voice had me trying to reach for him again before remembering there was nothing to reachwith.
“I wish I could see you, but at least I can hear you,” I whispered.
I could imagine the crease between his brows as he puzzled something over, the way he’d shove his hand back through his blonde hair, or drum the rhythm of some broadway song on his thigh while he thought.
I would see him again, just as soon as we got out of here.
Somehow, without hands, I gripped the bond that had brought me here tightly, feeling the essence of Bullet more acutely than I ever had. For a favored son of the Goddess of Night, he felt surprisingly bright and vibrant, full of love and music and laughter, of excitement for new possibilities, and a steady hum of fear that he wouldn’t live up to expectations.
“I love you so much,” I sighed, heady with the emotion of being surrounded by him. “You’ve always been my guiding light.”
Had I always known that? I wasn’t sure. Riot had always felt like home and safety. Wild was a pillar of strength and protection. Dare was still to be determined, but he definitely brought a side of me that I hadn’t experienced before. He made me feel confident,sexyeven.
Bullet had always been my teacher, but it was more than that I realized now. He was my guide, my compass, my North Star. And now I wanted to be that for him.
