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I arched a brow, thinking about what Azai had said. “Couldn’t she return as a mortal? Through the veil?”
“Salenia’s death means the veil would be destroyed, too. Their souls could only pass one way, and that’s into the afterlife.” Her yellow eyes narrowed, the light from the moon reflecting off the water as we reached the edge. “I’ve made peace with it. It’s better she be there than suffering.”
A twinge of pity coiled around my heart, but I knew better than to trust the words of strangers.
The past year had shown me that. Instead of letting my emotions rule my head, I stepped back, the pebbles smooth under my feet as I looked out over the lake. “Then,” I said, a horrible feeling knotting in my stomach, “wouldn’t it benefit you more to help Salenia?” I asked, knowing I was putting a very dangerous idea in her head, but judging by the way she spoke, she didn’t seem stupid to me. She would have already thought about it. “I mean, instead of me destroying the underworld, where you wouldn’t be able to see your love again, Salenia could help return her here, as a mortal. I suppose handing me over to her would be leverage enough.”
Erianna’s lips fell open, and Avyanna turned to stare at me. Her usually gentle expression contorted, and I realized I’d hit the nail on the head.
Before I could react, Avyanna raised her hands in the air, and blasted Erianna back with a spell. I reached for my power, but while I could feel the thrum of magic, I couldn’t access it. “What did you do?”
“Don’t bother fighting,” she explained too calmly for my liking considering the situation. “Salvor and his men have Sebastian and Zach, and Anna will be killed if you try anything.”
Goosebumps covered my skin, and it had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures. We should have all stayed together. I glanced in Erianna’s direction, my stomach knotting as I noticed she was out cold. Seeing a warrior fallen by such a minor spell made my heart race.
Avyanna was powerful. I could feel it from here. I tried to touch my magic again, but it faded, just like when I was captured by the aniccipere. I clamped my eyes shut, doing my best to find just enough to… what? Salvor had my husband. “What did you do to me?” I asked, feeling light on my feet as a wave of dizziness forced me to stumble.
“We spiked the ingredients for the soup with some herbs, and then the blood. Your husband should be unconscious any moment now, along with the rest of your friends.”
Her voice sounded as if it was underwater, the world around me spinning. I fell to my knees, gasping for air. “Don’t do this. Salenia, she…” I coughed, spluttering blood all over the stones. She’d poisoned me, then Anna. I tried to stand. Anna was mortal. If she was poisoned, then she wouldn’t heal from it like me…No.
Avyanna stepped into my field of vision as I looked up, the corners of my eyes darkening as the world slowly fell into darkness. I reached for the soulmate bond, but it was silent. “Hush, sweet child,” she said, then crouched at my side. “She’s not going to kill youyet.”
Salvor’s voice boomed from somewhere behind me.Erianna.She was in danger. Pulling every ounce of my strength, I reached out to Avyanna, who leaned closer, a mix of pity and indifference on her face. “This is nothing personal,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“I have to tell you…” I forced out the whisper, the air thickening in my lungs. “Something.”
She leaned closer, and with all the energy I had, I reached my hand up, and grabbed her braid, tugging her to the ground. The lock fell out of my weakening grip, and my stare hardened. “I’m going to kill you,” I spluttered, and then passed out.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Sebastian
Panickedpleasfilledmyears as I opened my eyes to the ceiling of the cabin. The bond was weakened again, and I jumped to my feet. Zach slumped over Anna’s body, his forehead resting against her chest as she lay in the middle of the seating area. He mumbled incessantly, and I noticed a small clay bowl filled with crushed herbs next to them. The paste coated Anna’s lips.
I ran cold as I looked at her, my heart wrenching from the absence of her warm smile. Her chest rose, then fell again.
She was alive.
I glanced at the open door, then ran out of it, my wings exploding outward as I fell into the early morning light. “Olivia!” I screamed, my voice echoing around the empty lake. “Olivia.”
The screams of her name were lost in the abyss of scenery around us. This wasn’t happening again. It couldn’t be.
I pressed my palms against the sides of my head and let out a primal scream, my throat aching as I dropped to my knees. A murder of crows took flight from a nearby tree, and I screamed again, this time louder, anything to let out the rage pulsing inside of me.
Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I sucked in gasps of air between quaking sobs. I looked around desperately for any movement amongst the trees, but there was nothing. Desperation clawed inside of me as the seconds ticked by. I flew back to the cabin, my wings barely tucked behind my back, when I reentered. I sped past Zach, still over Anna’s body, and went from room to room, but there was no sign of anyone.
I hurried back to the living room. “Anna,” I said breathlessly. “Poison?”
“I healed her,” he said, his voice raspy. “I gave her this.” He pointed at the bowl. “Then my blood, but she still hasn’t woken up.”
“But she’s alive,” I said, my heart racing as my mind went a mile a minute. “They’re all gone. Olivia, Erianna, the sorceress, Salvor,” I added, rage seething in my words. “I have to go.”
“I can’t.”
“I know,” I replied quickly. “Do you have any idea where they may have gone? The castle?”
He nodded, his bloodshot gaze finding mine from where he kneeled. “Salvor’s plans were to go through the forest, but there’s aniccipere there. I realize now it was a rouse to distract us.”
