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“No,” Ezul cried out hoarsely, blood spilling from his lips as he attempted to stand only to crash back down with a pained cry.
Her bright green eyes met his, red-rimmed from her tears. He took in her beautiful face, committing every single inch of her to memory. Holding onto her image as he wheezed. Needing for her to be the last thing he saw before the end.
My mate…
“I love you so much,” Cordelia cried. And then she twisted the top of the device, disappearing in a brilliant flash of white.
Ezul felt empty as he watched his sole reason for existing leave his life in the blink of an eye. She was there one moment, and then gone the next.
A pained roar left him, expelling whatever strength was left in his body. Ezul collapsed onto his side, gasping for breath. The spear was still plugging most of the blood attempting to spill from his body, but at that moment, he didn’t care.
His woman was gone. The love of his life and his child. And it was his fault. He’d failed them both.
His vision grew dim as Vermile approached, opening his mouth to speak.
Ezul didn’t listen to a word he said, too focused on calling on his mist, willing it to rise and strangle the one person responsible for his anguish. But nothing happened. He was too weak.
The thought only hardened his aching heart, rage blinding him until there was nothing left but bitterness and hatred left.
He wanted to rip Vermile apart piece by piece, but he could barely move. He was weak when Cordelia was here, and now he could not even avenge her.
Vermile said something else before he stomped on Ezul’s head, his heavy boot shoving his cheek into the ground. Pain exploded around him as Vermile lifted his foot again, ready to strike.
Shouts sounded all around them then, screams of agony filling the air.
Ezul didn’t know who had come to help him. Maybe no one had, and he was the one doing the killing. There was no way to tell now. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Not anymore.
As he struggled and failed to lift his head, he saw Vermile fly backwards, landing with a hard thud on the ground as Aragnokan warriors swarmed the area.
His eyes slid shut, body going lax, only the feeling of utter grief left to keep him company.
Chapter 21
Ezul’sfingerstwitched.Itwas the only warning that the warrior was crawling back into consciousness before he sprang up from the bed, startling a healer nearby.
He was disoriented, his mind a blur as his head whipped around, searching.
He was in the infirmary, resting on a healing pod. The white walls and medical equipment were all familiar enough. How had he gotten here? Had they arrived to confirm Cordelia’s pregnancy already?
No… They had already done that, hadn’t they?
Images flashed through his mind, though they were vague and disjointed. Cordelia, his father,Vermile…
Ezul shook his head, anxiety spiking through his pulse, head aching as he struggled to understand why he felt so frantic. Sowrong.
Had he hit his head? His memory wasn’t clear, some sort of haze in his mind preventing him from...
“Cordelia?” he bellowed, casting another look around for his mate.
The healer, a male he’d never seen before, approached slowly, as if he were afraid to spook him. It would have been laughable, but right at that moment he felt off-kilter. Something was wrong, memories were knocking at a closed door in his mind, asking to be let in.
“Please remain calm,” the healer instructed, his eyes wary as he watched Ezul’s face. “You have sustained multiple injuries, and while we have healed your body, it may take a few minutes for your brain to catch up with the events that led you here.”
Ezul touched his bare stomach on instinct.
The healer saw the movement and nodded. “You had a spear through the gut. Several holes in your shoulder and arms, too. Your brother informed us that you’d been shot with arrows.”
Ezul’s brow furrowed at this new information, dread twisting his insides. He recalled running through the woods, searching for Cordelia. Why had they been separated? Where was she?
