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But neither was I.
“Now you will know the same pain Raina did.”
I didn’t hesitate as I shoved against his wall of heat and brought down the dagger, my aim true. Patrick shrieked, only my shadows keeping him upright, trapping him in place, right where I wanted him. Flesh tore and bones cracked, and the dagger pierced his cold, immortal heart.
“Maybe death”—I leaned close, whispering right into the shell of his ear—“will finally satisfy you.”
I shoved deeper, twisting the hilt. His entire body gave a shudder, and I knew the soul within was leaving it. Drawing back, just enough to meet his clouded eyes, I felt the tremor that rattled him. I glanced down, the point of the blade aglow.
A piece of a god, now mine for the taking.
The light swelled, escaping the confines of flesh, an orb no larger than the size of an uncut gem. All I had to do was reach out, grasp it, and I’d have two of the three pieces.
But that wasn’t what I did.
With Jude’s cold hand still in my own, I lifted it, pushing it to the light. His body jerked when the orb connected with his skin, but I forced his fingers to curl around it, and then I pressed his closed hand to his chest, to the heart that I claimed.
I couldn’t accept that he was dead. That he’d all but sacrificed himself for me.
“You never saw yourself the way I see you.”
The orb sputtered in his palm. “A good man is often the one who has known the most evil,” I whispered, the old Asidian proverb saying everything I didn’t have the words for. The light encased in his hand fluttered once more before dimming.
I thought that was it, that Raina’s power had vanished just as Jude’s soul had…but then I heard the most wondrous of things.
A trembling inhale.
Fingers flinching in my grip.
A groan.
The night erupted as Jude’s eyes shot open. Gold poured from them, vibrant light that blinded. I thrust my hands over my face, squeezing my lids tightly as the world exploded, and for many long minutes, I saw only that piercing gold.
From far away, I heard my name, so soft and pure.
I didn’t want to hope, to believe that it had come from the lips of the man who’d been lying in a pool of his own blood. If I was wrong…
“Kiara.”
Warmth washed down my cheeks and I tasted salt.
“Don’t cry, Kiara.” Fingers traced my jaw, sliding up to my cheeks, the tender touch coaxing a choked sob from me. The blinding world dimmed, ever so slowly, that radiant light flickering out like a candle. Still, I didn’t open my eyes.
“Look at me,” Jude’s voice begged, and the fingers grazing my cheeks lowered to my chin. “Please.”
Maybe it was the pain lacing that one single word, but I was helpless but to comply. Jude.MyJude begged once more, and I snapped open my lids with a cry.
Below me, his chest rising and falling, lay the commander, his body retaining that golden sheen.
“H-how?” I choked out, gripping his hand.
He’d been killed before my very eyes. I didn’t understand. I fumbled for his chest, my hands slick with his blood.
There was no gash, but Ihadleft my mark. Instead of smooth skin, black veins sprouted like a gnarled tree from just below his heart. The scars were identical to mine in every way, and I realized that while I’d saved him with Raina’s light, my darkness had also tarnished him forever.
“Kiara,” Jude murmured, blinking as if he, too, didn’t believe I was there, alive and breathing. He cupped my cheek.
My vision began to darken, and my body swayed. Hands that weren’t Jude’s grabbed at my waist. Jake.
