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Her face appears blurrily above me. She’s raised her hand, the metal shard clutched in it, her face contorted with anger—and desperation.
In the second before she drives the blade downward, my shriek leaps up from my lungs. But my throat constricts around it.
There’s hope for her. She was worried about the little girl.
Sorsha and Jacob will have heard that too—if I sacrifice myself, maybe they can save her after all.I’llhave saved her.
The thought passes through my head, and the rest of my body balks.
No.
I want to live too. I want to save myself. I’ve fought so hard for my freedom, for the love I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover, and I deserve it just as much as anyone.
The thud of the door crumpling all the way to the floor makes Nadia flinch. Her hand wavers and then jabs downward.
And I hear Zian’s and Dominic’s voices carrying through the room.
There’s still a chance.
I open my mouth and scream.
The sound tears into Nadia’s body just as her blade nicks my throat. Her arm shudders and jerks to the side with a crack of bone.
Her other hand lights up where it’s braced against me. The searing pain that comes with her glow in close contact lances through my shoulder into the rest of my frame.
But I already knew it wouldn’t be enough just to break her outer body if I wanted to stay alive.
The agony of the burn makes my breath shudder, but I push a sharper scream from my throat and slam my power right into her brain.
Nadia’s eyes roll up. The vicious glow she was generating fades from her skin as she tumbles off me.
My muscles trembling, I heave myself over and touch her throat. Her pulse stutters on erratically.
I think she’s technically braindead—I couldn’t risk leaving her conscious when all she needs to do to set off her power is think—but she’s alive.
“Dom!” I shout. “You’ve got to heal her. We need Andreas to wipe her mind. We need—"
Dominic drops down beside me. He sets his hand on my back while his tentacles reach toward Nadia. “I’ve got it. We can do this.Youdid it.”
He raises his head to look toward Zian, who’s come to a stop partway into the room in full wolf-man morph. “Go get Andreas. The others can wait a few minutes.”
As Zian dashes back out through the ruined doorway, Sorsha sways to her feet behind her toppled column. I try to smile at her and only manage a cough.
A shiver passes through my shoulders. Gripping Nadia’s hand, I turn to Dominic. “You need energy. You can take some of mine. I don’t want to lose her.”
“I know. You won’t have to.” Dom presses a brief but emphatic kiss to my temple. “It’s all right now, Riva. It’s over.”
Thirty-One
Riva
The battle isn’t actually over, of course.
First, Zian and I haul the bound, unconscious bodies of the ten shadowbloods we were able to save up the stairwell and out into the yard. As soon as we’re all cleared out, Dominic calls Rollick to let him know to bring the truck around while Sorsha fixes her gaze on the small building above the surface.
“It’s all going to burn,” she assures me, and snaps her fingers.
I can’t see most of the inferno, but the warble of it reaches my ears from below the ground even before the flames shoot up to swallow the upper building. Heat washes over the grass, melting the frost that’d formed there.
