Page 148 of Forsaken Secrets

I yanked the gag from my mouth and turned to yell at him, to beg for his help. But he'd already disappeared into the writhing crowd.

When this was over, he'd answer for everything! Every single thing.

I dropped from my chair to my knees, pulling Eli's head to my lap. His perfectly messy black hair poked up everywhere.

Tears burned at the back of my eyes, and my chest ached.

The reckless lordling had dove in front of a gods damned knife to protect my aunt!

What in the seven hells had he been thinking!? The tears broke free, forming torrents down my cheeks as I bent to listen to his heart.

I pulled in every bit of energy I could through my bonds and pushed it into him.

"Live, you damn lordling! Live!" I screamed, voice hoarse. I knew it wouldn't do any good, but gods, I had to try!

He didn't move.

My chest ached as the bright reds, greens, and blues of his korra began to disperse. Something had to fix him! This couldn't be the end!

A strange grinding noise behind me made me freeze.

I turned to see a fully formed dragon, now made of flesh and bone! Horribly, gruesomely, injured flesh and bone.

Blood poured from his chest and belly, while his neck arced up in a graceful curve as he let loose a loud screech and sent fire into the air.

I ducked, trying to cover both Aunt Grace and Eli!

Then, for one brief moment, everything was silent.

When I looked back up, the dragon had disappeared!

In its place stood a tall, slim man. His naked skin was covered in strange markings and a terrible wound stretched from his mouth down to his belly, closing and knitting together in some kind of healing magic that was faster than I ever thought possible.

I stared as his shoulders shook violently. Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the ground.

"YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Lady Ellingsworth screamed, forcing my attention back to her.

She held out the strange stone bracelet from before and rushed towards me, the fiery pain arced through me again.

I was prepared this time, but my knees still buckled and I writhed atop Eli as the pain overtook me.

Gods be damned. Finally, the pain subsided, and I tried pulling on that bond again. Only a trickle came through.

The knife!

I stood shakily and slipped it from my sleeve, holding it up in front of us. She'd already done enough. She wasn't going to do more!

"Stop!" I screamed. "This is on YOU! You and your husband interfered with things beyond what you knew and this here — THIS is the price you pay!"

She glared at me. "No! This is all your fault, you ungrateful wench! If you'd just done as he said, NONE of this would have happened." Her voice rose to a frantic screech. "Now the Druid is broken, my husband has changed." She motioned to the side where a very ghoulish Lord Ellingsworth lumbered towards us, bulging eyes red and bloodshot. "And EVERYTHING is ruined!"

Wait! Why had he and everyone else turned to wraiths, but not his wife or the vicar?

I looked down at the bracelet on her arm, then back up at her smooth face. Was it protecting her somehow?

Lord Ellingsworth advanced on his wife, mouth agape with blood dripping out one corner. Based on the blood and gore covering his teeth, I highly doubted it was his own.

She looked between the two of us, eyes wide with fear, then stepped closer to him, hands up. "It's okay. It's just me. I know you know who I am — " He lunged and Lady Ellingsworth let out a blood-curdling scream.

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