Page 72 of Between Imminent Fates

Key

Key couldn’t breathe. Herlungs fought to expand as her abilities began to wane. Every breath was a battle as she tried to fight through the pressure bearing down on her body. Her legs were numb and shaky, and she’d lost feeling in her fingers.

Panting, she urged Isaiah and Nina onward, to the last subsection of soldiers and vehicles. Their victory was near, if only they could hold on for a few more seconds. They were the longest of Key’s life.

“There!” She yelled above the chorus of sorrow before them. “We’re so close!”

As the brilliant light of their Linked ability dimmed, Nina and Isaiah held strong, and the immortals behind them continued forcing their enemies toward the beam. All her planning, every detailed step, every vision that stole her sanity, it all came to a head here—now.

And then their enemies were gone.

The noise suddenly stopped, the agonized cries of the soldiers ceasing and the earth-splintering power coming to a halt. For a single, spell-binding moment, Key couldn’t believe it, despite what her eyes were telling her.

“We won.” Two simple words slipped from between her numb lips. “We did it.”

Beyond this moment was a future she hadn’t seen. As soon as they’d won, her foresight failed her, retracting into the back of her mind. She grasped at the rapidly diminishing power within her, desperate to save the two sovereigns who’d given everything.

“Pull it back!” Key suddenly screamed. “Nina, Isaiah: draw your light back inside you!”

Even as she yelled the words, she knew the struggle was just beginning. Every archive said the same thing: once the Light was shaken from the soul, its hold within the body became unstable. Key’s frantic gaze found the group of immortals standing just behind her.

“Dome!Dome!”

The undulating energy of the destruction-borne Raeths before her became volatile. Cords of their power whipped across the up-churned earth, scorching a path that lit blue fires in its wake.

Every shield and every Elemental knew the part they were to play. Still connected as she was to the Raeths before her, Key remained isolated from the indestructible dome that was converging around them.

Three seconds after it was fully formed, the Link between Isaiah and Nina shattered. It ricocheted back into the well of Key’s power like a rubber band that’d been stretched too tightly.

Too sudden. Too harsh. Too unavoidable. It would mean her death.

Yet even as her body failed her, Key couldn’t stop her mind from wandering to the place it truly wanted to be: Jax. She replayed their every moment, desperate for him as her life was fading away. The visions had warned her of his importance to the cause. Her focus had been to secure his affection, and in turn, his compliance. Instead, she had fallen in love with him.

Her soul reached for the one connection she’d never had—the one she’d never foreseen. As Key’s gifts flooded out of her and her heart ceased beating, one thing became clear.

Jax was her mate.

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