Page 96 of Shadowkissed

Be unmade.

His scream cuts the sky in half as his body erupts into light—devoured, erased,ended.

The rift behind him shudders.

And begins to close.

The silence afterward is unnatural.

No wind. No breath. No whispers.

Just the soft creak of the Veil restitching itself.

The light around me fades, slowly, like a candle burning down to its final inch. My feet touch the ground. My shoulders sag.

I stumble toward him. TowardDante.

He’s still lying where I left him, too still, too pale.

I drop beside him, gathering him into my arms.

His lashes flutter. His voice, ragged, breaks me.

“Did... we win?”

I laugh. It’s wet, broken, stupid with relief. “Yeah. We did. You dumbass.”

He blinks up at me. “Good. Told you I wasn’t leaving.”

And then he smiles.

I bury my face in his neck and sob.

Not because I’m broken. But because I’m finallywhole.

And free.

47

DANTE

My body feels like it's been dragged through fire and stitched back together with barbed wire and prayers. Every muscle aches. My ribs are bruised, maybe broken. My magic still flickers low, guttering in my chest like an old flame refusing to die out.

But I’m alive.

I’m fucking alive.

And she’s here.

Liora.

Kneeling beside me, her fingers tangled in my shirt, forehead pressed to my shoulder like she can anchor herself through skin and bone.

Her glow’s dimmed—but not gone. She still hums with that strange, wild light that only belongs to her. That light that once scared the shit out of me and now feels like coming home.

I shift, groaning.

She lifts her head, those violet eyes meeting mine—tired, rimmed red, but god, still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

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