Page 34 of Immortal Alliance

I crouch in the sands, not at all surprised that our efforts to secure the tears in the Veil have brought us here. Morrigan was here not long ago. The imprint of her body is still pressed into the sand. Beside me, Pyre kneels and hovers his hands above the ground. His brow pinches slightly and I watch his eyes flicker, knots forming in my stomach.

“She took a vessel,” he says as he looks around himself. “There’s barely any magic here at all. Morrigan used what magic was left to enter the physical world to possess some unsuspecting person,” he growls. “But her body isn’t in the Veil, which means she found enough power to summon the vessel to her.”

“She has the talisman…”

Pyre nods and stands. I raise to my feet only to sway slightly, but Pyre’s hand on my arm steadies me. It’s been too long since I fed from Eilish and I’m feeling weak, light-headed.

“You must feed soon,” Pyre says.

I scoff as I regain my footing, gesturing with my arm stretched wide. “And whom am I supposed to feed from?” I ask.

Shuffling across the sands, I look at the footprints that litter the beach. Morrigan survived here without food or water when she was injured and without much power.

As much as I hate to admit it, I’m impressed by the treacherous Midnight Queen.

“Come,” Pyre says. “We must find the tear here and repair it before something slips through. Morrigan’s magic obscures the energies here. It may be difficult.”

Pyre leads me along the shore, and I think back to the days when we tore through the library at the cottage and speculated on what the hell was going on in the realms.

“Did you ever figure out your part of the prophecy?” I ask.

“Just that Iwilldie, and I fear it may be soon. Much sooner than most of you realize,” he replies with a shrug that reveals he cares little about the subject of his own mortality. “And my death is not mentioned in just that one prophecy, but many. Different languages, different verses, different rhymes, but all translate to the same thing.”

I stumble and Pyre catches me. Nausea and pain render me useless. “You can’t keep pushing yourself unless you feed, Baron. Let me help you, take my blood…”

“No. We don’t know what your blood will do to me,” I say as I shake my head. “I’ve already been addicted to forbidden power once before. I’m not willing to go through that again. Just... help me up.”

Pyre supports most my weight as we travel closer to the rift. When he sets me down, I watch him work his magic. No matter how many times I see it or attempt such spells on my own, I will forever be captivated by the control and power it takes to close a tear in the Veil.

My attempt to stand on my own doesn’t go well. My body heaves and I expel the contents of my stomach onto the beach. Vampires can only digest real food if they’ve fed recently. But Eilish has been gone too long and her blood no longer sates me. Pyre seals the rift and walks over to me. As he uses his thumbnail to slice along his wrist, I feel the hunger take over. He holds his wrist out to me and though I don’t want to, I grip his arm and sink my teeth into his flesh as I pull strength from his veins. Each mouthful is like a current of magic that causes my body to tremble from head to foot.

When I’ve had my fill, Pyre heals his wound and helps me stand. I can feel my strength returning within seconds. Colors are more vibrant now, and the air seems thick with life and energy. The world was so dull before, in comparison.

“You should be sated for a while, but I’ll keep an eye on you to make sure I haven’t created a monster. There are more than enough in the Veil already.”

I follow Pyre further along the beach and each time my feet sink into the sand, I wonder if this will be the last time he and I walk beside one another. There’s so much I have left to learn from him—so much to still know about being a guardian. Even more importantly, Pyre is my friend. One of my only friends. I can’t imagine a world where he doesn’t exist, and that realization catches me off-guard.

“I’m going to find a way to save you, Pyre.”

“There’s nothing that can be done about my fate and the sooner you accept that, the better.”

I grab his arm, and he glances down at my hand with a lift of his brow.

“I’m serious,” I tell him. “I don’t care how forbidden or tainted the magic might be, I’ll resort to whatever low I have to so I can make sure you’re still around to see us fix the bullshit Morrigan and the others started.”

“Fate won’t…”

“We can’t do this without you and, quite frankly, I don’t want to. You’re a friend and an ally and I don’t want to lose you. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but I don’t care.”

“Overly dramatic.”

“I will find a way to beat this, Pyre,” I promise.

The vow lingers between us. I know Pyre is skeptical, but if he doesn’t know it already, he’ll soon learn just how stubborn I can be.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DRAGAN

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