Page 164 of Between Fear and Favor

As I breached the surface, all I could see was an incandescent blaze falling from the cliffside. I could feel the ground shaking beneath the water, my brother’s divinity reacting to something he couldn’t stop, and I knew exactly who was within those flames.

I did my best. As the white light sped toward the water, like a falling star, I coaxed the sea to meet it.

Rainier’s voice thundered in my mind, and all I could do was hope I’d been able to cushion her fall.

Chapter 76

DEWALT

Rainier fell to his knees,heaving breaths escaping him as he shook his head in disbelief. Mouth open and tears streaming down his face, he had no words.

Nor clung to me, burying her face against my neck as she sobbed.

I didn’t know what to do. My own jaw had dropped in horror as Emma ran toward the goddess, but we were stuck. Both protected and imprisoned by Emma’s shadows, there was nothing we could do. I couldn’t understand why she’d run at the goddess like that, not allowing any of us to help her win a fight we hadn’t meant to start.

The minute her divinity fell away, bile rose up my throat, and I bent over to puke the contents of my stomach. Her shadows had lingered, and with each moment, I’d had hope she would rift back to us. Worse for wear and injured, but alive and whole.

Her divinity failing dashed those hopes.

Rainier opened a rift, stumbling to his feet as seawater rushed through the opening. Lasu steadied him, and I pulled Nor to her feet.

Blinking, I stared long and hard. I couldn’t see Emma anywhere.

Rainier stumbled through the rift, and we followed behind him. The deadly rocks at the base of the cliff were treacherous to navigate, and I pulled Nor into my arms so she wouldn’t fall.

One step later, I realized my mistake. With the damage done to my nerves, my dragging foot made things significantly harder than I expected. I had to put her down or we both would have fallen.

“Lean on me,” she whispered, situating herself on the side of my injury.

Rainier opened another rift, closer to what I’d struggled to understand, and walked through without us.

“Is that...” Nor began.

“It’s Lavenia,” I said, eyes wide as I spotted my friend. She sat upon the rocks, and I stared at the lower half of her body. “She’s a gods damned merrow.”

Rainier collapsed beside her, and the ground beneath us shook violently.

I saw a flash of bright red curls, and I realized Mairin was with them—bent over something steaming.

“No,” I whispered, realizing what I saw... Nor’s sobbing renewed as we stumbled closer.

The steam had come from Emma’s body, her clothing burnt to her skin. The damage the divine fire had done was devastating. The scent of charred flesh hit me, and I would’ve lost my stomach if I hadn’t already emptied it.

“No,” Rainier moaned, pulling her into his arms. “Em, no. No, no, no. Don’t leave me.”

Emma let out a garbled noise as he put his hands against her burnt skin.

“I should have been able to heal her,” Lavenia said. Tears streamed down her face, and I barely heard her speak. “I tried. We tried,” she said, staring down at her hands as if they’d failed her. Without Aonara’s healing divinity, I didn’t know how Ven had expected to heal her.

“She’s too far gone,” Mairin said, shaking her head as she looked upon her friend. Mairin had known Emma in far different ways than I ever had, yet her grief was the same.

Rainier sobbed, muttering as he rocked with her body, clearly trying to heal her.

A deafening shriek was our only warning as Shika slammed to the rocks beside us. I stumbled, horror filling me as the dragon stilled. Her shadows sank into her skin, and her once shimmering eyes dulled. Lux came after, the enormous dragon sending a massive wave toward us as she landed in the strait. Lavenia raised a hand, and the water stopped mid-air. With a twitch of her wrist, it fell back to its former state, and all I could see was the tip of Lux’s wing as she sank beneath.

“Em, please,” Rainier begged.

I couldn’t look at them. I couldn’t stand to see my brother in such pain, the severity of what he was going through not lost on me. I had been just as helpless when Lucia died in my arms, and I’d have given anything to take away his pain. But there was nothing I could do.

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