Page 136 of Court of Lies and Deceit

My heart… stops.

Time seems to slow to a crawl as I stare out at the glen before me.

The rest of the Red Faction are fighting six of those beings in bronze armor across the charred and bloodstained grass. The other two bow wielding natives have their weapons pointed at Draven.

And Draven… Draven’s back hits the ground with a thud loud enough to echo across the glen. As if he was high up in the air just a moment ago. Up above him, the leader of the bronze squad is hovering in the air, wind magic rushing around him.

And a massive boulder is speeding straight towards Draven’s head. It’s big enough that it will crush his entire torso when it hits.

It’s not a question ofif. It’swhen.

Draven, dazed from the hard landing that knocked the back of his head against the ground, will never have time to summon enough wind to push that massive boulder aside. And I can’t use my one remaining burst of magic to create fear in the squad leader’s chest, because the attack has already been thrown. It won’t matter if I break his entire fucking mind with fear. That boulder is still going to crush Draven’s skull.

Each fraction of a second seems to span an eternity as I stare at the inevitable end to the life we were just beginning.

Draven is going to die.

He is going to die.

I scream.

And throw everything I have into one last attack created from pure desperation.

An attack against the person I love more than anything.

Against the person who loves me more than anyone.

My magic shoots across the grass.

A massive wildfire of red-violet hatred slams right into Draven’s chest.

And our mate bondshatters.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Blinding pain slices through my chest as I throw myself through the portal. In a heartbeat, the twisted forest and desperate battle are replaced by warm sand and a cheering crowd. I whip my head around, panic still crackling inside me like lightning.

Isera and Galen have appeared on the arena floor a short distance to my left. Both of them were running, and they stumble and almost fall over when the ground underneath them changes abruptly. A few steps away, Lyra and Alistair have materialized. They’re standing back to back, crouched into fight stances. Fire burns in Alistair’s palm, and sunlight glints in the sword that Lyra is holding. They jerk back and blink in shock at the new environment around them.

Then my gaze finally findshim.

Draven.

He’s lying on his back on the sand, staring up at the bright blue sky above the arena.

Alive.

The air escapes my lungs in a long whoosh.

He’salive. No crushed skull. No shattered torso. No broken bones and rivers of blood. He was transported back before the boulder could hit.

The glittering blue portal winks out beside me, closing the door to the strange forest and the lethal beings in bronze armor and the Red Faction who is still trapped in there with them. A few steps from it, Orion Nightbane gapes at us. His eyes are wide with shock, and his mouth has dropped open as he stares between the six of us.

Isera, having recovered from the abrupt end to her sprint, saunters towards him with a smirk on her face. “So, about that bargain, pretty boy.”

With a smile on his face, Galen rushes over to Draven and grabs his forearm, pulling him up from the ground.

“You did it!” Lyra calls, her face beaming as she bounces over to them as well.

---