Page 118 of Touched

Wait. Are we alive?

The roots loosen, and then, they simply fall away. The air is no longer suffocating me.

Glancing around, I see bodies. Mostly FaeDorcha, though we’ve also suffered some losses. Together, they’re scattered across the ground.

Kalilith was about to win.

She was.

We were outnumbered and surrounded.

What the hell just happened?

I gasp, “Cyrus? What just happened, man? Did you do that?”

I step away, trying to disentangle our wings just as a piercing wail reaches my ears.

My head jerks to see where it’s coming from. My eyes widen, and I move much faster, uncaring if I tear my wings further.

Aeris, her father, and Devyn race toward us with absolute panic on their faces.

Whirling, I step away. Cyrus staggers against me without the weight of my back for support.

My eyes widen and my stomach drops.

Oh, my God.

I catch him as he lurches, falling forward, his face pale and blood pouring from an ominous wound along his side. His eyes are closed. “Oh shit… oh, fuck, man… please,no… thiscan’tbe…you can’t…”

Devyn reaches us. Taking him from me, she slumps to the ground. Hugging him to her, she pulls most of his weight onto her lap. She smooths his hair back from his forehead and presses her face to his neck.

Aeris falls into my arms and whimpers, “Is he dead? Is my brother dead? Did we just beat back the fucking evil FaeDorcha and lose Cyrus in the process?” Her eyes are filled to the brim, and tears race down her face, smearing the blood dripping from her nose.

My shaking hands cup her face. I respond brokenly, “I—I don’t know.”

Her father drops to his knees beside us and cradles Cyrus’s hand. He whispers something I can’t make out.

Everyone else, the survivors, surround us.

Cyrus… Oh, Cyrus… We lost Cyrus…

You saved my life.

You saved my fucking life…

Devyn’s low voice reaches me and my neck strains with tension. “He’s not dead.” Aeris and I lock eyes before we look at her. Her cinnamon eyes clear as she says, “He is badly injured.”

Oh, thank God. I couldn’t handle him being dead.

That would kill Aeris.

Devyn looks frantic. She whimpers, “Help me. Help me move him. Laric is ours. Cyrus is injured, but he will heal. He needs herbs and a warm, safe place.” The concern on her face is much more than basic.

She’s terrified for Cyrus.

I jerk to my feet with Aeris directly beside me. Her father and mother join us, battered and bloody, but alive. Others come forward as well. We gather Cyrus, careful of the gaping wound in his side.

I nod to everyone, my army, before addressing them, “Laric is now not only your home, it isourhome. It is also our base. We’re at war… and I don’t intend to lose. Do you?”

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