Page 125 of Fractured
Those eyes.
The Midnight King came closer. The darkness over his eyes lifted all the way like a veil.
“Why would you make me watch you die twice?”
The words were like knives cutting right through me. Forget breathing—I was already dead in the moment that followed. It felt like I wasnotinside a body at all. It felt like I wasn’tme.
I was her.
There were no words to explain what came over me, what came from both outside and from the center of me, but my lips moved, and I had voice—voice that sounded like mine but wasn’t—to utter a single word. A name.
“Helem.”
Only when I heard the name out loud did I remember that I’d heard it once before—from Raja in the chambers of the seer. Even so, it wasn’tmewho said it. I was certain of it, it wasn’t me.
The king closed his eyes, and he was suddenly shaking. The raw pain that flashed on his face, the way he gritted his teeth and squeezed shut his eyes, would forever remain in my memory.
And just before my mind shut down, the Midnight King let me go.
thirty-six
The floor wasice-cold against my hands. I was breathing, drawing in air in shallow gulps, but I still felt like I was dying. No hand around my neck, yet it felt like there wassomethingthere, something blocking the air I was trying to fill my lungs with, squeezing them empty.
But it was just the fear. It was just my survival instincts that demanded I breath deeper, faster,nowbefore there was no more air left in the world. Because I could see just fine. I was aware of being on all fours, surrounded by shadows, magic lighting up my hands.
And ahead was Rune and Raja fighting, together with Vair.
But Vair looked behind him for a second, and in the next he ran—toward the other side of the room, toward the tall dais, in front of which was the Midnight King.
I had no idea how he’d gotten there so fast, or even how much time had passed since he’d let go of me, but he was in front of the dais now. He was moving in circles with his hands out, and the ribbons of shadows spinning aroundhim followed. Theylayon the floor at his command, and they didn’t move again.
He was drawing with them.
When Vair was close enough to jump him, he tried—and slammed face first into a thick shadow that seem to have come out of nowhere and fell back against the floor.
I screamed—which made me realize that I wasn’t struggling for air anymore. My mind was no longer convinced that I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were full and my limbs functional, and I was on my feet, running toward the soldiers and the shadows that stood between Rune and me.
Bodies sprawled all over the floor. Shadows danced everywhere I looked, and Rune’s eyes locked on mine.
“Nilah,run!”
His shout filled my ears. He raised a hand and those shadows that had looked like stairs layered on the floor reacted. They rose from one side, and with the movement of his arm, they crashed onto the soldiers in front of him like a fucking wave, swallowing them completely for a moment.
My legs moved. If only we could get to those doors—they were not far. If only we could all make it to them and run, we never had to look back. Fuck the truth—I could live without knowing. Iwouldlive a happy fucking life without the truth.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Because the moment I reached the shadows, the same ones that had crashed against the soldiers, a hand wrapped around my ankle and I tripped.
The hand of a soldier who was struggling to make his way out of the shadows like it was quicksand.
I fell face first against the floor, but I didn’t even realizewhat had happened before something moved to my side. The sound of metal cutting flesh filled my ears, followed by a scream of raw pain. The hand was no longer around my ankle, but someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the side next.
Raja.
“Get to the doors and get out!”
She pushed me back and I nearly lost my balance again—but before I could tell her that I wasn’t going anywhere without them, she’d already turned to the soldiers who were coming out of the darkness like it was a fucking portal to another world.
My hands were still lit up from within and the frostfire was gaining intensity. Fuck, it hurt as it moved down my arms, and the more aware I was of my surroundings, the more the fear took a step back.
