Page 52 of Soul of Thorns
Caelynn
Iknew I would dietoday, here in the Schorchedlands.
But of all the ways I expected it to happen—a wraith-nado was not on my list of possibilities. Death by wraith? Hell yeah. Being ripped to shreds by thousands of them at once while they used their magic to mimic a natural weather pattern?
Not so much.
I dig into Rev’s arms, knowing I could be doing serious damage, but letting him go is not an option. Torn muscle and shards of fingernail broken inside his flesh are significantly better than death.
All I can think is that I cannot let him go.Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.
All of it, everything I’ve ever sacrificed, was for him. It will not end this way. I will not give up on him so long as I have breath in my lungs.
Love or hate. Adoration or disgust. Hope or pain. I don’t care about any of it.
He will live. I will not. Those are the facts I know without a doubt.
And so, even though I’ve used too much of my magic already, I pull at every ounce to save him.
Save him. Save him.
Mine, my magic whispers in response.
Yes! He is mine. Take him with us!
My magic whips out, wraps around my mate, tearing at his very being until he is no more.
***
MY BACK SLAMS INTOthe thick hot mud. Rev’s chest slams into mine, taking away my breath—and not in a good way.
His eyes are wide as a wraith’s empty sockets as he stares at me. The wind is gone—or rather, it’s a hundred feet north of us at the moment.
My vision blinks black, and Rev rolls off of me.
I suck in desperate breaths. My limbs tingle, bare of magic.
This is not the place to be stuck without magic. But then again, it doesn’t matter if I die. It’s probably better that way.
The wall of flames flickers just a few feet away, heat like an oven rolling off of it, burning my skin. I’ll pass out if we stay this close to it for too long.
Anxiety crawls through me at the thought of walking into that. But we have to.
“What just happened?” Rev asks, and I shudder out another breath.
It worked.That’s the only thing I can think of. It actually worked. I swallow and turn to the flames. “We have to go in,” I say, terror clinging to my limbs. I’m petrified of this magical fortress. And I’m horrified of what lies on the other side.
The roaring winds of wraith magic still overpower most sounds. The tornado rages just a few dozen feet from where we stand, but they’ve have not yet realized we escaped their trap. They rip our supplies and my lost jacket to shreds, but I have to assume that it won’t take them long to figure out that their prey has escaped. And we did not make it far.
One shift, one moment, and they’ll have us in their grasp again.
“What did you do?” Rev says, brushing the hair from my eyes. “How?”
