Page 103 of Soul of Thorns
The Night Bringer has her, he’s stolen her soul and will take her body. He’s already begun.
“You cannot have her,”I say through clenched teeth.
“Death would be a mercy,” her voice hisses, her eyes black. I can’t tell who’s talking. Her, or the monster inside.
Her pupil glows red. He’s there. He’s taken her. She laughs manically. “You are too late.”
I failed her, I realize. This happened because her soul disintegrated. Because she didn’t love herself enough. If I was better for her— if I had tried harder to show her what I now see...
It was my job as her mate to save her.
“You promised you wouldn’t leave me.” I heave with sobs.
She is not gone yet, princeling.This voice is soft, and... inside my mind?Feel your soul stone. It still warms. Her soul remains yet alive.
“Who are you?” I whisper through my tears, but those stranger’s words echo through my mind, sparking hope. A tiny light in the darkness.
And I feel it. The warmth pulsing in my pocket. Gripping the little stone between two fingers I pull it out. It’s my Lumistone, the one I plucked just before the High Court ball. It feels like a lifetime ago. It’s just a little berry turned to stone with time but... it’s glowing.
My eyes widen. The wraith gasps.
You have the power to heal what no other can. You have the power to undo their curses.
“You are going to save her,” the wraith whispers.
Caelynn convulses beneath my hands, back arching. She gurgles black liquid and forces out cruel laughter.
The smoke magic that makes up my mate’s wraith lightens, and a golden light flickers in his chest, growing brighter. “Tell her,” he whispers. “Tell her she saved me.”
I don’t have time to ask what he means. Or wonder why the golden light has taken over his being. His smoke magic dissipates and flutters away in the wind.
This time, when I use my healing magic on Caelynn, I do so with confidence. I delve into the mystery that this is my fated mate. Terrifying and lovely and everything I could have ever hoped for in a soulmate.
My hand glows bright white, and I press it as far into her wound as I can. Eyes closed, I feel her. Her dark essence, enigma and stealth, beauty and passion and determination. So much bravery. And kindness. And protectiveness.
When my mind loses all time and place, I don’t recoil. I press deeper into it. Into her. It’s a void, vast and empty. Abandoned.
No, I whisper in response to that feeling.I won’t ever leave you, Cae.
Raging winds begin to blow.Leave, the Night Bringer demands.You are in my domain now.
But I ignore the voice because he is wrong. She is here. I can feel her.
Weak and dwindling but still pulsing with the tiniest of warmth.
A small ember glows in a pile of cooled coal.
My mate, I whisper.
The ember flickers but fades again. I take in a long deep breath just as the storm begins in earnest. A tsunami of shadows roar toward me, but all I see is her.
My white light brightens the void and streams directly into the dying soul of Caelynn, my lovely shadow fae.
