Page 70 of Soul of Thorns
“I used my magic against my restraints and...”
“Foolish child. Your magic is strong against wraiths, but it would do no better than any other against hers. She only released you if she wanted you released.”
I blink rapidly as my vision blinks to solid black darkness and then back. The pressure of tree limbs crushes my chest against its trunk. It’s hard to breathe.
“Caelynn.” I turn my attention back to the beautiful fae in my arms, the fae so very close to losing her life and her soul. I would blame myself if she did. I didn’t do enough. There must have been more I could have done to give her hope, to give her life.
If she gives up now, he’ll take over. He’ll win.
“Caelynn,” I whisper, tears in my eyes. I lean in and press my lips gently to hers just before the Night Terror rips me back into her clutches.
Caelynn
Ash falls from thesky, drifting gently toward my arms blotched with dirt and blood. My eyelids flutter as I watch it land on my forearm and stick.
“Rev?” I groan, rolling onto my stomach awkwardly and pulling myself onto my hands and knees.
“Rev left you, remember?” My wraith’s voice is quiet, but there is a bite to his words. He doesn’t like me talking about Rev.
“No. He was here. He was just here...”
The wraith sighs. “Child, you are seeing things.”
I press my eyes closed. “No,” I whisper. I still feel it. His magic filled me for a moment. He was trying to heal me from my imaginary wounds. He can’t heal me from what’s destroying me from the inside. The magic, the curse, is sucking me dry. Or maybe it’s the hopelessness of my situation. Maybe Rev was right. Maybe I have given up.
“He’s not here?”
“No, child,” my wraith says.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask, lying back down on the ashy ground. Behind me only a few hundred feet, the slope of the mount begins. There, somewhere, the spell book is hidden. So close.
That also means Rev must be nearby. He’ll have begun the trek up the mountain.
If I can make myself stand up and walk, maybe I can find him. Maybe I can find them both. Maybe I can have one last moment with him before I die. Before I let this place devour me.
“Don’t you know this already?”
