Page 69 of Curse of Darkness
And then he’s gone, bursting into a flock of ravens.
They flap and caw, wheeling to follow where Malakhai disappeared.
Bind him to me.I clench my fists. That’s not an answer at all.
But I have to try.
Sliding to my knees beside him, I try to see the damage. “We have to get him inside the Hallow.”
Eris looks up, her dark hands slick with blood where she holds his throat. “If I let go, he’ll die.”
“Then I’ll do it.”
I grab his cloak and use it to haul him over the gravel toward the Hallow, as Eris presses down grimly on his wound.
“Don’t you die,” she whispers fiercely. “Don’t you dare die on me, you bastard.”
Finn’s Sylvaren. He’s harder to kill than we are. And he heals faster than we do.
There has to be something I can do.
“Here.” I ease him into my lap, my heart breaking as Eris reaches for me. “Let me see… if I can do this. Finn?”
I reach for the power of the Hallow, letting it tremble through me.
And then I reach for Finn.
“I accept your sacrifice,” I whisper, pressing my bloodied palm on his chest.
There is no answer. Power bubbles within me, like the inside of a volcano threatening to explode. But there’s nothing… there. Nothing to grab. Nothing to tie him to me.
I force healing weaves through him, my fae magic trying to staunch the spill of torn arteries.
The breath leaves him in one long exhale.
One last exhale.
Everything inside me stops. Those gossamer glimmers of his soul vanish through my fingers like I’m trying to hold moonlight in my hands. No.No!It’s too late. He’s gone.
“Finn?” Eris grabs his shoulders, shaking him. “Finn!”
I sit back in horror as he flops bonelessly.
“Come back,” she whispers. “Come back, please come back. Don’t you do this to me!” Desperate eyes lock on me. “Dosomething.”
There’s nothing I can do.
No breath in his lungs.
No heartbeat in his chest.
As if to spite me, the curse that choked my memories unravels, as if his death has finally pulled a knot in the pattern of it.
Images of us hammer through me.
“Come on, princess,” he says to me, reaching down to offer me a hand up after Eris dumped me on my ass in the training yard. “I’ll show you how to beat her.”
Another memory.
