Page 99 of Reign of Light
My limbs turn leaden as I still fight to break free, but with every breathless moment I’m losing the will. My thrashing slows, my grip slackens, and my head spins.
Resounding thuds continue to rumble, chains rattle, wood splinters. Swords clang together, and I search through the sounds for Weston,begging the gods that he’s far enough away that he won’t be able to see the light leave my eyes.
I hope he knows how much I love him.
I regret not having said it more.
After all the years of being alone, I hope the short time I was able to love him was enough to give him hope he will find it once again.
Maybe my father and I will have another chance together in whatever afterlife greets us, and I will wait for everyone else to one day be by my side again. I hope it takes a while; that they will get to live the long and full lives that were stolen from them. And one day, maybe soon, I’ll finally meet my mother.
My eyelids droop as weakness overcomes me. Dane’s face blurs, and my body falls limp, my hands dropping to my sides, finally giving up on the futile fight.
I love you, Weston.
My head lolls to the side, the world blackening around me, and I’m in a void. I’ve been here once before. The darkness is all-encompassing.
Then, there’s light.
Burning erupts in my chest as my body heaves in air. Pain lances through my throat, my neck, my chest, my head. But the pressure lessens, and the hands wrapped so tightly just a moment ago slacken enough for one breath. My eyes are slits. The darkness barely dissipates as bright lights flash over my vision. My chest begs for air, and my body uncontrollably seeks it, coughing and gasping as tears stream from the corners of my eyes.
My eyes focus just enough to find Dane staring at me, with blood pouring from his mouth.
Pain resonates through my body as I slam into the floor, the already minuscule breath knocked from me once again. Dane crumbles beside me, his lifeless stare boring through me as blood pools around his body, and standing in his place is my father.
Blood drips onto the stone dais from both the tip of his king’s dagger and the wound oozing in his abdomen. He stares down atDane for only a moment before his gaze slides to me. A sigh of relief huffs from his mouth before his knees give out and he collapses to the floor.
“Lennox!”
I hear him again. His voice cracks with strain and fear, and I know that this cry is even worse than all the rest. But I can’t think. I can’t move. I can’t look around and my eyes flutter shut, freeing me of the throne room’s complete and utter unrest.
Everything is limp. Heavy. Impossible.
Warm hands press into my cheeks, and relief floods my body.
He’s here. I don’t have to die alone. The monster who killed me won’t be the last person I touched in this world. I will die knowing the last caress of my skin came from someone who truly loved me.
“Lennox, sweetheart, open your eyes.”
His voice is urgent and filled with the strength I have found so much solace in, but I hear it waver, and my already almost still heart threatens to shatter. I can’t be the one who defeats him, this powerful man who, even in moments when he needs it, is still being strong for me.
“Lennox, open your eyes!” He’s pleading with me, and tears and panic fill his voice. “Breathe. Breathe! Come on, Lennox, you have to fight. Fight for me.”
My mind screams at me to listen to him, to follow his command, to open my eyes and reach out and pull myself into him, but I can’t.
“Where are the keys?” The boom of his yell would startle anyone, but not me. I soak up every detail of him I can, but it’s interrupted by the scuffle of nearby footsteps, followed by the clank of iron hitting stone.
Then I’m in his arms. He crushes me to his chest, one hand weaving through my hair as he clutches the back of my head. His lips brush the shell of my ear, and pain coats his voice.
“Please, sweetheart, don’t leave me. Just open your eyes.”
My head falls back, supported by his steady hand, and I try. Try to answer him, to do what he asks, what he needs, but everything is too weak. I feel the whisper of something dampening my face, and my mind screams at me.
No, Weston cannot cry over me. I can’t leave him. Not like this, not because of Dane.
I am locked inside the cage of my own body and mind, and no one else can hear me screaming and thrashing against it, all to get back to him.
My breaths are short and shallow, my chest barely rising and falling as another tear hits my cheek just above where the pad of his thumb softly caresses my skin. A flurry of heat burns inside me, and I want to rage against the walls closing me in.
