Page 94 of A Court So Dark
CHAPTER 37
DANIELLA
Assoonasthethunderclap reverberated through the forest, Mythorne’s gloved hand wrapped around my neck.
He lifted me off the ground as if I were nothing but a child, and held me aloft and at a distance. Panic burst through my veins, and for a shocked moment, I could do nothing more than kick and try to scream again, which was impossible with his fingers digging into my windpipe.
Only a rasp came out as I struggled to take in air.
Then I remembered, I wasn’t helpless. I had power… the ability to make him wither like a cut flower left in the sun. Bringing my hands to his wrist, I started pushing his sleeve up, peeling away layers to expose his flesh.
His eyebrows drew together as he tried to make sense of my actions, and as I’d nearly managed to uncover his arm, he dropped me and backed away.
As my feet hit the ground, I bent my knees and went in a crouch.
“What are you?” he demanded.
“I am your reckoning,” I said and leaped in his direction.
At the same time, Larina flew up from the bush where she’d been hiding and came flying at a prodigious speed.
Moving with the kind of agility I’d only seen in Kalyll, the Unseelie King sidestepped me, easily avoiding me. But he wasn’t counting on a tiny pixie appearing out of nowhere. More yet, she was carrying a spear—the one she’d taken from Shadow the day she tried to take Kryn’s eye out for doubting her loyalty. And it seemed Larina had taken a page from the sprite’s book, attempting the same attack.
Time slowed. The whir of Larina’s wings filled my ears. The tip of her needle-like spear glinted. Mythorne’s foot settled on the ground as he finished the quick maneuver that had helped him steer clear of me.
Too late, he spotted the second attacker, and before he had time to react, Larina’s weapon embedded itself in his eye with asquish.
Mythorne growled in pain and blindly batted a hand at the air, hitting Larina and sending her sailing across the clearing. With a delicatethump,she crashed against a wide tree trunk and dropped to the ground.
“No!” I ran to her side and dropped to my knees, immediately calling healing energy to the tips of my fingers. “Larina.”
Fingers hovering over her small body, I assessed her injuries and vitals. The former were extensive, but the latter… I got nothing.
“No, no, no. Please no.”
I allowed a little bit of healing energy through my finger, just enough for someone her size. “You’ll be all right. You’ll be all right,” I repeated, even when I knew it wasn’t true, even when my skills were telling me there was nothing to be done, nothing that could repair the vast injuries her fragile body had sustained.
Tears clouded my eyes. “Why did you do that?”
Mythorne growled behind me, and I could hear his footsteps approaching. Eyes blurred by tears, I turned to face him.
He took a few steps to the right and picked up my discarded spear, already calculating his shot. I felt so numb, I didn’t react. Larina was dead, and she’d died to save me. She was my dearest friend in Elf-hame. We had grown to care for each other, and I’d imagined her by my side. I’d even daydreamed about taking her to my realm, so my family could meet her and see I was surrounded by wonderful people. But now she was gone.
The Unseelie King pulled the weapon back. Blood smeared the left side of his face and empty eye socket. His lips curled into a cruel grimace, and his remaining eye gleamed with malice.
He would impale me, and I would rest next to Larina—no better company.
My unexpected deliverance came in the shape of an arrow whizzing through the air, aimed directly at Mythorne’s chest.
Cylea!
But it couldn’t have been that easy. At least not as easy as Mythorne flicking his arm and knocking the arrow down with the spear. He twirled the weapon expertly, parrying two more arrows and avoiding injury.
There was a sound to the right. My eyes cut in that direction. Kryn stomped into the clearing, a sword in his hand and a wicked grin twisting his mouth.
And he was not the only one. Silver, Cylea, Jeondar, and Arabis—the last two looking like themselves again—came from behind the trees to form a circle around the Unseelie King.
At the sight of them, hope returned, and with it came fury and a deeper desire for revenge. He had hurt the people I cared about the most in this realm, and he would pay.
