Page 145 of The Curse of Golden Blood
For just a moment, her golden eyes found mine across the space between us. And in that gaze I saw not the goddess ofdestruction she had become, but the broken girl who had lost everyone she loved.
I reached out toward her even though the energy around her could have destroyed me on contact. "Come back to us," I whispered, meeting that broken gaze. "Come back to me."
Her head tilted slightly, those terrible eyes widening. "Zydar?"
"I am here. Come back to me."
There was no air left in my lungs. The heat around her was overwhelming, turning sweat to steam the instant it escaped my skin. But I couldn't risk moving. I couldn't look away.
The energy around her began to shift, to pull inward instead of spreading outward. She was fighting it, wrestling with power that wanted nothing more than to destroy. Fighting to regain control over the fury that Ylvena had carefully cultivated.
"That is it," I breathed, close enough now that the heat from her ascended form made my skin burn. "Come back to me, little dove."
The blast that followed shattered more than stone and glass. It shattered something fundamental in the world's fabric. Light crashed against light with a sound like reality tearing apart. The courtyard cracked beneath our feet. Ancient pillars toppled. The air itself caught fire.
I threw myself sideways, dragging Narietta with me as the shockwave rolled over us like a physical thing. Even pressed against the ruined wall, even shielded by fallen masonry, the heat was enough to sear the breath from my lungs.
When the light finally faded, when the echoing thunder of power released died away, silence settled over the Sun Court like snow.
I pushed myself upright, ears ringing, vision still spotty with afterimages. Where Ylvena had floated, nothingremained but empty air and a single object falling to the scorched marble below. Her crown. The golden circlet that had symbolized her authority for longer than most kingdoms had existed.
It struck the ground with a sound like breaking bells.
Miralyte descended slowly, her radiance dimming with each foot she fell. By the time her boots touched the courtyard, she looked mortal again. Human again. But the power still clung to her skin like morning light, and her eyes held depths that had not been there before.
A sound broke from her throat, raw and animal, a keening wail that made my chest ache. She fell to her knees beside her friend, hands hovering over the still form as if touch might somehow bring back what had been lost.
I was moving before conscious thought caught up with need. My boots crunched over broken glass and scattered stones. My wings folded tight against my back as I dropped beside her, pulling her into my arms without hesitation.
She fought me at first, thrashing like a trapped bird, grief and power and fury all tangled together in her trembling limbs. But I held on, anchoring her against my chest, one hand in her hair, the other wrapped around her waist.
"Shh," I murmured against her temple, pressing my lips to the soft skin there. "Shh, little dove. It is over. You made it. She is gone."
Miralyte collapsed against me then, all the fight going out of her at once. Her hands fisted in my shirt as sobs wracked her frame. I felt every tremor, every broken breath, every tear that fell onto my skin.
"Pelbie," she whispered between gasps. "I was too late. I was not strong enough."
"You saved everyone else," I said, holding her tighter. "You saved us all."
She pulled back to look at me, tears streaming down her cheeks, grief and exhaustion written in every line of her face. Then her eyes widened. Her fingers traced along my throat where my shirt had torn during the blast.
The black veins were gone. Every trace of corruption that had been eating me alive from the inside out had vanished. My skin was unmarked, clean, whole. The curse that had been killing me inch by inch, the poison that had spread through my system like liquid night, had disappeared entirely. As if it had never existed.
"The Rot," she breathed, staring at me in wonder.
"How?" I asked.
"When I ascended," she said, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "When the power peaked. I felt it break. Every curse, every binding Ylvena had woven. They all snapped at once."
I cupped her face in my hands, thumbs brushing away the tears on her cheeks. "It is over, Mira. Truly over."
But she was still shaking, still broken by what she had lost. The victory felt hollow with Pelbie's blood staining the marble beside us. I pulled her close again, let her cry against my chest until the worst of it passed.
When her breathing had steadied, when the tremors had faded to occasional shudders, I reached for the crown that had fallen from Ylvena's dying light. The gold was still warm, still humming with residual power. It was heavier than it looked, weighted with centuries of rule.
"Mira," I said softly.
She looked up at me, eyes red but clear.
