Page 454 of Bitten By the Fae
“Is she pulling energy from us to survive?” I wondered out loud as I massaged my agonized ribs.
“It’s all the blood.” Zakkai’s voice was as strained as mine. “The source was preparing her… to hold it together.”
“What?” I didn’t understand what that meant.
“I can feel it fracturing. The trial Constantine has set is requiring too much. The dark source is in agony. That’s what we’re feeling—Aflora’s reaction to the source being split into pieces.”
“How is that even possible?” Kols demanded. “Constantine isn’t stronger than the source.”
“No. He’s just the acting conduit. And he’s commanding a hell of a lot of power right now—more than any monarch should. Which meansall Midnight Faecan feel this right now. Just as they can sense Aflora’s anguish over having to keep it all together.”
“Do you think he realizes that?” Shade asked.
“I think he’s too arrogant to see beyond this trial,” Zakkai gritted out. “I’m trying to help her, but it’s too… too chaotic. And it’s draining too much.”
Kols collapsed against Aflora’s abdomen, his breath leaving on a wheeze. “It… it’s like…” A subtle hum came from his mind, causing Shade’s eyes to widen.
“Oh, fuck,” the Death Blood whispered. “No.”
“Yes,” Kols hissed.
“What?” I demanded. “What is it like?”
“When I died,” Kols breathed, his forehead touching Aflora’s flat abdomen.
A burst of energy sent me forward, my hands roaming over her, checking her vitals and evaluating her still form. She felt okay, like she was sleeping.
Then Kols released a wheezing cough, and my gaze went to Zakkai. “You said it’s like the source is breaking and protesting the trial. Because it doesn’t agree with the sacrifice?” It came out as a question, but as I voiced it, I could sense the answer. “She’s being forced to choose.” Something I vowed only this week would never happen. “Fuck.”
“She’s holding our life strands,” Shade said, his pupils flaring. “Just like I did with Kols.”
My Elite Blood mate nodded wobbly, his skin exceptionally pale. “Feels… like… that.”
“And Kolstov is slipping fastest because he’s the clear choice for death,” Zakkai said solemnly. “He cheated it once already.The source is demanding its due… by forcing Aflora’s choice. That’s why it’s breaking.”
“It feels the wrongness of the trial,” I realized in a breath. “We have to do something to help her. There has to be a way.”
But Zakkai’s expression said otherwise.
As did the grim line of Shade’s mouth. “There’s nothing we can do. This is her path to walk… and her path alone.”
I screamed,my arms stretched impossibly wide as I refused to release any of my mates.
Constantine’s cruel laughter circled me in an invisible rope of sound, slithering across my skin and taunting my ears.
I hated him.
Hatedthis.
“I refuse to choose!” I yelled.
Which only made him laugh harder.
“Oh, Aflora. You act as though that’s an option.” His voice came from right in front of me, his body encased in shadows, leaving me in the perpetual dark with the ropes of magic tearing from my palms. “You must sacrifice one.”
“No.” I wouldn’t do it. I could never sacrifice any of my mates. I’d rather die. I’d rather lose. I’d rather not ascend. “Take it all back. Take the power. Take the source. Take it all back!”
His amusement blackened my soul, telling me there was no reasoning with him.
