Page 101 of To Wake a Kingdom

“I said ‘begin’!” Mare screamed.

“Attack me,” I said to Noah. “Do it, or none of us will walk away from this.”

“I can’t do that,” he said, his sword up.

“You have to,” I hissed. “There is no choice. She will see to that.”

We continued to circle. Mare would tolerate this for a short while, but her patience was thin. I glanced at Ronan and hoped he could see the apology in my expression. When I swung for Noah, he dodged me with ease, stepping out of the way, leaving me unharmed. Fury shook Mare, so I lunged again, more viciously this time. Noah had no choice but to shove me off.

And then I lost my mind. Mare had finally broken me. She had broken my bones. Broken my mind. Broken my heart and torn apart every piece of my fucking soul.

A tangled mess of teeth and nails and hair, I launched myself at Noah. He wrestled me to the ground, trying to protect me from myself, but I was a storm, untethered and lashing against the waves. In my frenzy, I kicked him in the stomach, and he went flying. It shocked me enough that cold resignation replaced my raw fury.

I jumped up, scooping up my sword, and raced for Noah. Finally, he understood what had to happen, even as remorse consumed us both. At the last possible second, he picked up his own sword and blocked me, jumping up and advancing. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping me standing.

I bent down to pick up my dagger, but that was a mistake because then Noah was on me. An arm clamped around my waist while another wrenched the sword from my hand. A heartbeat later, he had his dagger at my throat, my back pressed against his chest. This was the end, and I wondered if Mare would stop him from killing me. But no, this had been her plan all along—to ruin as many lives as possible.

Noah hesitated.

“Do it!” Mare hissed. “Do it, or there will be far greater consequences.”

“Do it,” I said, sobbing. “Please, do it. She’ll make me watch him die. Please,” I begged. “I don’t want to live anymore. Give me peace, Noah. She’ll never stop.”

“He’d never forgive me,” Noah said, the sound so anguished it sliced my flesh into strips. The crowd roared around us, enveloping us in a chanting cavity of white noise. The world constricted down to only the two of us. I felt his tears as they fell against my neck.

“Noah, please,” I whispered, and felt him shake his head.

“Do it!” Mare shrieked at a fever pitch. She was going to destroy us all.

“You’ll get out of this,” Noah was saying, now. “You’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. It’s no wonder he fell in love with you.”

“What?” I asked, bewildered. There was no way out of here. “Please, Noah. Do it. I’m begging you.”

I felt him inhale a deep breath against my back, and then he pressed his lips to my temple and whispered, “Take good care of him, Thorne. Have a good life. You both deserve that.”

In a movement so fast, I didn’t even see it, he let go of me and spun around to face me. He grabbed my hand in both of his, wrapping them around his dagger, and then plunged it into his heart. Blood gushed hot and red over my hand, and I screamed. Noah slumped down as he slid off the blade and landed face-up in the dirt.

I kept screaming. I couldn’t stop screaming. The crowd was screaming. Mare was screaming. The universe became one loud, endless scream, echoing against the dark for a thousand years.

And then the world exploded.

Chapter Forty-One

Thrownoffmyfeet,I flew into the air and landed on the hard ground, my already ravaged skin tearing on the gravel and dirt. Hard objects pelted from the sky, and panic swelled as screams filled the stadium. But it was no longer the frenzied bloodlust of the cheering crowd—it was fear and pain and confusion.

One moment, Noah had sacrificed himself, and the next, there was nothing. Just the ringing in my ears and the stinging of my skin as if I’d been pushed down a hill inside a barrel full of tacks.

My face buried in the nest of my arms, I lay on the ground. Whatever had caused that explosion could come and find me. I’d once promised Kianna I’d never give up, but she was gone, and Noah was gone, and Ronan was gone, and I had nothing left to give. I let out a sob that bundled the fear and the hope, the anger and the joy, the love and the loneliness that had all been my prison for the past one hundred and twenty-one years.

But then, strong arms scooped me up, and I was pressed against a warm body. My mind registered a familiar scent that filled my veins and fortified the collapsing walls of whatever fight I had left. My eyes fluttered open to find Ronan speeding us away from the arena. He leaped over the gate in one stride, and I must have finally succumbed to death because this couldn’t be real.

“Ronan?” I croaked, my throat rubbed raw from screaming.

My heart seized. I had missed him so much that I almost snapped in two. We were racing through the menagerie, twisting around cages and down the pathways.

“Stop,” I said. “Ronan, you have to stop.”

“What?” he asked, coming to a halt.

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