Page 133 of Wrath of the Fae

‘I’ll warn the others.’ Tessa’s wings beat hard as she rushes towards the others.

But I know there’s no hope.

‘It’s too late,’ I whisper. ‘It’s too late.’ I shake my head and let out a sob. Even as Rhea tries to get me to sit, I won’t. I don’t want her to see my face. To see what Jonah has done. I don’t want that to be the last thing she sees before…

‘I love you,’ I tell her.

‘I love you too,’ she insists, still trying to get me to sit up. ‘We have to run. Get back to the portal. Get to the tunnels.’

‘There’s no time,’ I reply weakly. ‘No time…’

I take a deep breath and shove her away from me. I hear her soar through the air and land several meters away.

I growl. I fucking roar and press my palms deep into the earth.

My head is thrown back. My wings spread wide, and a pulse of power blasts from my very soul.

I make a shield.

But this shield does not rise. I send it down, encasing those explosives I saw so clearly in Jonah’s mind.

They explode.

The ground shakes and screams as it tears and breaks, the fire and heat enraged at being encased in my shield. I hear the distant screams of those on the surface as they fall and stumble. As chunks of stone fall from ancient buildings. As trees tumble. I think I hear the palace fall.

Then it falls still. The fire dies. The explosion ends.

The shield fades.

And I fall and feel Reid and Cyrus catch me as I slump.

‘Raven…’ Reid says painfully, sweeping my hair from my face. ‘What has he done to you? Oh, baby, your eyes!’

Rhea screams. It echoes all around me as I lie motionless in Reid’s arms.

‘Is she breathing?!’ Cyrus asks in a panic, his fingers pressing to my neck. ‘Her pulse is slow. Reid… Reid, what do we do?’

I feel him running his shaking hands over my face as Rhea sobs at my side, clinging to my hand.

‘Kill me,’ I whisper. ‘Before it’s too late.’

I used my shield. That means only one thing.

I convulse in their arms as something inside wrenches hard.

I know that feeling.

I struggle to breathe as Ivan’s machine summons me once more. The pull is stronger than before. But the pain is just as I remember it. Just as debilitating and all-consuming.

‘No!’ Reid takes my hand in his. ‘NO!’ he presses it to his chest.

I’m fading. I know it.

‘No. NO! NO!’ It’s all he seems able to say. ‘Stay,’ he pleads. ‘Stay! STAY!’

‘Jonah is the King,’ I tell them both. ‘Your father is dead, Reid. Jonah wears his face.’ I scream as I’m pulled. As my soul is ripped apart again. ‘Kill me!’ I plead. ‘Don’t let him retake me!’

‘No!’ Cyrus snarls.

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