Page 72 of Heir Of Sun And Moon
His hand moves to tangle in my hair. Our lips barely touch, but I can tell he is smiling against mine. My magic starts to hum inside of me, the warm feeling moving slowly up my torso and down my arms to my hands. They begin to glow faintly, the magic pulsing to the beat of my heart. The angles of Flynn’s face are illuminated by the mild white light between us, his smile causing that throbbing to go faster. My eyes flutter closed as his lips finally seal over mine, his hand tightening slightly in my hair. It’s a more delicate kiss, our lips moving like we’re mapping out unexplored territory for the first time. I’m lost in the passion of it, every nerve ending on edge while my mind is a quiet calm.
Perhaps Flynn is just as distracted, and that’s why neither of us hear the crunching of the leaves or realize that Bella is growling until it’s too late and a searing pain flares to life in my thigh.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Rhea
Iscreamasmyhands, still alight with my magic, move to where the pain is radiating in the side of my thigh. I can feel the warm trickle of blood trailing down my leg from the arrow—anactualarrow—protruding there. Flynn wraps an arm around my waist and hauls me to the opposite side of the tree from where the arrow came. Though how he can tell in the pitch black, I don’t know. Bella flanks my other side as I breathe through the pain in my leg, not wanting to make too much noise. My magic slowly fades from my hands as I focus on calling it back inside me and letting the darkness come into place around us again.
“Fuck, Rhea, it’s going to be okay,” he promises, his large hand covering mine while his other holds the sword up. “I can pull the arrow out, and you can heal it—”
“We don’t have time,” I say, gasping for breath as I grip Flynn’s forearm tightly. The pain is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before; it’s a radiating burn that feels like it’s coming from deep within the bone in my leg. “We need to get away from them.” Memories of the night Bella nearly died remind me of how much blood she lost when she was shot by an arrow. I’ve never healed myself from an injury like this before. What if it takes more time than we have and something happens to Flynn? My palms grow clammy as I force myself to push away from the trunk of the tree, gasping for breath.
“Rhea—”
“You know we can’t stay still here,” I whisper, grateful for the darkness as I wince and grit my teeth together. Gods, the pain reverberates in a searing heat down my entire leg and up to my hip. My stomach lurches as a bout of nausea and dizziness washes over me. In between Flynn and the tree, I try to stand, using them to hold myself up.
“And you know I can’t bear to see you in pain. Let me take it out now.Please.”
My heart beats furiously, and my breath gets stuck in my chest. Tears roll down my cheeks; that piercing pain exacerbates with every second that passes. Flynn moves us a little farther into the trees, leaning me up against a large trunk. He places my hand on his shoulder, both of his now slowly traveling up my injured leg. His muscles tense as he gets closer to where the arrow is in my thigh.
“Rhea, please. Just a few seconds of pain, and then you can start to heal it.”
“Alright,” I whisper, bringing my other hand to cover my mouth as I heave air in and out of my nose.
“On the count of three,” he says quietly. I squeeze my eyes shut, my fingernails digging into the muscles of his shoulders in a way that must be painful for him. “One. Two—” He starts to tug on the arrow as I scream into my palm. Suddenly, his hands are gone and he is on the ground in front of me, cursing into the darkness.
“Flynn?” I cry out as I try to drop to my knees, aware that my voice is ricocheting off of the trees and likely revealing our position.
“I’ve been shot,” he hisses as panic ices my veins. Bella growls low at something behind us, and I don’t have time to react before Flynn hauls the side of me that isn’t bleeding closer to him. His arm squeezes around my waist, nearly lifting me off the ground with his strength. He says nothing as he starts to lead us through the forest at a faster pace which I know we won’t be able to keep up, injured as we are.
I want to ask him where he was shot, but words are too hard to form. Tears leak from my eyes with each step we take as we run. I bite down on my lower lip to keep the building screams trapped in my throat as a metallic taste blankets my tongue. When I take a particularly jarring step on the uneven forest floor, a small sob escapes from me as the pain nearly causes me to black out—my vision, even in the darkness, blurs.
“Just a little farther, Sunshine. You can do it,” he encourages, his steps never faltering as we move as quickly as possible between the trees. Leaves rustle around us, and it’s hard to tell if it’s from the noiseweare making or if it’s from the guards. I wonder momentarily if the king eventually followed his men out here and is hunting us down as well.
Small patches of moonlight dot the ground ahead of us, providing us with some much-needed guidance as we make our escape. Suddenly, Bella—who keeps pace a few feet ahead of us—stops, her paws skidding in the leaves from the abruptness. Flynn hauls me even closer to him, my arms already gripped around his torso for support. Bella’s ears twitch from side to side as she slowly surveys the area in front of us. I stand completely still, feeling the skin around the arrow throb with each beat of my heart. My boot feels slick and warm, and the thought of that much blood pooling in it nearly causes me to vomit. Flynn steps back from me, his arm unwrapping from its place on my shoulders. I watch in the small amount of silver light streaming in above us as he reaches across his chest to his other arm and—gritting his teeth together—yanks something out with a sickening sound. He tosses what I see now is an arrow to the ground, exhaling a breath before running his uninjured hand through his hair.
“We need to get yours out next,” he says softly.
I take a step towards him, my hands reaching out to heal the wound on his arm first. There’s nothing to prepare me for when a second arrow enters the back of my shoulder, the force of it pushing me into Flynn. I can’t help how one of the screams I’ve been holding back releases of its own accord.
“Oy! We are supposed to bring her back to him alive!” a voice shouts from in front of us.
“It’s not my fault she moved in front of him right when I loosed the arrow!” another responds back.
Flynn is ripped from my grasp when someone tackles him from behind as large arms wrap around me from the side, pulling me into a chest covered with golden armor. The arrow sticking out of my thigh gets bumped in the scuffle, and the pain that shoots through me causes me to freeze as I scream out again.
“I have her,” my captor yells.
Beyond the little bit of silvery light, I can just make out Flynn battling with two more guards. One is in front of him, the other behind, but his movements are graceful as he blocks and counters each of their attacks. He looks like an avenging god from the fairy tales I’ve read, even with his injured arm. His eyes flick to mine, and for a brief moment, our connection is undeniable. It’s a tangible thread linking us—being pulled taut. Our souls connect for a breathless fragment in time.
“Your little escape attempt has failed,bitch. It’s time to go back to where you belong.” The guard’s voice grates in my ears as he starts dragging me away with him. I fight to dig my feet into the earth, but my dizziness is winning and the leaves scattered everywhere keep causing my boots to slip.
“Flynn!” I scream, my consciousness beginning to fade. I’m doing everything I can to stay awake because I know that if I don’t fight, then I will wake up back in that tower. Or, it hits me as I let out another frustrated scream, there is somewhere worse for me to end up—in the king’s bed as his betrothed. I would rather make them kill me right here and now than go back to that. Back to him.
Bella growls from somewhere behind me as I kick and twist in the guard’s hold, but it’s no use. I’m completely helpless against him. My sobs turn to wails, my body growing weaker with each attempt I make. In my flailing, I connect a fisted hand with his face, causing the guard to hiss and loosen his grip on me. I jerk free and haltingly, painfully, run back towards Flynn and Bella. I make it four steps, adrenaline flooding my body as I try to get away, but a sharp yank of my hair pulls me backwards.
“No!” I scream, but the guard wraps my hair around his fist until my shoulder crashes into his chest. He pulls on my hair, forcing my face to tilt up as his other hand grips onto my outer hip harshly.
“If it wasn’t a death wish, I would shut you up with my cock right now,” he growls as his beady eyes bore into me. He squeezes me to his side as he begins to walk, his arm knocking into the arrow still penetrating my shoulder with each step. Tears and blood loss cause my eyes to blur, but through my weariness and hysteria, I start to feel a warm sensation—familiar and bright. I look down and see the glow of my magic in my palms. They grow brighter the longer I stare, and the guard sucks in a breath.
