Chapter Fifty-Four
Skylar Cathal
I could feel the shift coming, and I didn’t try to stop it.
The grief, the unbearable hollow ache and emptiness, was too much. Too loud for this world.
Why choose to keep living when the reason you smile, the reason your heart keeps beating and your soul is finally complete… is gone?
He was gone.
He was gone.
So why am I still here?
I understood why Magnus turned. Why my mother died of a broken heart after my father was killed.
And for the first time, I didn’t question any of it.
The Heart of Valdor was destroyed.
Minaeve was dead. Her creations, her magic, everything we fought for was now ours, and yet the cost of victory was something I was unprepared to pay.
“Skylar!”
My name wound through the settling dust left behind by the explosion, but I barely heard it. The world blurred, drained of color, drained of everything except the throbbing reminder that I was alone, and he… he was gone.
I’d killed my mate.
The heat surged violently, ripping through my spine like a blade of molten light. My bones creaked under the pressure, my skin tightening as feathers of fire bloomed beneath the surface of my skin, begging to tear free.
I didn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop it.
My grief was like a tidal wave, crushing every part of me, drowning me on dry land. The phoenix inside me screamed for release, to help swallow the pain and surrender.
Let the fire take me. Let it burn me.
The air around me quivered, shimmering with heat.
My pulse stuttered, then faded, swallowed by the rising roar of flame that strove to devour everything I was.
My breath halted as the world flickered into the abyss.
And all my feelings drained out in a violent rush.
The pain, the fear, every emotion dissolved into a white-hot void.
And in that terrifying emptiness, there was silence. Beautiful, merciful silence.
Come and take me.
“Skylar!” A voice detonated inside my void like a burst of mountain air mixed with fresh pine from the balcony of the Summit. I paused, holding my breath as my phoenix sang inside my center, the song carrying me back.
Hands cupped my face, cool and soothing against my fevered skin. Something tugged, no, demanded that I come back into this world. I tried to fight it, but another touch pressed against me, firm, grounding, and impossibly familiar.
“Spitfire… I’m here.”
The haze shredded, and my eyes snapped open.
“Daxton?” His name broke on a shattered breath.
No, this wasn’t real. He died. I felt the bond… No.
My eyes widened as I realized that I didn’t feel our bond break. I was too terrified to face that pain, so I shut off my emotions and buried myself in my animal.
“Spitfire,” he breathed, voice shaking as he grasped my chin and tilted my face up. Those silver eyes locked onto mine. “I’m here.”
My heart stopped.
“You’re…” The word crumbled in my throat, lost in the rising emotion threatening to tear me apart. “How? How are you—”
He bent, and his lips crashed into mine, not gentle or soft, but claiming, dragging me out of the abyss with a single, desperate plea. A kiss I thought I would never taste again.
The bond between us ignited, slamming into place with a force that rippled outward in a shockwave across the battle-ridden valley. When Daxton pulled back, our foreheads pressed together, and our breaths mingled in the shimmering heat around us.
“Your fires never harm me, my spitfire. They always part for me.” He smiled, the damn dimple on his cheek appearing as I collapsed into his arms.
I cried into his scorched shirt, trembling as I tried to catch my breath. I rose and captured his lips once more. The scent of a burning fire on the high snow-capped mountains surrounded us in a cloud of bliss. I kissed him like it was my last act in this life.
“I will always find you, Spitfire,” he whispered against my lips.
I trembled, holding him close as I whispered back, “We will always find each other, Daxton.”