Chapter 81
CHAPTER 81
Dayton
T here’s something sobering about losing half your weight in blood.
Sobering and fucking sticky.
Here lies the fool, coughing on his own blood. Who let his realm fall to a tyrant because his mind was too muddled to save it.
The blurred image of the Bronze Knight swims before me. Damn, I knew I’d lose to this bastard, but I thought at least I’d put on a show.
Have to hand it to the crowd, though. I guess in their own way, they’re rooting for me. There’s none of the applause that would normally arise when a kill is about to be made.
Horror cuts through me at the thought of what my death will mean for Delphia. Of the pain and burden she will feel in only moments—
“Wait!” A clear voice rings out across the arena, and I see the blurry shape of a girl in white running across the sand. “Wait, please!”
Wrenley. I can’t even form words as she throws her slight body over mine.
“He’s my mate! ” Tears stream down her face as she looks up at the Bronze Knight. “Let me say goodbye!”
“Be quick,” the Bronze Knight rumbles, “before I end the Summer Prince for good.”
“Dayton.” Wrenley takes my head in her hands.
“H-how did you …”
“I snuck past the guards. I couldn’t watch this.”
“Did …” I cough, blood splattering on my chest.
“Did what, Dayton?”
“Did Rosie come back?”
Wrenley’s face turns to pity.
Just from her expression, I know the answer to my own question. “She didn’t return, then.”
“Dayton—”
We don’t have much time; I don’t have much time. “Wrenley, you need to get out of here. You need to find my sister and tell her she can’t return to—”
“Kairyn has left the city,” she whispers. “He’s hunting Ezryn. What do you think he’ll do when he feels her Blessing?”
Panic swells in my breast. I should have tried to escape the arena. Should have run like a coward to protect her. “Wren, I can’t win this.”
She drops her forehead to mine. “What if there was another way?”
“What way?” My breath rattles.
She strokes my hair, such a tender gesture. “Give your Blessing to me.”
“What? I couldn’t ask that of you.”
“You’re not asking me. Dayton, I would do this thing for you. I may not have been able to give you your true power—”
“That wasn’t your fault,” I rasp. “It was—”
“You’re my mate.” Wrenley places her hand over my slowing heart. “I want to protect you, and if I can’t save you, let me save someone you love.”
“Kairyn would come for you.”
“I can escape before he returns,” she says hastily.
My head falls to the sands, which are red now. My Blessing flickers inside me. A burden I never wanted.
Since the first moment I felt it blaze inside me, it has been nothing but tragedy. I imagine Delphia in the desert, feeling that weight transfer to her. She’s already had to bear too much responsibility for the last twenty-five years.
Wrenley’s no fool. There’s a quiet sort of bravery about her. This choice will save Delphia, but not the Summer Realm.
Summer is as lost as me.
Gritting my teeth, I force myself up and look into my mate’s eyes. “Wrenley …”
“I’m ready, Dayton.”