Chapter 16
JACE
Ihave been stabbed before. Many times in many places. But this…this is a different kind of pain, concocted of my own worst fears—my own worst nightmares.
This is a shot of venom to the heart.
Something pierces my chest. A sharp, paralyzing pain. My knees slam into the hard marble tile.
What’s happening to me?
There’s this sickening feeling coming from Zadyn. His thoughts are racing so fast I can’t even comprehend them.
“Jace!” Dover drives his foot into the chest of a golden soldier.
Get up, I tell myself. Get up, or you’re dead.
“Come on!” Dover wrenches me upright, and I’m ashamed at my inability to lift a sword. We back up until we fall through the chapel doors, sealing ourselves in.
And that’s when I see her.
Serena.
My little witch, lying in a heap in Zadyn’s lap, Kylian’s hands pressed to her chest. I struggle to make sense of the tableau.
Her white gown is stained tar-black, blood seeping from the gaping wound on her chest. A few feet away lies a dagger slick with that same blood.
The room starts to spin.
I’m vaguely aware that I’m moving—no, dragging myself—closer. But it all feels like a blur. A nightmare and not reality. This can’t be happening.
We can’t be too late.
Flashes of gold rush at me from all sides. My gift pushes out, wrapping invisible tethers around the necks of each assailant as they fall to the ground choking. More come at me from every angle, and I feel my magic falter and escape me altogether.
I cut through them despite the agony slowing my steps, my sword hacking through the crowd like a field of thorns. I can feel the slices of their blades, I can feel the blood trickling down my skin, but I keep going.
Keep pushing.
The floor rises up to meet me, and I crawl the rest of the way to her side.
“What happened?” I choke.
“She stabbed herself.”
What? Why?
“No,” I breathe. “No.”
“Help me.” Zadyn’s composure has snapped, and before me is a male just as desperate and terrified as I am. Even Kylian is distraught—pouring over her with panic in his eyes.
I clasp her hands, hurling out my efforts to heal her—to stop death in its tracks.
“Come on,” Zadyn curses under his breath. More guards rush toward us, but Kylian stops them with a warning look.
“Please. Please.”
Don’t let her die, I beg, crushing her fingers to my lips.
In my head, I make all kinds of promises. Thoughtless vows, empty trades to gods who aren’t listening—who don’t care.
Fool’s bargains, I know. But it doesn’t stop me.
Tears roll down my face and onto her dress, soaking through the silk of her gown as I bury my head in her lap.
Come back. Please come back. This cannot be our ending. I cannot lose you. This cannot be over.
Her eyelids flutter a few times before she goes still.
Still as death.
Something in me snaps. My heart rips open as my anguished, choked scream fills the expansive chapel. The pain reaches a crescendo, swirling with the torment of her loss.
I barely even notice as Zadyn lets out a battle cry and tackles Kylian backward, latching onto his neck. They go flying back into the altar, taking out the long table and golden candelabras in their wake. Fire catches, eating its way across the dais.
I have no idea why Serena stabbing herself is affecting Kylian this way, this heartless, cold monster. But I couldn’t care less if the two of them kill each other. I don’t plan to stick around much longer if she’s not here.
I can’t live without her. I can’t breathe without her.
I will find you, I vow.
My fingers trace over her face one last time before I reach for the dagger.
The chapel doors fly off the hinges and the Stryga burst into the room with Mal at the helm. The wedding guests cry out and scatter like ants. Then I feel something that can only be described as the greatest relief of my entire life.
Her finger squeezes mine.
Faintly, so faintly. But undeniably.
I let out a strangled laugh.
“Jace!” I turn to see Dover and Kai holding open a door off to the side of the dais.
“This way!” Kai shouts over the chaos. I scoop Serena up into my arms and race toward them. Dover pauses in the doorway, glancing back toward Zadyn.
“We can’t leave him.”
“He’s already dead,” I spit.
That’s when Serena stirs in my arms. She coughs up some black blood, her eyes still closed. I stagger back, my heart leaping in response. At the sound of her choking, Zadyn whirls, stunned.
In that split second, Kylian’s guards are on him, Mal in the lead. I shove Serena into Dover’s arms and, with a growl, lunge straight for him.
Sparks fly as our swords meet, colliding in a lethal kiss. I drive my foot into his chest, sending him back into the wall. Marble crumbles beneath the force. Whirling to Zadyn, I shout, “Time to go.”
“Not before I kill him.” He steps toward a still-recovering Kylian, but my fist wraps around his arm.
“Let go of me.”
“She’s alive. And if you die, she’ll hold me responsible.”
Recognition registers in his eyes as he inches back to sanity. We sprint toward our friends, spilling through the door as Kai slams it behind us, shutting out a wave of bloodthirsty beasts.
“We need to get to Mar. She’s posted up on the shore,” I tell Kai.
“Going out the way we came in is out of the question,” Dover says.
“I have a better way out.” Kai hastily leads us down a dark corridor through a hidden door in the wall.
My eyes are fixed solely on Serena, stirring lightly in Dover’s arms.
We make it to a decrepit part of the castle, and Kai ushers us inside a room filled with antique mirrors.
I can sense dark, seductive magic rolling off of them.
Kai moves around at a brisk pace, feeling the glass surface of each one as I shrug out of the remnants of golden armor.
I stand ready by the door, sword in hand, listening for attackers.
“Which one is it?” Kai mutters to himself.
“What is this?” I ask, though deep in my bones, I fear I already know.
“Our ticket out of here alive.”
“They’re magic mirrors,” Zadyn pants as Serena goes into another coughing fit.
Both of us wheel toward the sound.
“Put her down,” he commands Dover, who gently lays her on the drafty floor. Zadyn rips the ridiculous veil from her head and smooths back her hair. I take slight comfort in the gentle rise and fall of her chest.
Alive, I tell myself. She’s alive.
Serena’s eyes fly open and she shoots up, gasping for air.