Chapter 63 #3
“I’m sorry, my dear. I told him to get close to you. That was the entire reason I sent him to the academy. I wanted to find you.”
Skye blinked again, her expression shifting through several emotions before settling on horror.
I fucking knew it, Wyatt snarled.
“It wasn’t a lie,” River said desperately. “Skye? It wasn’t nothing to me.”
Skye turned her head sharply, looking anywhere but at him.
The Crusader grimaced as he watched her. “I wasn’t prepared to feel so…protective. I told him to do this, but I never imagined it would hurt you so deeply. Don’t worry, my dear. I’ll punish him for you.”
Skye didn’t object. She squeezed her eyes shut as a few tears leaked out.
The Crusader looked us over again, then pushed his hands into his pockets.
“River,” he said. “I’ve changed my mind. Take the divinity now. I don’t need her killing me before we can do a transfer. We’ll plan to try it as soon as we’re back.”
“What?” River choked out.
“No,” Wyatt shouted. “River, don’t!”
The Crusader sneered at him, then stomped on his hand. Wyatt’s face twisted in pain, but he didn’t cry out. It didn’t matter. Skye felt it all, anyway.
Skye gasped, heaving another sob. “Don’t hurt him. I’ll give it to you. Whatever you want.”
“No,” Rafe moaned. “No, Skye–”
“River,” the Crusader said sharply. “Now.”
River turned to Skye, his eyes wide and haunted.
Skye stared up at him, on her hands and knees with her wet hair in clumps on her shoulders. More tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I have to,” River said. “I can’t…”
“Don’t do it,” I whispered, though he was too far to hear me. “You can fight it.”
The Crusader grabbed me by my hair, ripping my head up so he could look at me.
He furrowed his brow, looking back and forth between my eyes.
Lightning streaked across the sky behind him. Thunder followed.
Just as I summoned the bravery I’d need to zap this fucker and myself with the next streak of lightning, River took Skye’s hand.
She gasped, moving to pull away, and then…she screamed.
A blood-curdling, guttural scream.
River squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a sob of his own as she tried to fight her way away from him. The Crusader dropped me, spinning around in shock. He moved as if he were going to stop River, but then he fisted his hands, once again burying them in his pockets.
“Stop!” I shouted. “You can’t!”
“We all have a weakness,” the Crusader muttered as if trying to reassure himself. “I knew I’d find his eventually.”
It felt like hours, but it’d only been a few seconds. Skye slumped over, falling onto River. He caught her, pulling her limp body to his chest while tears fell unbidden. He whispered into her hair, nothing any of us could hear.
“Why isn’t she moving?” I whispered hoarsely. “Rafe?”
“I can’t…” Rafe shook his head, a few shadows trying to dart closer. “I don’t know.”
“Is she breathing?” Wyatt said. “Why isn’t she moving?! Is she…”
“No,” Rafe whispered.
River’s tortured gaze met mine, and then he shook his head.
I tried thinking back on what I knew of River’s affinities. Skye…looked dead. She wasn’t. We would’ve felt it, but…
“And to think,” the Crusader said. “This all could’ve been avoided if you’d just told me you were one of her Links.”
We all froze again.
River…wasn’t one of Skye’s Links.
I was struck with a sudden sense that the Crusader didn’t actually know what the fuck was going on. Like…at all.
The Crusader laughed a little cruelly. “I can’t believe you actually listened to Lucille and got tested.
I told her it would never work.” He sighed, then snapped his fingers at River, who was staring down at Skye, still in his arms. “Come on. We’ll need to get her settled before the Tempest returns. ”
Skye was fighting to keep her eyes open, her head lolling as River lifted her. Her eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes opened, her silver gaze locking on mine.
“Skye,” I breathed.
Skye, Rafe called. Darling, tell me…tell us what to do. We’ll go with you. You’re not alone.
I’m not alone, she said, her eyelashes fluttering again as she glanced up at River. I’m so sorry.
What?
With whatever strength she could muster, she tossed out her hand, and then–
I sat up in sand.
The sun overhead was so bright, I was momentarily blinded. Then, a wave of water crashed over me, rewetting my already soaked clothes. I swallowed a mouthful of saltwater before I managed to scramble to my feet, kicking sand into the air as I gasped and choked.
We were…on a fucking island?
“Is this the Gulf?!” I wheezed.
“It’s the fucking Gulf,” Rafe whispered hoarsely. “She…she…”
“How are we here? What the fuck happened?!” I sputtered.
A wall of sand flew into the sky, then slammed down in the water, sending a giant wave back out into the sea. The ground began to tremble violently.
I fell onto my ass, still staring at the huge wave pushing out into the water, wondering…if that was a bad thing. I looked to my side, where Wyatt was on his hands and knees, panting heavily.
“Wyatt? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay,” Wyatt said quietly, his eyes wild. “I’m not okay because she fucking TELEPORTED US.”
To be concluded in book 4…