Chapter 46
THROUGH THE DARK
Gavrel
Her fingers trembled as they traced the blackened rune over my heart. The mark pulsed, slow and sick, each throb echoing like poison through my veins. Her eyes were glassy with starlight and terror. I’d never seen her so afraid.
“It’s spreading. His talisman was already vulnerable to Phobetor’s ember. Or perhaps a piece of the curse never left him,” Jace murmured from somewhere behind us. “If it reaches his heart, he’ll—”
“I know!” she cried, her voice sharp enough to split the air.
My vision was fading; all I needed to see was Seryn. She was the only thing that mattered to me before I slipped into the aether.
Her aura flickered as she looked back at me, searching my face as if she could anchor herself there. “There’s only one way to get it out,” she whispered, her trembling hand going to her dagger.
My hand found hers, weak but sure. “Do it.”
She shook her head, tears cutting tracks through the grime and blood coating her cheeks. “There has to be—”
“Do it, Little Star.” I coughed, blood dribbling from the corners of my lips.
She pressed her forehead to mine, her words shuddering on an exhale. “You bloody stubborn—”
“I love you, too.”
Slowly, she straddled my waist, her weapon in her grip, the moon glinting off the black stone. The pommel danced with radiance. She raised it, her entire body shaking.
I swore the faint outline of the Elysium Tree fluttered behind her, but I blinked, and it was gone.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered, and drove the blade into me.
Searing pain like fire-coated lightning exploded through my chest. My body bowed, a raw cry tearing from my throat and Seryn’s.
Then … nothing.
The world blinked out.
Weightless. Soundless.
Only her voice broke through the emptiness, calling my name as if she could chase me through the darkness.