Chapter 20
Blood.
There was so much blood as the arrow pierced through Aeric’s chest, warm flecks making her flinch as they touched her face. And then there was so much of it that it coated the front of his leathers crimson down to his abdomen.
Aeric hadn’t so much as screamed when he dropped to the ground, falling into the snow before her. The way a dead body would.
No, no, no!
It was Anelize who screamed as she rushed to him, horror and dread filled every inch of her.
Her body, her mind, her soul. Everything called to him in that one desperate scream.
She made it all of two steps to him before a hand gripped the back of her hair and yanked her back, shoving her to the ground.
Snow flew around her as she struggled to sit up, baring her teeth as she inched away from the Watchman who towered over her.
“Vedran or sympathizer. What are you?” the Watchman sneered, holding the bow that he’d used to…to…
Anelize wanted to close her eyes and feel for his heart. Anything that could tell her that Aeric was alive. But she couldn’t, not as the Watchman stalked toward her, his boots crunching the snow beneath him.
“It matters not what you are. I’ll string you up and have the dogs feast on you regardless.”
She made to stand, to fight back the way Adan had taught her.
Her arms shot up, barely managing to shield herself from the bow he used like a whip, the wood hitting her wrist hard enough that she bit back a scream of pain and something wet and warm rushed down her sleeve.
The second time he struck her, she hadn’t been prepared as his boot hit her square in the chest sending her back to the ground.
The air in her lungs rushed out on a gasp.
“Stay down, and I’ll make this quick,” the Watchman ordered with a snicker before he turned to walk away.
No, not away. Toward Aeric.
Aeric, who still hadn’t moved.
Aeric, whose blood had seeped into the snow around him. Rushing out of his body too quickly.
The Watchman pulled out a dagger from its sheath at his belt as he stalked toward him, his intentions clear, and it sparked something within her. If she didn’t do something now, he’d kill Aeric.
Anelize got to her feet, supporting herself with her good hand, and stumbled after the Watchman.
She didn’t have time to close her eyes and will her gift to come to her, just as she didn’t have time to think about anything other than stopping that dagger from sinking into Aeric’s chest and ending his life.
Her body screamed in protest as she ran as fast as she could toward them, putting all of her strength into her legs as the Watchman stood before Aeric, and raised his dagger high enough that the steel shined bright beneath the pale light of day.
Releasing a desperate cry, Anelize shoved the Watchman aside with all her might. Long enough to stun him and throw herself atop Aeric’s still body.
She snarled as she sent him a vicious glare. “Stay away from him.”
The Watchman staggered but quickly righted himself, fury shining in his beady eyes as he cursed her before resuming his attack, raising his dagger once more. “Fine. I’ll kill you both myself and save the trouble of hauling you to the king.”
He raised his hand high and brought the dagger down toward her this time.
Anelize raised her hand, shutting her eyes as she waited for the pain. The life draining from her the moment the tip of his dagger met its way home.
Nothing happened, save for a desperate choking sound.
Anelize opened her eyes and looked up to find that the Watchman was clutching at his neck, his face growing red.
Then she realized he couldn’t breathe. Not as her power stalled his lungs, the oxygen that could have gone to his head to keep him alive.
She felt it through the blood running through his body.
The pulse and stuttering of his heart, the roaring in his veins.
The Watchman’s eyes bulged out as he stared at her, the fear—the same fear she had seen on countless people today—was reflected in his gaze. Silently begging for mercy.
And where was the mercy shown to her people? For Aeric, who laid behind her dying in the snow. When had any of them been showed kindness or granted peace in all the twenty years the Vedrans had slowly been hunted down?
It didn’t matter how much the man before her begged for his life; he would go back to killing Vedrans again. Revert to blaming them for the poison he’d been fed by the king and countless others who thought just like him. There would be no mercy.
Not when the Watchman’s eyes narrowed, and through halting breaths he rasped, “Monster. I will kill…every last one of…you.”
It was in hearing those words, the unyielding hatred that she would never understand, that Anelize rose to her feet and sent the Watchman staggering back two paces as she followed after him.
Her hand turned slowly, shifting the current of blood in his veins up until blood pooled within the whites of his eyes, red tears running down his face.
His hands grasped toward the invisible hands choking the life out of him.
“You’re right. Only I am a monster made, not born.” Anelize slowly closed her hand into a fist, hearing the Watchman’s heart stop beating. The rushing blood finally slowing.
She knew the exact moment the Watchman’s soul left his body as he released one final gasp. Then his arms went limp at his sides as he swayed, and then he fell backward like a stone sinking in water. His eyes open and bloodied as they stared up at the sky above him.
Anelize released a shaky breath as the power roiling inside her finally ceased, retreating back into its cavern like a vicious beast of shadow waiting to hunt its next prey. She had done it. Taken a life.
Before she could allow herself to truly comprehend what she had just done, Anelize breathed out, “Aeric…”
Spinning around, she ran back to him, dropping to her knees as she carefully, oh so carefully, assessed the damage the arrow had done to him.
“Aeric?” From how he laid on his chest, it was difficult to see if he was breathing beneath the cloak and leathers. There was so much blood…
Placing her hands upon his back, she leaned down and placed her ear against him, trying to listen. Waiting for that familiar heartbeat. There was nothing. Nothing at all.
Aeric was dead.
“No, no, you’re not—” Anelize’s words choked on a whimper as she sat back up, refusing to admit what she knew was true. What logic and years of training as a healer had taught her about death and it’s unexpected, cruel threads intertwined with fate.
Anelize had never believed in fate or saints, and she certainly had never dared to dream about anything in her life. Thinking herself undeserving of any of those things, that they could ever be meant for her.
But this…she refused to accept this. To lose him.
Closing her eyes, she cast out her power one more time and searched for him in the dark.
For that flickering glimpse of his life still tethered to his body.
It felt endless as she searched through the ebony realm within both.
Sweat trickled down her back and pain began to take root behind her eyes, but she didn’t care.
Didn’t want to stop until she found him.
“Stay with me. Come back,” she called into the darkness, her voice echoing in the vastness laid out before her. A world she had yet to discover and would likely never get the chance to do so again. “Aeric. Come back.”
She could feel the blood seeping from her injured wrist pouring over his back, as if it too sought him out. Attempted to interchange power. Anelize wished such a thing were possible. Wished, and wished, and wished.
“Aeric, please...” A sob slipped past her lips as she bent over him, not finding his heart. Because he was gone.
Minutes passed where she laid in the snow beside him. Feeling the heat from his body slowly disappear, consumed by the cold air around them. All she could do was stare into his hollowed eyes, the color no longer the same vibrant, beautiful shade of cerulean.
She closed her eyes, feeling the tears slowly run down the side of her face.
That was when she saw it, through the darkness of her mind when her power began searching once more of its own volition. A small blue light, flickering like a flame fighting to stay lit. Glowing faintly as if to say “I’m here.”
Anelize gasped as she went to it, watching as it made its way over to her.
Slowly cupping the light between her palms and smiling down at it.
For such a small, fragile thing, it was warm and comforting.
Safe. And she carefully blew on the flame, barely so much as a whisper, before she watched the flame shift and grow.
Brighter and brighter until the darkness around them faded away and there was only that one light. Him.
Tears streamed down her face when she finally heard it then. The sound of his heart pulsing once, then twice, then—
Aeric suddenly pulled in a pained gasp, and Anelize opened her eyes to see that he was alive. Breathing and alive. She released a breathless laugh that ended on a sob as she brushed the wet strands of his hair away from his face.
“Aeric!”
He didn’t open his eyes as he groaned before he slid back into unconsciousness. None of those things mattered so long as he kept breathing and she could hear his heart without so much as conjuring herself to listen for him. A sound she would never allow herself to forget.
Footsteps rushed into the street behind her, and Anelize whirled, her entire body lit with the need to protect him again. Only, it was not a Watchman rushing toward them, and she felt her entire body relax in sheer relief at the sight of the twins, panting and covered in blood and soot.
“Anya?” Adan took in the destruction around her, the Watchman dead mere paces away from her. Understanding flickered in his eyes as he looked at her, and before he could ask her if she was all right or reprimand her, his attention shifted to Aeric. Then he swore viciously.