Chapter 118
CHAPTER 118
Rosalina
“N O!” the word tears out of me. I fall to the ground, scrambling over to get to him. Stone rips open my knees and my palms as I cross the distance between me and Dayton.
He lies on his back, face up at the beaming sun. His eyes are open, but the familiar shine is gone. There’s no light there anymore. The slightest hint of a smile seems trapped, imprisoned on his face even now.
“No, no, no, no.” I touch his chest, his face, his arms. Then the wound. The bolt of light has cut straight through him, a gaping hole in his body at least a hand’s width wide. “I-I can fix this. Hold on, Day.”
But … what is there to fix? That thing in my heart that’s called for him ever since we’ve met has vanished. A thread snapped straight through the middle. I place my hands on either side of his face like I did with Kairyn, feeling for the roots of his life. I have the most powerful healing magic in all the Vale. I will fix this.
But the roots have shriveled up. The soil of his life is barren. There’s nothing to hold on to, not even a sliver …
If there was! If there was even one shard of him, I could do it. He’s mine , my Day. I could unmake the world for him, if I had to.
No, I would.
I cradle his head in my lap. His vacant eyes terrify me, but so does looking away. I can’t imagine not hearing his booming laugh, feeling basked in his love.
“Don’t go,” I sob, rocking back and forth. “I only just got you. Don’t go.”
There are voices around me, but I barely hear them. Who was with me? I don’t care.
A wind picks up, tearing at my clothes and hair. I smooth his down. Then rain begins, pelting our skin. Dark clouds roll over the horizon, hiding the sun. No, no. Who’s doing this? Dayton loves the sun. Thunder rumbles and then his skin is illuminated as a crack of lightning strikes the side of the building.
“Grab her and get us back to the Below before she takes us all down with her!”
Ah. I’m doing it.
It’s as if a sick numbness spreads throughout my body, but my skin is alight with energy. How can there be so much power singing through my blood and not enough to save him?
Love. That’s always what’s powered me, driven every choice, every action. I love Dayton so much; it has to be enough to save him.
I brace my hands on his chest and push everything I am into everything he was. “Take it,” I sob. “Take all of me. Take everything.”
The storm rages more powerfully, chunks of rock shaking off the building with bursts of lightning, the rain growing so strong, I can barely see. “Everything I am, I give to him!”
But he’s nothing but an empty shell. Our mate bond isn’t just limp in my heart—it’s gone completely.
No matter how much magic I have, even with Spring’s Blessing and my mother’s celestial blood coursing through my veins, there’s nothing here to save.
My love is worthless .
A feeling cuts through the numbness.
Rage .
I peer through the rain and find the silhouettes of Sira and Wrenley. The Bow of Radiance glows bright enough to shine through even this storm.
My bow did this. My bow. My bow!
What good is my cursed love if it made me save the one who killed him? Killed he who is better than us all? He who loves and gives so much of himself?
No … He who loved. He who gave .
He’s gone now.
Wrenley took him away. Because I saved her.
My compassion did this.
Gently, I place Dayton’s head on the ground. Then I stand, body shaking. My voice echoes in every raindrop, every gale, every strike of lightning. “You have made a very poor choice, Queen of the Below.”
I step through the storm until my eyes pierce Sira. “You will live to regret this.”
Her only response is the slightest tremble of her lip. Then she turns to her daughter. “Now, Wrenley. Do it NOW!”
Wrenley is sitting on the ground, knees clutched to her chest, the bow tossed in front of her. She rocks back and forth before Sira’s words cause her to straighten. Again, that voided darkness takes over her eyes.
Before I even have a chance to look back at my dead mate, iridescent vines leap over my body.
With my last moment of freedom before I’m pulled below the earth, I stare at the Queen of the Below, my gaze pure lightning, to remind her of my promise. You will live to regret this .