Chapter Sixty-Two
The Protector
I look back as she’s ripped off her horse. Men surround her and panic spreads. Nero’s face, he’s smiling. He’s smiling as if he expected this.
I stop my horse, the king racing past me to the harbor. I don’t even care. He’s there. His blonde hair shining in the sun as he stands over her.
“No.” I whisper. It wasn’t supposed to go that way. She was supposed to kill him. She said she was going to kill him.
Nithe stirs to my right, and I glance over as he shoots off his horse. I lunge after him, grabbing his arms as we both fall to the ground.
Sparks fly, shooting off in all directions as she attempts to hurt him, as she attempts to do what she had planned.
“Let go of me!” Nithe screams, but I hold on.
“She needs to do this!” I scream back as we watch. Men fly off in all directions, hitting the ground in smoking piles. She’s kneeling on the ground in front of him, her skin glowing. I can’t hear what she says, but he laughs.
Tobia s’s laugh is loud, commanding.
She pulls herself to her feet.
“Come on, Nora.” I whisper. Nithe stops fighting as we stare, barely seeing over the crest of the hill. Her hands shoot out and star filled tendrils snake towards Tobias. He falls to his back as they slam into his chest. She’s shaking, her hands still held outward.
Tobias doesn’t move and relief pummels through me. She did it. She actually did it. She drops her arms and turns slightly, looking at us.
That was her mistake.
I drop my arms as Nithe clamors to his feet and takes a step forward, a smile passing across Elaenor’s face.
We don’t see him until it’s too late. He stands quickly, thrusting his arms towards her.
Shadows in the form of a blade cross the distance, slamming into her chest. The blade breaks through her skin, blood shooting off in all directions.
Time moves so slow, I don’t think I was able to process what happened after. Nithe’s scream filled the air as Nora’s head slowly tilted down at the gaping hole in her chest. She looks up as she falls to her knees, her mouth parting.
Disbelief fills the air as a sound so primal and animalistic crashes through my ears, as it barrels into my soul. Nithe starts to run, and I grab him, both of us falling to the ground again. His fingers dig into the hard dirt, and I see blood and skin leaving trails as he tries to get away.
Silence fills the small road, the road between the hills as I stare at my sister.
The sister I have only known for a few months.
The sister who promised she would come back.
She falls forward, her face landing in the dirt as blood spreads around her, soaking into the ground. I could feel it. I felt her last heartbeat as if it was my own. I could feel as she took her last breath .
I gasp as the pain slams into my mind. My hands go numb as I collapse next to Nithe. He is sobbing, screaming as he tries to get to his feet.
“Nithe.” I whisper. He glances over at me once, his eyes catching on mine.
“No!” He screams, cries , as he grabs my shoulders, shaking me. And I know what he sees when he looks in my eyes. I turn my head slightly and watch as Tobias bends down and picks Elaenor up. “ NO !” He yells again as he watches her.
Her head hangs over Tobias’s arm, her eyes open and unseeing. Blood pours out of her mouth as Tobias starts to walk.
He doesn’t look at us. He doesn’t even pay attention.
He just carries her body between the trees before disappearing into a cloud of dark mist.
Nithe collapses next to me, grief filling his veins.
Shock fills mine.
Power .
I felt it the second her power filled my veins. The second the starlight became mine. The second every single vein in my body lit up with the light of a million stars.
I felt the entire world shift the second Elaenor died.