Chapter 54 - Lyra #2
And as I slam my left palm against his breastplate, I let everything I have left go. Every bit of power I have left inside me, I push into his chest. My luminth erupts.
His mouth falls open. We stare at each other, both of us breathing heavily.
Beneath my hand, his armor cracks. Splinters, spiderwebbing across the flawless gold and directly through the crest he wears. In his eyes, I see something I never expected.
Fear.
He bares his teeth. “You will not—”
It’s a killing blow, and we both know it. But the Lightbringer healers are skilled.
I pull my hand back, driving a luminth blade into his thigh. It burns through the armored seam and he grunts, his leg buckling as he drops in my arms.
Behind me, there’s a shout from the ring of soldiers. A flare of movement—
“Do not interfere!”
It doesn’t come from him. It comes from Reena.
As he drops, I risk a glance over my shoulder. Her eyes are wide now, face pale. Her hands twitch as if she wants to lift them. As if she wants to help him. As if she wants to stop me, and our eyes meet.
She mouths two words.
You promised.
I promised her that I would come home, when it was done.
Commander Vaelion of the Lightbringer forces hits the ground with a grunt, his armor clanging.
And nobody moves.
He’s never been below anything in my life.
His eyes blaze up at me, murderous. He flares luminth from his palm. My head jerks to the side, the strike grazing my cheek and searing my skin.
He has nothing left. My dagger strikes down once more, toward his wrist.
“You killed my mother,” I keep my voice low. This is between us, between him and I and twenty-five years of pain. “You hurt me for your amusement and called it duty. You called it prophecy. How does it feel to see it fulfilled?”
He shakes his head once. Gold, highborn blood trickles from his mouth. His nose, soaking into the ground below us. “Everything I did was for Solvandyr.”
“No,” I snap. “Everything you did was for you.”
He lifts his injured hand, trying to summon luminth again, but nothing happens. He chokes, more blood bubbling. “Healers—,”
“There’ll be no healers.” I raise both my palms and pour luminth into the air, creating a single, focused shape. A blade longer than his. Thicker. Brighter. A guillotine of light.
“Lyra,” he breathes, and for a heartbeat his voice holds something that could have been pleading. “Think. Reena—”
I glance sideways. Reena stands rigid. She nods at me.
“You made your choices,” I whisper. “And I’m making mine.”
The blade slides through the armor that covers his abdomen. Straight through, severing his spinal cord so deeply that it almost cuts his body into two.
Commander Vaelion, Lightbringer leader, my father, my tormentor, lays dead at my feet, his blood glistening gold against the ground.
Slumping, my knees hit the floor.
For a moment, the battlefield sound rushes back in. Screams, and shouts, and the clash of weapons. And I drink it in.
They’re still fighting.
The Lightbringers nearby have gone still. Some take a step back, others raising weapons uncertainly. The line wavers.
And as one, they look to Reena.
My sister meets my gaze again. Her face is shattered, lined with fear and grief and something like relief warring behind her eyes. She swallows hard.
She’s the Solvandyr Commander now, whether she wanted it or not.
I never asked her if she wanted it.
And I am… my stomach twists. They called me a kin-killer in the Veilspire, and now I wear the mantle in truth.
I turn away from my father’s body, forcing myself to breathe as I push myself upright. “Reena. You can end this war. Right now.”
Her eyes flicker. “The wielders—”
“They don’t want it,” I breathe. Desperation tightens my lungs, my chest. “Kaelen doesn’t want a war. They haven’t for a long time. Longer than his lifetime. They just want to be left alone.”
I wonder what she sees, as she stares at me. Reena takes a step back, her lips parting. “You speak of him with such familiarity, Lyra. And what happened to your face?”
The battle rages on. He could lose his shield at any time. My heart thumps, unsteady in my chest. “Please.”
I don’t think. I drop to my knees. “Please. Blow the horn, and end this before there’s nothing left.”
Her cheeks darken, as if she’s embarrassed. “This display is unbecoming. What happened to you?”
Tears spill over my cheeks, making her waver in front of my eyes. “They saved me. And now I need to save them. I can’t lose them.”
“Them?”
“Kaelen.” I breathe in. “Darian. Eres. All of them, Reena. If you only understood, but there’s no time. Please. Call a ceasefire, at least. Let him speak.”
I look over my shoulder once more, to the raging battlefield. And that’s when I see it.
Kaelen’s shield flickers once more. And goes out.
The roar that erupts from the Lightbringers in response shreds my chest. “No. No!”
I lunge at Reena. “Please—”
The blade slams through my back. Reena’s eyes widen, her mouth moving as I stare at her face. Lower. The blade gleams with light where it emerges from my chest, almost touching my sister.
My breathing gurgles.
No.
She has to—she has to.
My lips move.
Eres. Kaelen. Darian.
And my heart is beating so quickly.
I was too late.
Too late to save them.