Chapter 43
Elyse
Elyse landed in the stands a few rows away from the portal, holding Sera’s hand. An acrid smell lingered in the air, burning her nostrils. Whether it was from the Hellhounds or the portal itself, she wasn’t sure.
The north end of the stands had been cleared out, the crowd driven away by the beasts.
Elyse prayed that the civilians had put enough space between themselves and the Hellhounds to make it safely to an exit, but a handful of bodies lay hauntingly still.
The sight threatened to send her to her knees.
Beside her, Sera gazed up at the shimmering portal. Its sparkling essence reflected in her lilac irises as she stared at her fate. She glanced at Elyse for a fleeting moment before heading for the stairs.
Elyse let Sera pull her along, following out of a numb sort of stupor. As they approached the portal, the air crackled with energy. The very threads of the universe seemed to be stretching and pulling around them as they took in this incredible magic, both formidable and beautiful.
Up close, Elyse could see the multitude of colors swirling in the vortex, each as rich as the next. Violet, indigo, streaks of pure white, all shifting and twisting together.
Sera’s eyes reached toward Elyse and lingered there. Her black hair had been braided in a crown atop her head. It was fitting; she looked like a queen as she stood with regal grace, ready to sacrifice herself for kingdom.
“Thank you,” she told her friend. There was so much genuine gratitude in Sera’s voice, it nearly broke Elyse.
Elyse fought the enormous lump in her throat as she tried to be brave. She would not show fear, not when her friend needed her. “You trusted me when I signed that blood oath with Killian. Now it’s time to return the favor—even if I do hate it.”
The tiniest smile tugged at Sera’s lips. Perhaps the last time Elyse would see her friend’s smile. Sera clasped Elyse into a fierce hug, one that conveyed a decade of something more than friendship. It was sisterhood, pure yet painful in its goodbye.
When they pulled away, Elyse could feel herself trembling. She gazed up at the incredible woman before her. If Sera held any doubts, they were buried beneath a mask of resolve.
“We’ll find you,” Elyse assured her.
Sera dipped her chin once. “I know.” She released her hand from Elyse’s and took a steadying inhale before stepping toward the portal.
The eerie surface of the portal cast a bluish glow across Sera’s face.
She was so close now that her nose nearly touched the vibrating entrance.
Just before she stepped in, she spun her head to gaze one last time at the arena.
Toward her husband, somewhere in the chaos, that she was giving up everything for. “Keep him safe,” she called to Elyse.
“I will,” Elyse answered, voice shaking. “I swear it.”
Sera took one step forward, and the portal swallowed her whole.
Elyse stood frozen for a moment, locked in time, waiting as if Sera might come bursting back out.
She was frozen, half expecting to wake from a nightmare.
Disorder still brewed around her, obvious from the shrieks and growls echoing across the arena.
Killian and Manny were out there, waiting for her to return.
Only her.
When nothing happened, and no one—not beast nor human—came through the portal, Elyse accepted it was time.
She lifted her hands and recited the spell—a spell she’d learned long ago in her quest to devour as much knowledge as she could.
A spell that would seal the portal and trap her best friend in a foreign hell.
The edges of the portal began to dim as she poured her magic into it, but it did not shrink.
It remained as large and as imminent as before Sera had disappeared into its ether.
Fear cut through Elyse as she wondered what Sera was encountering on the other side, and if she would be able to help close the portal.
“Come on,” she gritted through her teeth.
“Come on!” It was as much an urging as it was a plea.
She willed Sera to hear her, wherever she was.
Stay safe. Stay fighting. She couldn’t bear to accept any other possibility.
Her hands began to shake, her voice breaking as she spoke the incantation again and again.
Ten more seconds, Elyse thought. Ten more seconds and I’ll damn this whole place. I’ll go in there myself and bring her back.
But the ten seconds didn’t come. The edge of the portal simmered into a deep black, and Elyse gasped.
With renewed vigor, she uttered the incantation.
The portal began curling in on itself, like the edge of a singed paper as it burned and shriveled.
It groaned with a sound like metal on metal, so at odds with its fluid surface.
“Keep going!” she called between lines of the spell. “Keep going, keep going, you’ve got this!” She could hardly hear herself over the roaring noise of the collapsing portal, but she hoped Sera would somehow hear and know what she meant: Keep going. Survive. Never give up.
The portal was now only a few feet wide, hovering in the air before Elyse. Her arms began to ache with the force of the magic flowing through her, but she held firm. Feet shrank to inches. The portal gave one last rumble that shook the arena before it winked out of existence.
It was done. The portal was closed. Sera was gone, and Elyse was all alone.
She allowed herself a single tear to say goodbye to her friend. It slid to her chin, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. She let out a deep breath.
Straightening her back, she turned and faced the arena floor. She had work to do, and a promise to keep.