Chapter 54
Wyatt
“Rafe, don’t pass out,” I snarled.
Rafe panted heavily from beside me, his head between his knees while shadows skated around us, all but useless.
The fire had started only moments after Josefa died. Smoke had begun seeping in from all directions, and I’d somehow managed to get us to a deeper cavern while I searched for another outlet.
Nothing terrified Rafe.
He was fearless. He’d jumped off a building the day after his shadows awakened because he wanted to see if they’d save him.
Nothing terrified Rafe…except for fire.
After the fire that ended our military careers, Rafe could hardly be near candles, let alone a fireplace. He’d even had a fake one installed in his bedroom in Skye’s dorm and only kept it on with unnatural colors to trick his brain.
The shadows were flickering in and out in time with Rafe’s ragged breathing, unable to react the way we needed.
“Can’t you fucking help?” I snapped at one shadow that seemed to be hiding behind me.
It disappeared.
I growled in frustration.
Wyatt, a sweet voice called out to me.
My heart rate spiked.
Skye, stay away. I’m getting us out.
I couldn’t focus on keeping more than just Rafe and I safe. I ran my hand across the stone, and my affinity vibrated down my arms.
I could move this. I could move the stone if I could focus–
I don’t know where I am. Crusader is here. He knows who I am.
Oh, my God.
This was what he’d wanted. He’d managed to separate Rafe and I from Skye and Aiden, and…I didn’t know where Aiden was, but if Skye was calling out to me of all people for help, something must’ve happened to him. I could faintly feel Skye’s anxiety, but even that was too weak to pinpoint.
Rafe gasped from next to me.
“She needs us,” he croaked, then sucked in a sharp breath as the smell of smoke wafted toward us.
Fuck.
It was now or never.
I turned around, facing the wall completely. I placed both my hands on the stone and tried to center myself.
I let my stress fade away.
Rafe’s fear.
Skye’s safety.
Aiden…in general.
Willow’s disappointment.
Mia’s disdain.
The ground began to rumble, and then the rock in front of me began to crunch.
“Fuck,” Rafe said breathlessly. He gripped my calf, breathing heavily as he put his own hand to the stone, summoning whatever shadow he could manage.
With the both of us working together, the stone began to separate, shifting and twisting to make an opening big enough for us to fit through.
The moment the ground stopped rumbling, the smoke thickened. Rafe coughed, then whimpered, and I shoved him as hard as I could through the opening.
I dove in behind him, and the two of us scrambled on our hands and knees down a fucking tunnel. I knew there were tunnels down in the dungeons, but we’d never been inside them. There weren’t blueprints for the Palace, so everything we knew was what we’d mapped out ourselves.
We made it to a small room when Skye called for me again.
Wyatt, show me where you are.
No, I snapped. You’re not getting trapped down here.
I have a map, she snarled. Do it now.
I blinked, letting her look through my eyes. My head darted around without my doing, and my heart-rate spiked as I realized I couldn’t control my own movements, but in the next moment I was free.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and then the walls shifted again.
“Fuck!” Rafe cried out, and shadows filled the tunnel a beat too late.
The stone wall closest to us crumpled, and an all too familiar, searing hot pain ignited in my thigh.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Rafe was suddenly looming over me as I stared at the ceiling, my mind frozen on the fact that I’d just re-broken my fucking femur while we were trapped in a dungeon with a fire nearby. I wasn’t sure how long he’d been there. I seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness.
Rafe coughed as more smoke billowed into the tunnel. He moved to pull me, but then gasped as flames began licking into the chamber. He whimpered, trying hard to pull me, but his arms were shaking violently, his legs buckling under him.
“Wyatt,” he rasped. He blinked, and tears began to stream down his cheeks. “Wyatt, I’m so fucking sorry. I really did it this time.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I hissed, pulling him down by his collar. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Oh, my God. Wyatt!”
It was as if the sun had just emerged after a hurricane.
Skye was here.
She was fucking here.
“Fuck, I don’t know if I can take all of us. Someone needs to stay with Aiden.”
“Skye,” I coughed, not sure what she meant by that. “Get him out.”
“No, take Wyatt.” Rafe said. “Leave me, I’ll be–”
Everything went silent.
Skye disappeared with Rafe, and only two seconds later she was back.
It was the longest two seconds of my life.
“Wyatt?” She coughed, the smoke growing thicker by the second. Where are you?
“Here,” I croaked, hissing as I tried to move my leg.
It was well and truly broken. It would take a lot more than just Dani to fix it this time, too. I hoped Zephyr would take pity on me and fix it permanently this time. Either that or I’d have to risk Exhaust.
It may have been a bit weird for me to follow that line of thinking while in a life-threatening situation, but then I had a stunning realization.
I wasn’t…scared.
Skye was here. She was going to get me. I’d be safe with her.
Skye teleported again, appearing right in front of me.
“Come on, let’s–” She cut off with a high-pitched gasp as the ground began to shake. Her silver eyes were wide in fear, looking to me. I shook my head. This wasn’t me. My affinity was hiding, it seemed. I couldn’t summon even the barest amount of dirt to try smothering the fire.
Skye scrambled up off of me, reaching for my arm, then gasped again. She draped herself over me protectively, and I looked up to see the entire dungeon wall was being held up above her.
Skye, while hunched over me, had a hand in the air, trembling as it held thousands of pounds of stone above us.
She whimpered, then raised her left hand to join her right, and I realized that for the first time I’d seen, she was struggling.
Her affinity was buckling under the weight of the stone, and I was powerless to stop it.
“Wyatt,” she croaked. “I c-can’t–”
“You can,” I said, throwing my hand out again, trying to force my affinity to help. This time, it reacted, gripping onto the stone and allowing me to help her. “Fuck, there’s metal in there.”
Skye breathed a sigh of relief as my affinity took some of the weight, though, then she twisted her wrists.
The stone moved slowly, and when the moonlight from overhead illuminated us, she allowed the stones to drop.
Her hands slapped over her ears just in time to protect her from the loud boom of thousands of tons of rocks slamming into the ground.
Fresh air filled my lungs as the smoke had a new outlet, now wafting into the sky. I breathed in deeply as Skye did the same, her chest heaving. She looked me over, her eyes tracing down to my leg.
Her stunning dress was completely trashed. Torn and tattered, stained from who-knows-what. One of her straps had popped, and the top of the dress was sagging, nearly revealing one of her breasts. The diamonds were still firmly in place, glinting in the firelight.
She looked like an avenging angel.
“You oka–”
She cut off with a shriek as the ground rumbled beneath us. Skye toppled over me, and in slow motion, I watched the closest wall begin to sway.
Every protective instinct inside me flared like an explosion.
Skye couldn’t die here.
Rafe and Aiden needed her.
Willow needed her.
Mia, too.
But then, the walls began to crumble, and I didn’t wait.
I’d told her I had faith in her, but I lost it in an instant.
I didn’t count on her affinity.
I didn’t count on mine.
I threw myself at Skye, knocking her into the ground as I covered her body with my own.