Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
“No way.” Cassian shook his head at me as Elia, and I stood deep in the woods with him, running through the scenario for the fourth time.
The trees hemmed us in on all sides, black silhouettes rising like watchful sentries.
Fallen leaves muffled our footsteps, and the faint scent of pine and moss clung to the air.
“Fine, go back to camp, and we will do this without you,” I tossed at him, “and if Elia goes too far and kills me, then you get to live with that on your conscience.”
His mouth unhinged. “Brynn, you can’t put me in this position!”
I reached out and grasped the sides of his face, watching as he softened under my touch. His golden hair fell forward, brushing my fingers. “I trust no one else with this task, Cass. My whole life, I’ve felt that no one truly believed in me. I know this is what is meant to happen, and I need you.”
He pulled my hands away from his face and looked down at the Aerlyn ring, brushing his finger over it and nodding. The gesture carried a quiet resignation. We hadn’t spoken about it, but it was obvious what it was, who had given it to me.
“Okay,” he breathed in defeat. An Elite magic user would be able to pull Elia off me if needed. Everything was set. The plan was a go.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s go,” I told them both.
I held my arms out before Elia, and she looked at me like I was an idiot. A faint wind whispered through the branches overhead, scattering dull yellow leaves around our feet.
“Brynn, you are about to feel the most pain you have ever felt in your life. Are you sure you are prepared for this?”
Fear spiked through me, but I pushed it down. “I’m ready.”
Elia chewed her lip but nodded. “Then take off your cloak. We have to reenact what happened to Aunt Valkaryn. She was bitten all over her body. My mother and Godric were the ones who found her. I need access to as much skin as possible, and I don’t want to ruin your clothes.”
“Oh Creator, I feel sick,” Cassian said, beginning to pace. His boots cut restless tracks into the damp earth. The tension in the clearing snapped taut, like the woods leaned in to hear what would happen next.
‘Brynn,’ Val echoed in my mind, her voice brushing the edges of my thoughts like a trembling hand. I pushed her out. I didn’t want to be talked out of this. The night air felt cold against my bare arms, prickling my skin almost in warning.
‘I didn’t just survive because I was bitten a certain number of times,’ she said, and I paused, listening to her.
Her tone wasn’t frantic; it was quiet, weighted, like she was opening an old scar.
‘I survived because I had something to keep living for. I fought. When the venom threatened to make me go mad, I fought because I wanted to see Drake again, my family again. They anchored me to this world. You have to focus on why you want to live through this, what you are fighting for.’
Advice on how to survive? That was new. It slithered into me, threading tightness through my chest. I nodded, swallowing hard, my throat clicking.
After stripping down to my underclothes, I stood before Elia, face a mask of calm as I met her gaze. The cold wind threaded through the trees, lifting the fine hairs on my arms.
“Elia, I swear to you I will not succumb to this.”
She gave me one last panicked look before starting to shift. Her bones cracked, muscles rippling beneath her skin; the sound alone made my stomach flip. The glow of the moon pooled silver over her as fur burst across her limbs.
Cassian rushed forward then, placing one hand on either of my arms. His palms were warm, grounding. “Reconsider this, Brynn. I’ll fight with you, even if I die storming the gates of Lunaria. I’ll fight beside you and help you free the captives there and give Kaelric his crown back.”
My heart pinched at his sincerity, raw and earnest. It nearly punctured the resolve holding me upright.
“You have the biggest heart of anyone I know,” I told him. “But I have to do this.” My voice quivered only slightly, but the rest of me felt like stone.
‘Brynn! Where are you!’ Kaelric’s voice bled into my mind, and I gently shrugged out of Cassian’s grasp. I could feel Kaelric’s panic like a second heartbeat under my skin. He was close. Damn, he was close.
“We have to hurry. Kaelric is coming!” I told Elia.
Cassian growled and then stepped back as Elia stood before me. She was a beautiful russet-colored wolf, her fur gleaming like burnished copper beneath the moon. And right now she was baring her teeth at me with a low growl purring in her throat, an animal warning that crawled up my spine.
‘Do not do this. I forbid you,’ Kaelric commanded in my head. His voice struck like a whip, fear and fury swirling behind it.
He knew what I was doing? How? Elia? Maybe she told him to free her conscience in case I died. My stomach clenched at the possibility.
‘I love you. I’m sorry for lying, but I’m not one of your wolves to order around, so you can’t forbid me to do anything,’ I told him. ‘Not yet.’ The thought came fierce, unflinching.
I finished just as Elia lunged for my thigh and took the first bite.
Pain exploded across my right thigh like fire injected straight into my veins, white-hot and blinding. The world snapped out of focus. I heard a howl in the distance. It was far off, but would be here soon.
Kaelric.
Elia’s wolf released my leg and then moved quickly to bite into my arm. Her jaws were sharp as iron, precise, leaving behind searing trails of venom that crawled beneath my skin.
“Oh, Hades.” Cassian stood there, arms out, blue magic swirling in his palms like coiled lightning as he watched me writhe in pain.
I screamed, brought to my knees with agony, and Elia’s wolf hesitated, her golden eyes flicking with something like horror.
“Keep going!” I shouted at her, catching her golden eyes in mine. Even through the anguish, I tried to project confidence, begging her to trust me.
She bit again, and again, and again. Quick, painful bursts, just enough to deposit venom and retreat. Each puncture felt like molten nails driving into bone. The forest around us felt too quiet, holding its breath.
“I can’t watch.” Cassian gave me his back for a moment, retching in his throat. He pressed a fist to his mouth, shoulders trembling.
Blood was dripping everywhere, warm rivers down my limbs, and Elia’s wolf had gone from small bite-and-release to more ferocious tugs. I’d lost count of how many times, twenty? More? The numbers blurred with the agony.
The pain made dizziness dance at the edges of my vision, or maybe it was the blood loss. The night sky spun, trees wavering like they were underwater.
‘Think of why you want to live,’ Valkaryn told me. ‘Hold your future in your mind. Find your anchor.’
‘Why?’ I asked, my thoughts fraying.
‘Because it’s the best way to keep your spirit earthbound. I’m trying to keep you from meeting the Creator today.’
Her words shook me. I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t ready. I had too much to do.
I thought of my mother then, laughing on the front porch as Sable chased Finn around the yard. I thought of Kaelric, of kissing his lips and telling him I loved him. I thought of avenging his crown, of freeing his aunt and killing Harrow. Those images pulled like anchors, tying me to this world.
Elia whimpered then, and I realized I was on my back, bleeding out with shallow breathing as I looked up at the sky. Had I passed out? I didn’t remember falling over. The moon glowed above me, haloed in silver, blurred at the edges as if seen through water.
“Stop, stop, right now!” Cassian warned, with his hands out. Blue magic danced along his palms like flames desperate to leap.
‘She has to keep going, or you’ll die. You need enough venom to change,’ Val told me, her voice sharp but trembling beneath.
“Keep…” I sucked in a wheezing breath. “…going.” It scraped my throat, barely audible.
Elia’s wolf looked at Cassian, and I peered up at him as well. He was openly crying, tears streaking down his cheeks, and I knew then that he loved me. I loved him too. Not in the same way, but as a beloved friend, a brother. And now I might have just forced him to watch me die.
‘Hold on, my little human,’ Kaelric announced. ‘I’m coming.’
The howl that rose up was closer and more tortured, almost broken.
I glanced at Elia, feeling rivulets of blood flowing out of my arms, legs, and back, pooling beneath me, warm and sticky. The earth felt like it was trying to drink me.
“Keep—” was all I managed, but she rushed forward and bit my neck, then again biting my shoulder. My vision rattled, cracking apart. I had screamed myself hoarse, the pain agonizing beyond anything I’d known. The trees above me began to swim, branches bending like they were reaching down for me.
“Surely that’s enough now. She’s going to die,” Cassian sobbed, voice cracking under the weight of panic.
Blue bands of magic flung from his hands like ropes and wound around Elia, yanking her away from me.
The magic hissed through the air, bright against the darkness.
The force of it sent leaves skittering across the forest floor.
Cassian fell onto his knees before me.
Elia tucked her tail and whimpered, backing up even farther as the magic bindings fell away. Her chest heaved, paws twitching nervously over the pine needles, torn between instinct and loyalty.
I reached up to touch Cassian’s face, but my arm fell back and crashed onto the ground with a dull thud. My muscles no longer listened to me. I was too weak.
His tears flowed freely down his cheeks and fell onto my chest, warm against my skin that felt frighteningly cold.
His breath came in short tremors, the scent of magic still clinging to him.
I wanted to comfort him, to tell him how much it meant to me to always have him rooting for me.
To tell him I was sorry I couldn’t like him the way he liked me.
But when I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out, only a gasp of air that barely stirred.
Then I felt him.
Kaelric’s presence was like the morning sun cresting a horizon, a soft warmth that cut through the shadows. I felt alert for a split second as he loomed behind Cassian, his aura wrapping around me like a protective cloak.
There were a thousand emotions dancing across his face, all fighting for space.
Rage. Horror. Adoration. Anguish. Rebellion. Shock. Denial. Acceptance.
Each flickered through his features like a storm rolling behind his eyes, threatening to break.
He gently moved Cassian to the side and kneeled before me. The world steadied beneath his touch. I felt his arms hook under my knees and neck, and then I was being lifted to his chest. The warmth of him bled into my skin, but my limbs hung limp, my head lolling toward his shoulder.
Standing, Kaelric stared at the sky as a storm raged in his eyes. The night seemed to bend toward him, the wind whispering through the trees.
“If you take her, you might as well take me, too,” he told the sky.
Kaelric’s golden healing light began to pour from his hands, spreading like liquid sunlight over my skin, but I felt Valkaryn sharp and hot in my mind.
‘No. That will purge the venom,’ she warned, her voice edged with urgency.
“Sto…p,” I panted to Kaelric weakly. “No.”
He peered down at me, his eyes a war of orange and green. They were filling with tears, and he blinked rapidly, until they splashed onto my cheeks.
Somehow, seeing Kaelric cry was more heartbreaking than seeing Cassian. There was a heavier weight to it.
“Trust… me. Stop,” I said again, and the healing light stopped in an instant, dissolving into the night.
Kaelric fell to his knees with me in his arms, tears flowing down his face and onto my chest. His voice broke as he spoke into my ear, his chest trembling beneath my cheek: “You were enough for me just as you were, Brynn,” he wept.
“I would have lived a lifetime without children, without bedding you, and still it would have been enough.”
They were the most beautiful words anyone had ever said to me, warm and devastating and tender all at once. The last words I heard before my soul left my body.