55. Jaxus
FIFTY-FIVE
JAXUS
M y final breath came in a small gasp half filled with sand, and then I didn’t dare try to breathe a lungful of the grains that crept up my face. I was no healer, but I couldn’t imagine a chestful would be helpful to sustaining life. Kiera’s voice brought peace to what I knew would be my final moments.
My lungs burned and my vision began to black, but I wasn’t sure if it was because my eyes closed or the lack of oxygen claimed my sight.
“Don’t leave me,” I pleaded when Kiera went silent.
“Don’t you dare let go.” Kiera’s yell echoed between my ears, giving me a tether to hold on to.
“I’m not,” I said, trying to soothe her through our connection. I didn’t want Kiera to worry. I wanted her to feel my calmness at the end, to know I made peace with our life. “You must escape and take the cure to Nyx.” And for herself. I had to impress the urgency on her while I still could make coherent thoughts.
“Fuck you.” Kiera’s voice was strained.
“I mean it, Firefly. I love you. Please don’t waste any more time mourning this place. If you stay, you will be caught. Go with the cure.” My senses completely failed me. Darkness became my existence. Floating through the void.
Could she even hear me?
“Kiera?” Had I passed on?
“I refuse to leave you.” Warm fingers curled around my arm, jolting me from the sensory deprivation. “Help me.”
I struggled, but against what I didn’t know. I fought against grains with no notion of up or down, no way to try to reach the surface. The only grounding became Kiera’s touch.
Consciousness slipped further and further.
An idea I could no longer hold on to.
And then my head broke above the surface.
I forgot how to breathe, coughing sand but finally drawing in air. Kiera hit my sternum with her fist. Feeling began to return to my skin. My fingers constricted, reminding me of what it was to be in my body.
I shook, unable to open my eyes. I clung to her, and somehow, she dragged me from the pit. But I lost time again, waking up on my side, coughing while my body seized and convulsed.
“We have to get out of here. We’ve triggered some alarm.” Faolan’s words were the first I processed.
“How? I can’t carry him.”
“You have to use some of your reserves to heal him,” Faolan said like the answer was obvious.
“I’ve only had him give me magic through our connection that way. I don’t know how to do it in reverse.” Kiera’s voice shook.
I wanted to tell her to just touch me. Hold me and I’d do the work, but I couldn’t make my mouth form words. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, and my jaw wouldn’t move.
“You have to try.” Faolan grabbed her wrist and pressed her hand to my neck. “You’re a healer. Don’t you breathe life back into your patients?”
“Not like this. Only mates can do this.” Kiera’s voice wavered like she wasn’t sure what she said was factual.
“Trace your connection points and just push your magic across the connections, I guess. Not too much, or we’ll have to carry you out, but enough to get him on his feet. Hurry!” Faolan’s tone sounded urgent. “There will be guards upon us soon now that we’ve triggered some kind of alarm.”
I tried to tell them to leave me, but no words came. None would even go to mind speech. I was too weak.
But it only lasted a moment longer. Kiera forced power across our threads and I inhaled, feeling coming back to my limbs. I sat, forcing myself to my feet with the little energy I had before it faded.
“We have to move,” I said, throwing my hands out as vertigo hit me.
Kiera grabbed my arm, giving me more magic. Each hit came like a jolt of adrenaline.
“Ease it back a little.” I pleaded, doubling over, trying to equalize the energy I’d been injected with.
“We need to go.” Faolan grabbed my other arm, and we ran.
I only stayed on my feet because of them on either side. We ducked through tunnels.
“Stop,” Faolan hissed.
We froze.
Faolan tilted his head, listening. “They are in?—”
As he spoke, a blood-curdling scream hit me in the chest.
My brother’s cry was unmistakable.
I pulled out of their grasp, not sure where I found the strength, but I stumbled towards him. Faolan and Kiera were on my tail, and we came out into a chamber. Cornered. My brother clutched at his side, blood staining his shirt. His breathing came labored.
The fae turned on us and sent a barrage of stun magic our way. I barely got a shield up before they switched to bows.
“Kiera. They are going to shoot.” It was our standard training to send a volley of arrows after stunning, so we threw ourselves back into the tunnel to evade them.
“There has to be another way around.” Faolan peeked around the corner only to be met with another volley of arrows. “We aren’t getting out that way.”
“We can’t leave my brother,” I said through my teeth. “And he has the vessel.”
“Emrys doesn’t have it?” Faolan asked, locking eyes with me and I knew what he wasn’t saying.
“No,” I said firmly, shutting down anything he might say out loud.
“But—“
I cut him off. “He is carrying it. We have to rescue him.”
Faolan nodded, but there was an edge to his attitude. “How then?”
“We need to create a distraction. Can you do anything with the air?”
“He’s injured,” Kiera added. “We can’t leave him.” She looked between Faolan and I. “Will he be able to make it out?”
“Can you help him?” I asked, desperate for a solution that didn’t end in us abandoning my brother.
“If we can get to him, I think I can help.” She chewed her cheek and nodded, building herself up.
“I think I can muster up enough to divert the arrows if you can stun them.” Faolan rubbed his fingers together.
I put my finger to the wall, testing how much energy I could draw from it. “Only for a few moments. There is very little connectivity down here. ”
“If it doesn’t work, we can always regroup.” Faolan turned to Kiera. “When they go down, you’ll have about thirty seconds.”
Kiera nodded.
“Go.” Faolan darted out of the tunnel.
I followed behind, drawing as much energy from the ground as I could muster. It sparked at my fingertips. I felt Kiera behind me as I channeled all the electricity towards the guards.
They went down hard, and Kiera was already running towards Drystan. She pulled at my reserves and I opened them to her, letting her take all she could. She fell to her knees in front of Drystan, putting both hands on his face. His head tipped back and he sucked in air, his body twisting at an odd angle. I staggered, my power dwindling. She took more than I could afford to give, but Drystan climbed to his feet. He held his side, but more color returned to his face.
“What did you do to him?” I asked.
“I blocked the pain and used as much energy as you could spare to make his blood replenish faster. I don’t know how long it will last.”
“It will have to do. We need to go now,” Faolan yelled. “They will be out of it in another ten seconds.”