Chapter Fifty – Mira
Chapter Fifty
Mira
I reached Aric as he fell, my hands slippery with his blood. So much blood, and I couldn’t seem to stop it.
Zandri must have used her own abilities to amplify my blood magic. Now, without her control through the blood ruby, I was drained. Spent. Useless .
I was useless to him.
‘Help him,’ I begged Zandri. ‘I don’t care what it costs. I’ll do anything. Just help him! ’
Zandri looked on in silence. An unmoving, unfeeling pillar of shadow. And I knew then – there was nothing I could offer her. Nothing she wanted, except my death. And Aric’s.
‘AURELIUS!’ Lillian’s scream made me turn in time to see the little boy streak towards Aric.
Aric, who he had liked and admired. Aric, who had played with him and held him and told him stories by the campfire–
Zandri’s dark eyes sharpened, and I saw the same hunger that I had felt earlier – the fierce need to end a potential threat. But that hunger had never been mine.
It had been hers .
Scarlett stepped forward, as if she might try to stop her mother–
Zandri moved too quickly to be natural. In an instant, her hands were on Aurelius’s shoulders – a mockery of Lillian’s gentle affection. Lillian’s pleas were heart-wrenching.
‘Don’t do it,’ Scarlett said, her face ashen. ‘Aric was bad enough, but a child . . .’
‘A child grows into a man.’ Zandri’s voice was as cool as her expression. Aurelius was trembling beneath her tight hold, his eyes wide with terror. ‘What good is your victory against Roran if it’s incomplete?’
In a quick, efficient motion, she lashed out with her dagger. Aurelius’s small form slumped in the grass, the toy soldiers he had liked to play with spilling out of his pockets. Lying overturned in a pool of red.
My tears dripped down onto Aric’s upturned face. He tried to speak – maybe to say Aurelius’s name – but all that came out of his mouth was more blood.
I felt the moment it happened. Aric’s chest went cold and still beneath my touch, and when I pressed my ear over his heart, I heard nothing but silence.
An agonised sound tore from my lips.
Hands took hold of me; warm and steadying and familiar. Dimly, I realised that Cassius had used Zandri’s focus on Aurelius to reach my side.
‘Mira,’ he said, his voice low and urgent, ‘we have to get out of here now. Without your Warriors, we’re outnumbered by Zandri’s forces. And the priestesses . . . Zandri is speaking with Odessa right now. I think she might be about to–’
‘I don’t care,’ I said, not looking away from Aric’s pale face. ‘There must be something I can do–’
‘There isn’t,’ Cassius said ruthlessly.
‘If I saved you, maybe I can save him–’
‘He’s dead , Mira!’
I flinched away from Cassius, unwilling to believe it. There had to be a way. There always was.
Even as I had the thought, I sensed something. A lingering presence.
He’s still in there. Or part of him is.
I acted without thinking, guided by the instinct that had allowed me to connect with Scarlett and Velanthe – following that shred of presence to its source. Allowing it to act as a bridge between our minds.
Darkness enveloped me. There was no gallery of memories this time – everything was chaotic, and I found myself drifting in a violent sea of untethered thoughts and feelings. But there were flashes of clarity: a glimpse of Zandri’s cold stare. A stab of fear.
The memory of Lillian’s face. Then mine.
An intense feeling of regret crashed over me like a wave. Aric’s regret, that he wouldn’t see either of us again. That he wouldn’t have the chance to build a life with me.
His last thought had been of me.
Something changed with that realisation. The violent sea calmed, and an awareness entered his mind. An awareness that he was no longer alone.
Mira?
Yes. If I could have cried, I would have. I’m here. I need you to come back with me. We don’t have much time.
I don’t think I can. My thoughts are . . . fading. My mind is . . . A pause, then, I’m dying, aren’t I?
No , I thought back fiercely. No, I won’t let that happen.
‘Mira, you have to come back!’ Cassius’s voice was followed by the distant sensation of hands pressing against my chest. Had my heart stopped? If it had, shouldn’t I have felt it?
You have to go . Aric’s thoughts were filled with resolve – and the tang of sadness. Return to Lillian and Scarlett and Cassius. They need you. Your people need you .
Before I could protest, the darkness around us lightened. I stared in awe, recognising the mountain meadow on Aldara, where we had practised sparring together. Where we had dreamt of becoming Warriors.
Where I had first begun to fall in love with him.
But I knew what Aric was doing. He had always tried to protect me – and not even death could rob him of that instinct.
I can’t do this alone , I thought to him, my heart aching. Don’t make me do this alone .
Aric looked at me, his brown eyes sparkling, his skin sun-kissed and vibrant and alive .
You’re not alone, Mira , he replied, his thoughts gently brushing mine. And you never will be.
‘Gods, Mira, come back!’ This time it was Lillian’s voice that reached me, high and sweet and terrified. ‘We’re losing you, do you hear me? We’re losing you , Mira!’
Aric smiled at me, wreathed in golden light and heartbreakingly beautiful. Go, Mira , he told me. Live. Make my death mean something.
Aric –
He shoved me out of his mind and back into my own.
My eyes opened to chaos.
Cassius was frantically pounding my chest, ignoring the Ravalian Warriors closing in behind him.
Over his shoulder, I saw Lillian – restrained by Odessa and her priestesses.
Her face was streaked by tears, but she fought against them with everything she had, cursing at Scarlett, who stood at Zandri’s side, her expression inscrutable.
So Scarlett had made her choice, then. But I was too exhausted for rage. Too exhausted to feel anything.
I turned onto my side and gasped, air flooding my lungs. Aurelius’s lifeless face was next to mine and the sight of his small body hurt. As did the knowledge that Aric had lived just long enough to see Zandri kill him.
When I was able to breathe again, I looked up – into a pair of dark blue eyes. The shock and relief in them told me how close I had come to dying.
‘Deal with Kasmira, would you?’ Zandri said callously to Scarlett, and I felt Cassius tense.
He climbed to his feet, preparing to fight. I stood too, but only to reach for his sword and lower it.
‘Don’t,’ I told Cassius, my eyes sweeping over the Ravalian Warriors under Zandri’s command, the priestesses who were obeying her orders over mine. ‘There’s been enough death today.’
Icy fingers enclosed around my shoulder. Fear raced through me as black veins wound up my arms, and as I stared up into Scarlett’s glacial eyes, I wondered how I had ever doubted she would kill me.
‘You must be pleased,’ I whispered, as I felt her death magic enter my bloodstream. ‘Now the throne is yours. You’ve got everything you wanted.’
Scarlett shook her head. The pity in her face hurt more than her betrayal ever could.
Her death magic threatened to pull me under. I fought against that pull, trying to summon the energy to meet Lillian’s gaze one last time – to tell her that I had done my best to save Aric and to beg her to forgive me.
But I couldn’t manage a single word. I could barely keep my eyes open.
The world tilted on its side, until all I could see was the grass against my cheek. I raised my head–
Aric’s eyes stared back at me. Glassy and beautiful and somehow peaceful in death. I hoped I would see him again soon.
Then all I saw was blackness.
And I was grateful for it.