Chapter 54
Chapter Fifty-Four
Kade
The walls of the temple shook as Kade held his dying mate in his arms.
Thump, thump . . . Thump . . . Thump . . .
Evelyn’s heartbeat grew fainter and fainter, and Kade couldn’t breathe. This was true horror—not Circe’s visions, but feeling the life drain from the love of his life’s body.
“Belle,” Kade gritted his teeth. “I’m losing her.”
The witch fumbled with her supplies, tears streaming down her face. The temple walls trembled again, knocking over her candles and whooshing out their flames.
“Gods damnit,” she hissed.
“Here.” Linx tipped a murky liquid past Evelyn’s motionless lips. “It’ll thicken her blood and slow the venom from reaching her heart.”
“Moons.” Todd sprinted towards the temple’s archway, blades drawn.
Past his weapon master’s silhouette, dozens of nathrachas burst from the sands, slithering over one another as they raced to get inside the temple first.
Rooted to the stone and clutching Evelyn in his arms, Kade had no rational thought, no reason on what to do, only to hold Evelyn close.
Save her.
Protect her.
Stop this.
An ear-splitting scream rocked through Kade. Belle rushed ahead of Todd and threw her hands north. The air stilled. The demons still approached. The trembling shifted.
And a river roared.
“Goddess,” Linx breathed.
In the desert, in a land devoid of water, Belle conjured it from nothing. She made it. Drew from nothing and created a river with her magic. It surged past, drowning each demon with it. When the water settled, not a single one remained alive.
Belle stumbled, chest heaving.
The young witch had saved them all. Including Evelyn.
“There’s still time,” Linx said, helping Belle gather the items for the spell.
Belle created a ring of salt. Laid out candles. Lit them. Dug for Evelyn’s muince, motioned for the bloodstone, and Kade handed it to her.
“Shall I do it?” Linx asked.
“What?” Belle hissed. “No, I’ve studied the spell for weeks.”
“You just used a lot of magic, Belle,” Linx said.
“I can do this,” Belle pleaded, looking at Kade. “Please.”
War raged in Linx’s eyes, but Kade shook his head.
“There isn’t time to debate. If Belle says she’s ready, I trust her.”
Linx said nothing more on the matter, and Belle ignored her stare. She sat, crossed her legs, and positioned herself ahead of Kade, but outside the circle. The notebook she held was Blair’s, and there were notes scribbled.
“I can’t guarantee this won’t hurt,” she whispered. “For either of you.”
“I understand.”
Belle exhaled. “Alright. Don’t let go of Evelyn, not here nor there. You’re a part of the threads Kade, keeping her tethered to this world. You can’t lose her.”
Kade nodded, his soul yearning to hear Evelyn’s voice again, to have her open her eyes once more. Even if it was just their souls in the Otherworld.
Belle began to chant in a language Kade didn’t understand but recognized as Olde Script.
She shut her eyes, holding her hands out.
Water droplets formed in the air and began to twist like small diamonds.
Sand whipped from the stone, and soon a tunnel of water and sand whirled around Kade and Evelyn, thin enough for him to still make out Linx and Todd manning the archway and Belle sitting ahead of him.
The muince glowed, then the bloodstone next.
They rose on either side, floating in the air.
Magic brimmed between them and shot towards Kade.
Above, the etched lines of the carvings glowed with the spell, even the markings on the ground.
Kade and Evelyn sat atop a full sun, and the rays shot outward, illuminating the temple in a glow that reminded Kade of stars.
His wolf howled at the powerful magic in the air.
“Close your eyes.”
Kade obeyed. Something cracked, and he flinched, wondering if it was the bloodstone. A similar sound echoed to his other side—the muince.
Something ripped through him, like a scythe had cut him neck to hip.
He was open, bare, splitting from the inside.
Evelyn slacked in his arms, and her final breath eased from her like a sigh while she slept.
Kade fought with everything he had, a battle raging within him as the spell took hold.
It battled everything that he knew was right and natural.
His wolf threatened to unleash until she collapsed.
“Steady, Kade,” Linx called, unseen.
He’d known he’d lose her. He’d been told. But nothing prepared him for the ricocheting agony as his mate’s soul left this world first. He cried out. Breaking from the inside.
Together.
Evelyn’s voice whispered in the back of his mind, and he grasped onto her like she was his anchor in all of this while a numbness overtook him, a hollowness in his chest.
Kade rocked Evelyn to the cadence of Belle’s chant, calling to his mate.
“I’m coming, love. Wait for me.”