Her face only inches from mine, she plunged the shard into my heart. Her eyes locked on mine, brimming with tears now, and I could feel the life seeping out of me. A tear streaked down her cheek, and I wanted to brush it away, but I was dying.
My heart had stopped, and my mind whirled with darkness. I was falling again. Plummeting.
So close to achieving my destiny, and it was all over.
The evening star burned out for good.
When the vision cleared, I found that Aenor and I were staring at each other, slightly dumbstruck.
We were alive in a boat on the calm sea, and, regrettably, fully clothed. No one was fucking anyone. On the plus side, nor was anyone murdering me with sea glass.
“What the fuck was that?” I shouted. Had I ever been this rattled?
She blinked at me. “I just had a horrific vision of my worst fear.”
“What was it?”
Her cheeks were red. “Never mind that. I think the Ollephest might be near. You know, the thing that killed Ossian’s mate. It shows you your worst—”
A loud roaring interrupted her, and a scaled creature rose from the water behind her. Its jaw alone was nearly the size of the boat, and its dark eyes were intent on Aenor. The blood of some other victim dripped from its teeth.
Ah. Yes. The Ollephest. I supposed that explained the visions.
Aenor stared up at him, and a surge of protective rage erupted in me. I felt my wings shoot out behind my back as I took on my true form. I pulled out Lightbringer, flames blazing from the steel. My wings beat the air fast, lifting me into the sky above the boat.
The Ollephest swerved along the waves, its body moving along with them. It shone in the morning sun with brilliant blue and green scales.
As the creature opened its mouth above Aenor, I swooped and brought my sword down hard into its neck. The thing shrieked, but it was far too big for me to sever its neck completely.
It swung its head toward me, fangs glinting in the sun. I drove my sword into its eye.
Roaring, the creature swiped at me with a taloned hand, carving into my wing.
The pain was nearly indescribable, searing and deeply invasive. It was like a burning nail being scraped across a naked bone.
I gripped Lightbringer hard, fighting to keep control so I could kill the thing. Arcing around its head, I drove my blade into its other eye, blinding it.
Good. Nearly done.
But its attacks were growing more frantic, talons swiping wildly at anything around it. Clearly, I knew how to injure him, but how did I kill him?
I looked below me to find that the sea level seemed to have receded, pulling the monster away from me.
Aenor looked minute in her boat so far below me. It took me a moment to realize she was controlling the sea.
She gazed up at me, her eyes bright blue. I started to swoop lower, but my shattered wing made my flight irregular. Each beat of my wings was like a thousand blades pushed into my body. Still, if I could get to Aenor, I could lift her away from the monster. I dove for her and wrapped my arms tight around her waist, gripping her to my body.
My wings thumped the air, and as I lifted her, she curled her arms around my neck, holding on tight. When she wrapped her legs around my waist, an ember ignited in my heart.
The feeling was short-lived, because the monster slammed its spiked tail into us with the force of a bomb. My bones shook, wing bones cracking harder. It was like being hit with a three-hundred-mile-per-hour train. I lost my grip on Aenor, and she lost hers on me. Fear coiled through my heart.
The wind rushed over me as we tumbled back into the frothing sea. I hit the water hard, my wing snapping with a searing pain, and I sank deep under the water.
The sea was churning now, and I couldn’t tell which was up or down. My lungs started to burn as I scrambled for control, searching for Aenor under the water. Unlike me, she’d be fine under there.
As long as the creature wasn’t raking a claw through her body.
Something like panic was building in me as I fought my way to the surface, pushing out the pain in my wing. My lungs burned. I couldn’t die, but I could feel a world of pain. Especially if something happened to Aenor…
Was that a scream I heard through the water? Panic, now clear and real, burned hotter in my mind. Where was the source of light? Was I swimming deeper under the water, or heading for the surface?
At all costs, I had to get to her. Because even as I scrambled for the surface of the water, the horrible truth was dawning on me—the reason her pain bothered me, the reason I couldn’t kill her. The reason blind fear drove me to protect her at all costs.
The Ollephest showed you your worst fears. And my worst fear had manifested before me. Because only one person could kill me, and that person was my mate.
This was the dark, jagged thought I’d buried since I first met her. Now, the truth was ripping its way up to the surface of my mind.
Aenor was my mate. I’d scented it on her the moment I first met her. That intoxicating smell of brine and wildflowers and an animal instinct that wanted me to keep her close. The force of nature that compelled me to sleep in front of a door while she rested.
Instinct propelled me. Every cell in my body screamed at me to keep her safe, that I’d just dragged her into a world of danger.
At last, I fought my way up to the surface of the sea, gasping for air. I searched for Aenor, only to find that the monster had grasped her in its talons.
Bright, hot rage exploded in my mind, and I started to beat my wings under the sea. But the water fractured my shattered wing, and I’d lost Lightbringer.
For just a moment, Aenor caught my gaze, looking almost apologetic. What was she sorry for?
A deep roar rumbled through my bones. It wasn’t the beast. A wave, tall as a mountain and sparkling with sunlight, rushed for us.
That was Aenor’s work, and it looked like pure destruction. Fucking glorious.
With my broken wing, I didn’t have time to get out of its way before it slammed down on me, the sea grinding me into itself like flour in a mill. Thousands of tons of water churned me under, crushing me. It felt like my body was ripping in half.
Until I was on land, I wouldn’t be able to heal myself properly.
And yet—all I could think was that I hoped Aenor had pulled herself away from the creature.
23
Aenor
The wave I’d created had ripped me from the monster’s grasp, but his magic still shrieked through the water. He wasn’t far, his vibrations trembling cold over my body. My blood turned to ice.
I swam in the depths of the raging sea, searching for Salem. The waters churned in whorls and vortices, life rushing around me. I could stay here forever if I didn’t have a fae to kill.
For some strange reason, the thought of killing Salem spread frosty blooms of dread through my chest. Almost like I didn’t want to kill him.
I searched the murky water for Salem, blood clouding around me. Where was it all coming from?
I looked down at my body, at the brutal gashes on my arm and leg. The Ollephest had sunk his talons into my flesh, ripping it right open. With all the adrenaline pumping, I hadn’t noticed it before. Now, the sight of it sent alarm bells ringing in my mind. As soon as I saw bone exposed through my flesh, pain screamed up my arm and my leg.
I whirled around, trying to find Salem.
At last, in the ocean’s gloom, I saw him. His body glowed like a distant star. I’d seen that before, hadn’t I? A vision or a dream… A silver sphere in the dark seawaters, as beautiful and stark as the dawn of the universe. The cold perfection of the evening star.