Page 110 of Calling of the Crown

Akira’s body shook and more blood spurted from his lips. “Love … you … Rune.” His pale hand slipped back down to the ground, and his eyes glazed over. The soft smile slowly disappeared, and he went perfectly still, staring up into the sky he’d always loved.

Rune shook his head, and he stared disbelieving at Akira’s still form. “Akira?”

Silence was his only answer.

I covered my mouth with my hands as everything inside of me broke.

Rune let out a guttural, soul-piercing cry, and he pulled Akira into him, pressing his face onto the top of his head.

Disbelieving tears streamed down my cheeks.

Akira.

Not Akira. Please.

“Shit!” Dallas cursed as she fumbled to hold up the wall, fighting Fae from the outside as well as her own tears.

My mother’s gaze darted between Rune and me, and she angrily got to her feet, staring at the watery wall across from her. She pulled her fists inward, and at the same time, the water sucked a lone figure into our world.

Myra looked off kilter only for a moment before her golden eyes found where her son slumped over a lifeless Akira. She curled her lip and sneered, “Idiot Raven. He should’ve stayed out of the way.”

“You tried to kill your son,” I seethed, my cries coming hard and fast.

Myra tilted her chin up. “He’s no son of mine.”

Rune’s broken gaze turned to his mother, but before he could move, my mother did. She stepped between Rune and Myra, squaring her shoulders and standing protectively over Rune. Myra’s eyes widened a fraction at the sight of my mom, but that was the only indication that Mom’s presence meant something to her.

Alesta narrowed her eyes and hissed, “You’ve hurt far too many people, Myra. People who didn’t deserve it.”

The Fox Fae held Alesta’s eyes, and her voice came out eerily calm. “Khal was an easy kill.”

My mother’s face contorted with rage at the mention of my father’s name. The next second happened so quickly that I didn’t think anyone even had a chance to blink.

One minute Myra stood defiantly, glaring at us all, and the next, a flash of movement rained down toward her. Her eyes gaped, and her mouth hung open as dozens of ice shards pierced through her body. The towering blades impaled her and stuck deep into the ground so she couldn’t move. Alesta stalked toward her, gripped Myra’s head in her hands, and twisted with a sharp, precise movement. I quickly turned away, only hearing the sickening snapping and tearing, then dull thud as my mother pulled the Fox Fae’s head from her body.

“Not as easy as you,” my mother growled. Seconds later, she came back to where Rune and I knelt.

I wasn’t sure if it was right, but knowing Mom took out Myra left me momentarily satisfied. The woman could no longer hurt Rune or the twins. Her cloud of terror could finally dissipate, and … she could finally find peace with Balgair. That was all Rune had wanted for her in these past months.

Rune trembled in front of me, not daring to look where his mother had just stood. He stared only at Akira’s pale face, and his clawed hands reached to grip Akira’s fingers once more. He pressed their joined hands to his chest and hung his head.

Everything inside me felt broken, empty, and numb.

Myra, the villainous mother, had tried to murder her own child without an ounce of remorse. But the love of a friend had saved him. The sacrifice of a friend.

Akira.

The boy who always had a smile for everyone.

The boy who just wanted what was best for everyone.

Gone.

Something inside me snapped as I stared at his bloody, unmoving body.

A body that would never flash his carefree smile again, would never leap into the air to take flight again, would never wrap me in his arms again.

Grief so potent, it made me physically tremble, knocked through me. Tears trailed down my cheeks with no sign of stopping, and as I listened to the wails of the man I loved most in this world—the man who’d nearly been in the exact same spot—anger quickly united with the sorrow. The two fierce emotions engulfed my insides like a wildfire, until my nails dug into the soil under my palms, and my throat burned with the scream ripping through me.

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