Page 123 of Of Glass and of Gold

Nora fell to her knees beside me, hoisting my upper body onto her lap. But her cries were drowned out by the intense focus I kept on Sebastian. My world quieted the moment he stepped forward, two steps away from delivering a fatal fate to the love of my life.

My lungs weren’t functioning normally, filling with a heavy chill instead of humid evening air. I couldn’t collectively get my lungs and voice to work in tandem to shout, and I knew I was about to watch my worst nightmare play out before me.

But his shoulder swung back, causing him to stagger. From between his legs, I could see the outline of an arrow embedded in the ground. He brought a hand up to the wound, cursing when his fingers darkened. “Who di—” The whizz of another arrow silenced his question.

Suddenly, the silence in the market broke. Gushes of wind swooped between the stands. Shouts and metal clanging off metal sang into the night. I saw Sebastian fall to his knees before Nora’s hands were cupping my face.

“Nick? Hey, I’m here. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.” I heard the crack in her voice when she must have seen how wrong she was. Judging by the layer of wetness coating my chest and ribs, I knew how badly this would go. “Odion!” She cried, straining her throat.

I’d familiarized myself with the sound of that man’s grunts, could tell that he was currently engaging one, possibly two guards.

“N-nora.” Cold flooded my chest in a way that made it ache, and I swallowed trying to keep the gathering liquid down. “Go.” The familiar feeling of phlegm during a cold rattled in my lungs, and I started to taste iron. The pickup of rushing wind didn’t help the chill settling over my bones.

The sounds of battle erupted into the night, as if an army had appeared from the sleepy town, ready to defend itself. Blasts of fire shot into the square, roasting men who traitorously bore Highcrest’s uniform. It was the fire wielder we’d saved.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she muttered, brushing the hair away from my eyes. She peered down at me, an angel above calling me home.

Not so gracefully, my head hit the ground when she spun out of the reach of a swinging sword, a dagger back in her hand in an instant. The edges of the world became blurred, but I could hear the scuffle.

“Don’t h-hurt her.” My words came out gurgled, my mouth finally spilling blood from the corner. I rolled to my side, an attempt to get to her, but a foot pounded against me, rolling me onto my back.

Reynolds, his scarred cheek accentuated by shadows under pale moonlight, cast an evil grin over me, a sword poised between his hands, aiming down. He should have been locked away in the dungeons, but no surprise that he wasn’t. “Sorry, Your Highness. I really rather like my job.” He raised the sword, and I prepared for the death blow.

Maybe death was actually painless. I pondered as a blinding white light consumed my vision. Except, when it faded a moment later, revealing the night sky again and the sound of continued fighting, I craned my neck to see Reynolds knocked on his back, gasping to replace the air knocked from his lungs.

Another blast of light sent him careening across the market, where a fire engulfed him, shooting from Sverik’s hands. Reynold’s cries rent the air as flames ate his flesh.

Nora rushed to my side again. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

Unnaturally slow, I moved until she was the only thing in my vision. “As long as you are.” I smiled, trying to hold back a fit of sputtering to clear my airways.

“Don’t go, Nick. I love you. You mean everything to me. I can’t do this without you.” Her tears kissed my cheek. It’s funny, the things you savor when you know you’re out of time.

“Are you admitting you need me?” I teased, referencing back to one of those first nights when she was adamant she would never. An instinctive cough splattered blood over us, all attempts to staunch it failing.

She laughed, but only pain lined her glistening eyes. She bore the look of loss, something I knew she’d experienced too much of already. I reached up, hand shaking, placing it on her cheek. “I’m sorry to put you through this again, my lady. You made everything worth it.”

She sobbed, and my arm slipped as I lost the strength to keep it up.

63

Nora

“What’s going on?” Marco called out while running toward us. The sounds of fighting were slowing. Melody stood at my back.

“He took a dagger to the chest. There’s too much blood, Marco, there’s too much blood!” I couldn’t contain my shrieks of terror. Within moments, I knew he’d leave me, my chest already sinking with the weight of it.

Marco came crashing to his knees at Nick’s side. “Why aren’t you healing yourself?” he asked.

Nick dragged his sluggish gaze to Marco. “Not re-p-plenished.”

Healing himself? Not replenished? Did Nick possess magic? When would he have—the poisoning.

When I’d woken up, he looked near death. For days, his face remained gaunt, his skin wan. I mistook it for grief, but he’d used his magic. On me. To heal me. To the point where he’d weakened too much from it.

Because he would die for me, he’d said. If I’d needed more healing, I might’ve woken up to a dead prince’s healing hands on me, giving me everything he had. Because of me, he took a dagger to the heart and had nothing left for himself.

My fault. All my fault. I wanted to jump out of my skin. To die.

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