Page 114 of A Shattered Kingdom of Steel

But when I open them again, High Keep’s throne room is visible through an elongated round entry point.

Weakness claws at my bones. I almost wonder if I have the strength to step forward.

Lymseia lets out an agonized moan.

Fury tears through me, my rage scorching. Clinging to my mate, I take a jagged, sharp breath and launch myself forward. We fall through the portal. I turn around, so it’s my back hitting the stone floors, and not Lymseia.

I know I must be weak, because my mind can’t process the pain.

The moment we’re through, the portal vanishes behind us, and with it, the last of my magical energy. All the voices around us stop at once, the room falling silent.

“Lymseia?” a male voice asks, tight with worry. “Lymseia!”

“Viridian.” Desperation ravages my words, and I turn my head to his voice. My vision goes dark with delirium, fighting to stay conscious. “Help her! Someone! Gods, please, please, I’ll give you anything. Just please, whatever you do, save her.”

Someone—Viridian, I think—takes Lymseia from my cold, trembling arms.

Then the darkness overtakes me.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Lymseia

Emptiness surrounds me. It ebbs and flows, rising and falling like the eye of a storm or a wave that threatens to pull me under.

There is nothing and everything, all at the same time. Swirling around me. Threatening to tear me in two. Painfully filling my phantom lungs but utterly depleting them at the same time. I gasp for air where there is none. My limbs feel vaguely present, as if I’m dreaming, clawing at something in naïve desperation.

Perhaps I’m dreaming.

This agony—it can’t be real.

My mind can’t comprehend what’s happening, but deep in my bones, I know there’s a struggle. Any moment now, I fear whatever it is that’s supporting my weight will give way. I resist, fighting to keep my head above the tide.

There is nothing to hold onto.

There is nothing to save me.

There is nothing here at all but me.

I wonder if even the gods themselves are powerless here, in whatever hellish dimension I’m buried in. Deep, incomprehensible pain laces every thought, every wish, every hope.

I struggle. Gods, I struggle.

But I will not surrender.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Asheros

My eyes flash open, and my hands grab at nothing.

Rising to a sitting position, I take in my surroundings. I’m in a bed, and it’s morning. One look at the bronze-colored drapes and furnishings tells me I’m at High Keep.

“Good,” a male voice says from my bedside. “You’re awake.”

My head snaps in the voice’s direction. By the far wall, near the door, Viridian lounges in a padded chair.

“Where is she?” I demand, making a move to rise to my feet. The sudden rush to my head nearly knocks me to the ground.

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