Page 82 of Ruined Kingdom

It took me a moment to realize what happened.

I looked down to see the end of a root protruding from my chest. My jaw dropped, but no sound came out.

It pulled out of me, and this time, I could feel it ripping through my flesh.

“Sophia!” Kaine’s growl was so loud—so painful—that everything else taking place around us paled in comparison.

He wrapped his arms around me, collapsing to the ground with me as he tried to stop the bleeding.

“No, no, no! This can’t be real. This has to be another nightmare. I can’t do it. I can’t lose you!”

For some reason, the most present feeling in me wasn’t fear or anger. It wasn’t even the cold grip of death getting its hold on me again. It was peace…

I was at peace because I knew I could still save him.

I reached for his face, caressing his cheek. “It’s all right,” I said softly, closing my eyes as I dug deep into myself again.

Ancestors, hear me now. I need everything you have. Help me save him.

The light from my body far outweighed the frigid cold of my skin. I could feel the power flowing from me into him.

“I love you, Kaine, with all that I am … all that I ever was. Never lose sight of that.”

Kaine shook with great pain and power before releasing a soul-shattering cry up to the sky.

The darkness within him burst forth, ricocheting off of me with such force I found it difficult to keep breathing.

As my life flashed before my eyes, I remembered something… Something I’d been forced to forget… Something that could help Kaine defeat this evil once and for all.

It was the Fae King’s name. I recalled the way it’d rolled over my tongue when he had forced me to say it back to him.

I opened my eyes to see that Kaine was no longer corrupted. He looked like himself again.

I managed a weak smile, but I didn’t have much time. I was slipping farther and farther away by the second now…

I could sense the black ocean of nothingness approaching, pulling me in.

I tugged on his shoulder weakly, dragging him down to me. “The Fae King’s name is Morighast. Bring me his head.”

My mother, Lexi, Sharra, and Yenisey all rushed to me.

By the look of hesitation and sorrow in his dark eyes, it was clear that Kaine didn’t want to leave me, but the determination shining through all his other emotions told me that he knew he’d be wasting my sacrifice if he didn’t send that ugly bastard straight to hell right now.

He passed me gently to my mother’s waiting arms and stood up with an angry heaving breath.

My vision blurred, but I held on for as long as I could. Before I died, I wanted to at least witness how Kaine finally finished this nightmare for all of us.

The Fae Queen was struggling to keep up with the Fae King. She simply couldn’t keep up with his speed and cruelty any longer and stepped aside with weary relief as soon as she saw Kaine.

He approached the Fae King with such calm ferocity—his posture, his movements, that of a stalking predator—that everyone seemed to stop fighting to watch.

Steam rose from his skin, whirling around him in anticipation.

The Fae King laughed, “What do you think you’ll do? Curse or not, you’re not strong enough to defeat me.”

“Morighast,” Kaine spat out as if the name tasted vile in his mouth.

Horror dawned on the Fae King’s face.

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