Page 162 of First Light

Regan grunted and fell to her knees, silver and scarlet blood mingling as her belly burst open and her entrails fell to the rubble-strewn ground.

Lachlan didn’t stop but stepped over a fallen timber, and just as Cadell and Dafydd hustled Carys from the room, she saw cold determination on his face as he raised the dragon steel one last time, swung downward, and cut Regan’s head from her body.

A pulse of magic burst from the halfling’s broken corpse, shattering the wards that had held up the cottage as the roof of the building collapsed and everything before Carys’s eyes went dark.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

She was lying on the damp ground and the sky was grey and cold, but the rain had stopped. Someone was gently wiping something from her face, but she reached out in the darkness for Cadell.

Cadell?

You can speak to me in your mind now.

Am I?

Yes. You haven’t woken from the shock yet.

How?

How anything, Nêrys? You don’t seem content to follow any rules.

She tried to think about that, but her mind was too tired.

Is Lachlan alive?

Yes. Dafydd already had you out the door, so I went back for him.

Duncan?

Not even a house falling on him could kill that one.

And Seren’s journals?

Buried very safely in the rubble. You secured them under the table, so we can dig them out when the cottage is secure.

Is Regan dead?

Verydead, Nêrys.

She let out a relieved sigh, and she felt Duncan’s hand on her cheek.

“Wake up, Carys.” His voice was urgent and low. “For the love of God, wake up.”

She felt his lips touch her forehead.

Cadell?

Yes, Nêrys.

I’m really… confused.

Understandable, my lady.

She knew she needed to open her eyes, but the thought of returning to fire, rubble, death, and two quarreling brothers made her keep them closed for just a moment longer.

But she wasn’t alone.

You’ll never be alone again,Cadell said in her mind.

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