Page 8 of A Petal in the Crown

“Youmust,” Gray said, his voice a broken whisper. “I will wait for you. No matter how long it takes. But youhaveto go back.”

“And it must be now,” the goddess said, her eyes glazing over as if seeing into a far away world. “You havemomentsuntil your friends give Emma the petal. Seconds before neither of you will be able to return.”

Lea sniffled, clearing her throat as she stared down at the flower in her hand.

“Forever,” Gray said, his eyes full of promises and a sincerity that made Lea’s bones quake.

Lea nodded. Pressing her lips together, she plucked a single petal from the moonflower, dropping the rest to the ground.

The gods stood silently, the moon goddess wiping away a tear as the sun god clenched his jaw. His power thrummed in a mighty quake, the earth trembling beneath their feet.

Tenderly, Gray lifted Lea’s hand. Without a word, he placed the petal in her mouth, watching for her throat to bob. She swallowed, then, leaning forward, pressed her lips to Gray’s.

He opened for her immediately, needing to savor the last time they would share this kind of intimacy for gods knew how long like a drowningman needs air. Clinging to her desperately, his tongue caressed hers. Soft, then hard. Lea pulled back for a single moment before leaning back to Gray, but this time as their tongues met, it was with a moonflower between them.

So quickly Gray didn’t have time to react, Lea pushed it between his teeth, pulling her mouth away as she used her shadows to clench his jaw shut.

His eyes widened in shocked disbelief as the petal was crushed between his molars, the sweet taste of sugar and earth andlifecoating his tongue.

“Lea, what—”

The moonflower’s magic took hold, and in an instant, Gray faded away into nothing, Lea vanishing from his sight as he returned to the land of the living.

Chapter 6

Erik

The silence was horrifying. Erik had expected for Janelle to sob or Thomas to scream, but instead, they just stood there. Frozen and in complete disbelief of what they had just witnessed.

Erik’s heart pounded, his blood rushing in his ears. Maybe Janellehadsobbed and Thomashadscreamed, because he couldn’t hear anything past the rapid, thunderingwhooshof his heartbeat.

Wake up. You have to wake up,he begged silently, unable to voice the words vibrating through his entire being. But neither of them moved, Lea’s body draped across Gray’s, her head resting on top of his body, her face relaxed as if sleeping. But the stillness was unnatural, so different from a peaceful slumber. Her chest didn’t rise and fall, and her eyes remained still behind half-closed lids.

Emma squirmed on the ground as the fire surrounding her faded away. She cried out in a moan of pain, and the trance holding them still and silent snapped. Just as he’d suspected, a sob burst from Janelle’s throat, and Thomas screamed so loud his voice went hoarse in an instant. But whether for Emma, or Lea—or both of them—Erik wasn’t sure.

From his periphery, Erik saw Thomas press two shaking fingers to Emma’s throat, but Erik didn’t listen to what he said. He knew she was still alive. He could hear the blood rushing through her veins, the slowthump of her heart. Irregular and weak, but stillthere. And as long as it was there, they had time.

“What do we do?” Janelle dropped to her knees next to Lea and Gray, her shaking hands hovering over their still bodies as if she wanted to help, but didn’t know where to start. “Erik! What do we do?”

“We wait.” Erik ordered, crossing his arms and planting his feet, his heart still thundering furiously.

“There’s no time!” Thomas's eyes darted between Emma and Lea, clearly torn between which woman to save. After a moment, a look of determination crossed his features, and he swallowed audibly as if choking down a mouthful of guilt and despair. “I’m saving Emma. I— If she dies, we lose them both. But I can still save her.”

“A few more moments,” Erik reiterated, never taking his eyes from his friends’ corpses. All he needed to see was the twitch of a finger, the rise of a chest, or the fluttering of eyes, and Emma could have the petal. The cure. He just needed something to indicate they were coming back, because theywerecoming back. They had to.

Emma spasmed, her body going rigid and her eyes rolling back in her head.

“I’m doing it.” Thomas began to pry Emma’s mouth open, but Erik shot a blast of fire directly into his hand, burning it so severely the smell of human flesh wafted to his nose. With the moonflower in his system, the burn healed instantly, but the threat was clear. Thomas would not be the one to decide when to give up on Lea and Gray.

“You willnot,” Erik snapped.

Thomas hissed in pain as he fell backward, his face going red with anger. But Erik could still hear Emma’s heart, the rasp of air as she inhaled and exhaled.

“Just a few more moments, Thomas,” Janelle pleaded, crawling on her hands and knees over to Emma and placing a bloody hand againsther forehead. “Thirty more seconds. We have to give them a chance.” Janelle’s voice shook.

A chance. A chance for his king and queen to return to them. A chance for them to win this war, to find Alaric and defeat him.

Thump…

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