Page 165 of Ulune's Daughter

I shut up and let him work. The cold of the grave tugs and sears deep in my side. I cough out black mist.

Luca lifts his bloody hands from me and stumbles away toward where Caileán crouches with Rhodes limp in her arms. I crawl after my twin.

Caileán turns her cowl toward me. Her eyes are dim, barely sparks in the darkness. “He’s dying. I can feel his soul tugging, wanting to be free?—”

“No!” Luca wails. “Don’t let him go.”

“Luca—”

“No! I can heal him. We’ll take him to the Donnwater. Please, please, don’t let him go. Please, Caileán.”

“He’s served his purpose, my sweet scholar,” she says. “He helped turn the tide. He gave us the power of the names he bears when the Capricorn called. He’s served the Mother’s purpose.”

“He’s more than that!” Luca screams, dragging his claws down his face, opening bloody furrows in his cheeks. “Please, Caileán, please! I love him. Don’t let him go. Please don’t let him go.”

The feather cloak flickers and fades to a rust-red sweater. Tears dim the otherworldly glow of her blue eyes before they roll down Kellan’s cheeks. She nods at Luca.

He throws his arms around Rhodes, helping support the human’s limp weight as Kellan stands. With her free hand, she draws her claws down through the aether.

Carrying Rhodes, they step through.

I drag myself after them into Faery.

Chapter50

An Ending

KELLAN

Rhodes is dying.

I know I got my mind rolled again. It’s the strangest sensation to have it happen in the middle of the day. I was standing on the tower of Ceòfuar asking Rhodes why his chest was bothering him, and then I was on a battlefield with Rhodes dying in my arms and Luca begging me to save him.

As I kneel in the Donnwater, holding up Rhodes’ head with Luca hunched over Rhodes’ chest, black smoke swirling around him like a belly dancer’s veils, bits and pieces of the battle come back to me. Evan Lords, swathed in a green cloak and crowned with the Helm of Azrael, shooting a stream of healing fire into the sky. Rachel standing beside her daddy in her fae armor and fighting off an army of barghests with her crystal sword. Teddy’s voice. Carrie and Jane in their snake forms. A woman in a green cloak tearing Rhodes’ tattoos out of his flesh. Unleashing my banshee scream. Luca kneeling naked in front of me, spattered with blood, tearing at his own skin as he begged me not to let Rhodes die. The images begin to swirl dizzily and I shake my head to clear it.

I focus on where I am. In the stream that crosses my lands. It has a name that I haven’t found yet, this stream. But I know in my blood and bones that it’s the Donnwater, the All-Water that touches every part of Faery. I’m not a Water-mage but I’ve always felt a strong affinity with water. I feel the power in this water, coursing around me. It’s neither warm nor cold. It soaks me without weighing me down. I open myself to its power and drink it in, then reach across Rhodes’ chest and put my hand on Luca’s shoulder.

Luca’s back arches like he’s been electrocuted. He screams and the Shades swirling around him pulse and flare, reaching for me with skeletal hands. I chant one of the dead-wards Jane taught me junior year and the Shades retreat, coiling tighter around Luca.

Rhodes jolts against my arm.

“Luca, check if he’s breathing,” I whisper.

Luca gasps, still caught in in the grip of his own power and mine. His hand shakes as he pats up Rhodes’ chest. He flattens his fingers against Rhodes’ throat.

A moment passes. Another. I can’t see Rhodes’ chest rising or falling but he’s almost completely submerged, with only my arm under his neck holding him up, the stream bubbling over his shoulders.

“He’s breathing!” Luca sags forward, wrapping his arm around Rhodes’ chest and burying his face in Rhodes’ neck. “He’s breathing.”

“Help me carry him onto the bank,” I say. “We’ll leave his legs in the water so he can reach his Element. Once he’s conscious, he should be able to heal himself.”

Luca lifts himself off Rhodes, nodding. Together, on a cushion of Air, we move Rhodes to the grassy bank. Law’s lying on the grass nearby, face down. Like his brother, he’s naked and blood-spattered, with a huge bloodstain down his side that’s darkening as it dries.

I prop Rhodes’ head on a mossy rock and check the pulse in his neck. Luca fusses over Rhodes, arranging his arms at his side and straightening the remnants of his burned shirt. Tears streak the blood and soot on Luca’s face. Rhodes’ pulse is uneven under my fingers but when it comes, it’s a strong thump. Color’s stealing back into his cheeks. I’m not a healer—and he obviously still needs one—but I think Luca’s pulled him back from death’s door. I brush a tangle of dark hair off Rhodes’ brow and kiss his cheek before sliding over to check on Lawson.

Not knowing where all the blood is coming from, I check him over carefully. There’s a bad swelling along his ribs under the blood on his side, but I can’t find any obvious wound. Claw marks mar the golden skin of his back. There’s a bite on his calf. Those wounds are sealed and look to be healing on their own. They’re definitely not the source of all the blood.

Gently, with the lightest fingers of Air, I roll him onto his back. The right side of his face and neck and right shoulder are scorched and sooty, but not blistered. His hands and arms are bloodied almost to his elbows, but I don’t see any wounds. I’m not sure what blood’s his. His eyelids flutter when I touch his face tentatively, but don’t open. I’m not sure why he’s unconscious. Worrying, I stare at him. He looks almost unfamiliar as a blond, I’m so used to seeing him with blue hair, even though I know he’s a blond from his body hair.

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