Page 81 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

Something large and white shoved me aside.

“So help me, Shen, if you have another arrow in your back—” I rolled and came to my feet, but it wasn’t Shen who stood there.

Ran’s beautiful eyes stared at me as she nuzzled my face. I froze. “Ran?” I exclaimed.

Her legs trembled.

I caught her head as she fell, barely avoiding being stabbed by her pearlescent horn. I laid her head on my lap, stroking her cheek. “Hey. Hey now,” I whispered.

I looked over her body and saw the fletching sticking from her side.

“No.No.” My breath came in short gasps as hers slowed. Her eyes never left mine until they closed from pain.

Shen fell to his knees beside her. He touched the arrow, causing her to shiver as pain wracked her body. I implored him with my eyes to not say what I suspected.

“Silver and iron,” Shen said, his voice soft and face twisted with helplessness.

We both knew what iron does to fae creatures.

“No. It can’t—I won’t lose you, sis,” I whimpered.

She blinked open eyes so filled with love it was hard to see the pain in their depths.

Sister, it was always you who was meant to find me. Don’t worry now, we’ll meet again, either in this life or the next. It is of no consequence. We’re bonded, heart and soul, and nothing can render us apart—not even… death.

“No, you can’t. You hear me? I need you. Now more than ever.” I gently stroked her cheek even as my chest felt as if it would implode. I clung to her head as if I could hold her here by the force of my will.

She nickered slightly, the sound hoarse.You never needed me, Alia. It was I… who always needed… you. My name, sister of my heart and wind in my wings, is Elysia.

"I don't want your name, idiot. I want you," I whispered, hugging her close. Herneedwas not sharp against me. If anything, it wasrelieved. And I didn’t know why. Was her life here more painful than I’d been aware of?

Her eyes, so full of love, lost their life. No longer was there a soul within her. No longer was there love, pain, or joy or sass. My bond, my sister, my best friend was no more.

CHAPTER 28

Hope is Never Dead

ALIA

Ibowed my head over Ran’s mane and breathed her in. I ran my fingers along her horn, felt her soft whiskers, and basked in her scent of freedom and oakwood and lemon one last time.

I gently lifted her head from my lap and slid out from under her. I placed a final kiss against her soft muzzle. I ignored the rending of my soul as the bond I loved passed from this body.

“In saecula saeculorum, amare,”I whispered, closing her glassy eyes.

My shoulders shook. My body ached. My fists clenched. Someone had killed my bond. And they would pay.

My shoulders bowed, but they were as taut as the strings of a fully drawn bow. “Who?” I said almost under my breath. Then I shouted, “WHO?”

There was a commotion behind me. Shouting, a grunt, then a body hitting the ground. I turned to see a man on his side, sneering.

“It was just a unicorn,” he said, hacking up phlegm as he rose to his knees.

I smiled, a parting of the lips that was both a snarl of pure loathing and the amusement of a master predator. Within fourstrides, I was before him. I felt hisneedto prove himself as the younger sibling of the youngest sibling.

“You”—I looked him up and down—“are nothing. You’re a lost cause, broken by the very system you strove so hard to impress. But you always lacked a little something, didn’t you? First, it was in childhood. Your brother was always better, getting the attention and the praise. You just wanted it. Just a bit, and you would’ve been happy. But then your brother stole your dream to become a Red, didn’t he? And he was so much better than you. You had to cheat on your last test merely to pass while he was first in the ranks and became the Head Enforcer within five years. What did you hope to prove by killing me? That you could?” My laugh was low and humorless as I watched his face become increasingly pale. “Anyone can kill. It takes a man to rebuild what was broken. And I’m more of a man than you’ll ever be.”

He trembled in his shackled bonds, but that didn’t stop him from trying to get at me. He leapt upright and charged. I stepped aside and kicked him in the butt.

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