Page 101 of Elven Crown

He already had.

Just as suddenly as it had overtaken her, the fit wracking through her body came to an abrupt end.

The world fell deathly silent as Rebecca’s limbs stilled, every muscle going limp. She gasped for breath on her back, dizzy and nauseous beneath the pain and unable to do anything about it.

Slow, ominously heavy footsteps crunched across the loose shale toward her, closer, closer…

A thick shadow loomed over her, blocking what little view she’d had of the stars and the already moonless night, casting Rebecca into complete darkness.

The darkness of the end.

His heavy sigh filled her entire awareness. Then something fell from his gloved hand with a metallic clink.

She felt it topple to the ground beside her before it bounced against her thigh, but she didn’t see it. She could hardly move anymore, her eyelids fluttering madly as she fought to maintain consciousness. Her every nerve on fire. The vague sensation of something wet and warm trickling down the side of her face.

“I don’t want to see you again until you know what you’re doing,” Theodil seethed, his voice dripping with condescension for all its calmness. “Because next time, I won’t go easy on you.”

Then he left her, his footsteps crunching back across the scattered stone and growing farther by the second.

If Rebecca had had anything left, she would have kept going. She would have regained control of her body, pulled herself off the ground, and tried again. She would have shown him she wasn’t so easily defeated.

But she had nothing left.

He’d pushed her harder tonight than he ever had. Rebecca had risen to meet the challenge, and still, she had nothing left.

Tears stung her eyes. The heat of her shame overwhelmed the physical pain in her body. But she’d be damned if she let those tears fall.

Not now. Not when she’d failed. Again.

The Bloodshadow Heir didn’t cry. The Bloodshadow Heir had one purpose and one purpose only.

It wasn’t to be a fucking tear factory.

She had no idea how much longer she lay there even after Theodil had taken his leave of her at the crumbling Lashir’i ruins. It felt like a lifetime.

The effects of his magic had finally stopped, making her muscles twitch and seize at random intervals. She still couldn’t move on her own yet.

Her ribs ached worst of all where the last blast had hit her back and traveled all the way through her core. Not to mention that awkward landing from her first fall.

One of her eyes had already swollen shut. The rich, slightly sweet taste of her own blood filled her mouth and only confirmed what she already knew.

This was bad.

After some time, she gathered enough willpower again to try picking herself up. It didn’t work.

She could no longer see through the shooting pain. A quick, tender exploration with her one good hand told her that the other hand was mangled, fingers splayed at awkward angles. Her knee had given out, most likely ripped from its socket. She couldn’t put any weight on it. She could hardly get her foot to respond.

No part of her body worked the way it was meant to anymore, and the bastard had just left her here in the dirt and pile of scattered shale and the last remnants of rubble from the old ruins Theodil used as his training grounds.

She had to give herself more time. Regather her strength.

After waiting for that to happen, Rebecca’s thoughts changed. Her repeated commands to herself to get up and do something about her injuries dwindled, replaced by a calm, level-headed acceptance of her situation.

She wouldn’t mind so much anymore if she just stayed here forever at the bottom of this embankment, half-buried in the rubble. If she spent the rest of her remaining days right here, without moving, without getting up.

If she just relinquished all control and let the ruins take her however they wanted over time. Just as they’d taken so many others before her.

Compared to what Theodil had just put her through, it would have been a welcome reprieve.

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