Page 62 of Blood of Two Crowns

MALEKAI

Zurie swayed and stumbled. No one moved to catch her except Keres as she shouted her name.Well, that was… unexpected.Nakoa and I exchanged a look, that said we were both wondering the same thing.Did she justdie?

Keres hefted Zurie into her arms and glared at us in a way that told us if her hands weren’t full right now, she’d likely try to murder us. “If she doesn’t wake up,you’re all fucking dead.”

Nakoa’s lip curled at the threat, but I laid a hand on his chest before he could further inflame the situation. “She’ll be fine, Keres. It’s just a scratch... Look, it’s already healing.”

It definitely was not.

If anything, she was in desperate need of stitches because she was still bleeding out. Keres opened her mouth to argue but was cut short by the trembling of the ground beneath our feet. Magic crackled through the air as a tangible pressure began to build. Initially negligible, it rapidly turned into something painful.

Dark vapours that condensed and shifted into liquid began to spill out from beneath the stone archway, and we all leapt out of the way as it spilled towards the suddenly tumultuous sea behind us. Waves crashed against the shore as if trying to spit out the black liquid poisoning it.

As a group, we shared frantic looks.“I told you this was a horrible fucking idea!”Keres hissed, still cradling Zurie against her chest. Her words could barely be heard over the raging winds.

Nakoa and I exchanged a knowing look and stepped towards the portal.

“Wait!”Rumiel and Pomona leapt forward, dragging him back as Val gripped my shoulder and Pomona yelled above the building storm.“Are you insane? You’ll die in there! And what good will all of this have been then! All for fucking nothing!”

Val’s eyes bore into mine in earnest. “She’s right, lad. Yew, try ta walk through that thing; there’s no telling where you’ll end up. And it’ll likely be nowhere near Mareina. I want her back, too, but this isn’t the way.”

Before we could deliberate on it any longer, the black vapours and liquid disappeared, the winds and sea calmed, and the crushing pressure in the air was lifted, replaced by silence and calm.

Zurie’s head lolled against Kere’s chest.“What happened?”

Keres’ lip trembled as she dropped to her knees. “You nearlydied,that’s what happened.”

Zurie’s despair was not what I’d expected. Her heartbreak was palpable. The tears in her eyes genuine.“What?But last time—That can’t be?—

“Last time you opened the portal, you were giving something back.”

As one, we turned to find Miroslav standing behind us. Zurie’s lips parted in realization, clutching her bleeding arm to her chest.

“Now,you want to take something. Someone. Someone who has become vital to the survival of that realm. To Azrael.”

Miroslav scowled at the group of us.

Fuck.

My chest heaved in protest. Suddenly, that crushing weight returned, but it had nothing to do with the portal and everything to do with the fact that Mareina wasstillno closer to coming home.

I marched toward the portal where Azrael’s gods-forsaken blade lay on the ground, a black and silver abomination, to pick it up. Nakoa launched himself forward, trying to pry the thing from my hands.“You don’t get to leave too, you fucking prick.”

Before Nakoa gained any chance of stealing it from me, the thing disappeared out of thin air. Miroslav’s voice was like a thunderclap. “Youwilldie.”

Nakoa and I shoved away from each other to see the blade in Miroslav’s hand. “Is that what Mareina would want? Your Kingdom needs you.Bothof you, believe it or not. And most of all,sheneeds you.”

“What other way is there?”I roared back, “If it comes down to her or me, it will be herevery-fucking-time!Now give me thatAkash-forsaken blade or I swear to all the gods in the fucking pantheon that I will let my beast fuckingeat you alive.”

My drakonati roared inside me, eager to burn everything in its path.Akash knewwe’d wanted to roast Miroslav like a fucking rotisserie fordecades.

Nakoa’s fist came out of nowhere and hit me square in the nose. After the audiblecrunchof bone breaking, I hit the sand hard enough that it knocked the wind out of me.

“Give me the blade, Miroslav,” he growled.

Miroslav rolled his eyes at us as if we were children. Nakoa’solana kah’heiwatched, tension lining their features.

I wheezed, trying to force air back into my lungs, as I reset my broken nose and crawled to standing. “With all due respect,Your Royal Highness,but you’ve got a kingdom to look after…and a family.”

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