Page 52 of Ties of Starlight

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

It wasn’t up to him.

Chapter 19

Nyrunn focused on Idonea’s shallow breaths, inaudible under the thunderous roar of their horses’ hooves, but he could feel the slight motion as he stayed curled around her.

They’d long lost the Moon Elves.

He hoped the guards and the rest of the retinue escaped and were able to meet up with them, but his highest priority was Idonea.

While it should be because if she died, the ceremony would be ruined and they would continue to grow weaker until the next one, he didn’t care one whit about the Cometa Couple right now. The only thought running through his head was how he could not lose her.

He would not.

He didn’t care what it took. He was not letting her leave him like this.

He would not wait two hundred and fifty years for the chance to tell her how much he loved her.

They came racing into their camp, already set up, and it was immediate chaos. The sun had long since setand the stars shone down from the heavens. Nyrunn pulled his horse to a stop, avoiding crashing into a tent as he screamed, “Healer! We need a healer!”

Two of the guards had already dismounted and were by his horse. “Your Majesty, pass her down.”

Nyrunn was reluctant to let her out of his arms unless it was to a healer, but he did as they suggested.

Her eyes fluttered open briefly and she let out a pained whimper even as he did his best not to disturb her injury as he passed her down to them. He murmured, “Just a little longer, Idonea.”

The captain was dismounting as well, ordering his guards, “Get her to a tent! Don’t touch that dagger until we have a healer.” The captain looked over Idonea’s ghostly white skin and the blood dripping from the wound. “Or five.”

The guards carefully carried her away as Nyrunn swung off his horse. He turned on his heels, snapping, “Where are our healers?”

Lady Asa dismounted, but her legs crumpled under her the second her feet touched the ground. She was still violently trembling. “They—They were all b—behind us. We—We esc—escaped first.”

Frode quickly climbed off his horse as well, hurrying to her side and helping her up. She leaned against him, her legs still not supporting her weight. “I’m sure one of them will be here any minute, Your Majesty. The Constella too.”

“We don’t have minutes!”

“Your Majesty, take a deep breath.” The captain held his hand out, but had not dismounted. “I will double back until I find one of our healers. In the meantime, go and sit with your wife. None of us want her to die.”

Since he couldn’t summon a healer with pure panic, Nyrunn took a deep breath and nodded. He turned on hisheel and followed the guards to where they’d taken Idonea as the captain turned back, taking a couple of guards with him. The two who had carried her off directed him inside, and Nyrunn hurried to her bedside.

She was on her back, the dagger still sticking out of her ribs and a broken arrow shaft out of her shoulder that he hadn’t even noticed until now. She was still breathing. Thankfully.

Nyrunn grabbed the chair in the corner and pulled it up to her side. He gently took her hand in both of his, brushing his thumb over the starlight lines as he bowed over it. He whispered, “Don’t you dare leave me. Don’t make me wait for you again. Don’t make me watch you in my last days live a life that will never have me in it. Stay with me. Live this life with me.”

She didn’t respond. Her eyes remained closed.

Nyrunn wrapped his fingers around her wrist and felt her pulse. He pressed his lips gently to the back of her hand as he clutched it. Her heart was still beating. As long as it was still beating, he had hope.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed, with him hunched over her hand, desperately clinging to her the way her body was clinging to life, until the tent opened. He looked up to see three healers rushing in, the captain outside behind them with the Constella, who was cradling a broken arm.

“Your Majesty, tell us exactly what happened!”

Two of the healers were already at her side, examining the dagger while the third approached him. Nyrunn let go of her hand and staggered to his feet, backing away to give them space to work. “I—In the fight—It happened quickly. She called out to me, and then she was pushing me out of the way. I was about to be stabbed, and when she saved me, the dagger was in her side instead.”

Why? Why had she done that?

She hated him. She was terrified of him.

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