Page 79 of Blooms of Darkness

I wasn’t as lucky with his friend. More prepared, he hissed at me over the death of his comrade.

He attacked violently and without any structure, swinging with a strength much stronger than mine.

An arrow flew toward me, and I veered as the dark one lunged with his sword, a move which likely saved my life. The arrow grazed my thigh, leaving a cut, but landing directly where I had been standing.

As I blocked the sword of the Fae I battled, something pierced my side.

I didn’t make a sound as I hit the ground. Nothing came out, no cry for help, even though my mouth opened wide.

Ian screamed at me. The dark one circled me with glee. I tried to stand up and immediately wavered, my knee buckling and giving out as an agonizing pain consumed me. The dark one had stabbed me, with a small dagger, through to the hilt.

I heard a shout, angry and violent. Then nothing. Blood pooled quickly onto my shirt at the wound.

The dark one before me froze, a blade thrusting through his chest, and then suddenly, vanished from my line of sight.

Ian’s face paled as he hovered over me.

I couldn't even hear what he said. My eyes were off in the field, astounded at the way Kade wielded his magic. His power called to me in a way I had never experienced before. It promised vengeance. Shadows seeped through his fingers, wrapping around the necks of the attackers, cracking them in one swift blow.

How was it even possible?

“Breathe, Lan. Breathe.” Ian’s fingers prodded the area near the wound.

My stomach knotted. I may be sick.

Ian’s furrowed brow and twisted features betrayed his anguish as he struggled to decide how he should pull the dagger out. Or if he should at all. With no healers, I didn’t know if I’d survive it.

“It would be a really good time to have magic, huh?” I tried to joke, coughing. A ring of fire sprouted up, circling around Ian and myself.

Storm had found us. “It’s mine,” he shouted, before hurling another fireball toward one of the attackers.

The flaming circle didn’t stop two dark ones from jumping in and rushing toward me and Ian. He cursed under his breath as he left my side to enter the battle and keep them away. “Kade!” Ian shouted. “Help me!”

I noticed Kade’s body through the flames as he spun in my direction, slicing the throat of another assailant aiming to end our lives. The moment he locked eyes with me on the ground, he ran. His shadows surrounded us, smothering Storm’s fire, and casting a blanket of darkness around us.

Taking down two more dark ones on the way, he fell by my side. “This is going to hurt,” he said, yanking the dagger from my side.

“No—” My words were too late. Blood gushed from the wound too quickly.

The dagger should have stayed, without it, I’d bleed out. A hazy blackness swarmed the edges of my vision.

“Lana, what are you waiting for?” Kade yelled. “Heal yourself!”

“I… I… get Ian…” I barely mustered. My fingers shook as I clutched my side, the warm stickiness of blood coating them in rivets.

“Why aren’t you healing?” Kade’s panicked tone soaked into me. I wanted to soothe his fear, but at this rate, perhaps he had reason to panic.

“Ian, I need you.Now,” Kade shouted, his shadows crawling over me, shifting my fingers away as they pressed against the wound. I hissed. He tried to cover my injury and stop the bleeding himself. “Something doesn’t feel right. Why isn’t this working?”

Ian rushed to my side, shoving Kade out of the way. “You took the blade out?”

“She wouldn’t have healed around it,” Kade growled.

Kade and Ian stared at each other for a moment, and Kade’s shadows glowed with an orange light. Storm had created a second ring of fire around us, trying to buy us whatever time he could.

“I don’t have time to explain,” Ian said to Kade. “Fuck!” Ian ran his blood-soaked hands through his hair. “She’s not going to heal, and I don’t have strong enough abilities to even attempt to heal this kind of injury.”

I watched Kade’s face fall as he stared back at me. “Neither do we,” he murmured, his voice barely a whisper.

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