Page 148 of What Blooms from Death

He seemed to be debating his options—but he was debating them far too slowly.

Magic rose from my skin before he could make any decisions. Jagged light flashed through the air along with a hiss, a crackling—awarning.

He shielded his eyes from the growing brightness with one hand while the other made a sharp, diagonal cut through the air. A signal. In my peripheral vision, I saw both Eamon and Thalia move, along with several others.

As powerful as the light building around me felt, I knew my magic was at a disadvantage in this realm. I was outnumbered, too, and fighting them all would waste time.

I didn’t think beyond this.

I simply abandoned my magic and swung my fist instead.

The punch crashed into Bastian’s face, sending him stumbling back in surprise, clutching his nose.

While he was distracted by the blood streaming from his nose, I moved past him without another word. Soldiers swarmed after me, trying to cut me off. But I was looking far beyond them, all my focus on one singular point in the distance.

Nova had collapsed on the ground.

Her body was quickly disappearing within the relentlessly swarming shades.

I withdrew my sword, prepared to do more than simply punch the soldiers trying to stop me. Several of them drew weapons, as well, forming a half circle before me.

“Let him go,” came Bastian’s sharp voice, before any of us could take a single swing.

They hesitated, but ultimately obeyed, exchanging uncertain looks as they stepped aside.

I sheathed my sword and broke into a run. Though I tried to suppress it, magic once again rose around me as I drew closer to Nova. Bands of golden light streamed toward her, wrapping tightly around her body, as if seeking to comfort her fallen form until I could reach it. Those bands became almost solid, lifting her from the cold ground and rolling her into my arms as I dropped down beside her.

Dozens of the revived soldiers crowded around us, many of them still dazed-looking, leaning on one another for support. Despite their shocked state, they seemed to be trying to shield Nova from the waves of shades still attempting to push their way toward her magic.

My eyes fixed on Nova’s face. There were more of those bruise-like shadows covering it—the same kind she’d gained throughout her trainings these past weeks. They looked much more disturbing out here under the pallid, dead sky. I carefullyshifted her more fully into my lap, brushing a strand of hair away from the darkest of those bruises.

“Open your eyes,” I whispered.

She didn’t.

The pendant of Light magic lay shattered on the ground beside her, I noticed.

I curled one arm around Nova, holding her more securely against me while reaching with the other and running my hands through what remained of the pendant. They had been fools to assume such a trinket would be enough. Fools to risk her this way. And as my fingers trailed through the sharp dust, feeling the faint, useless hints of magic clinging to it, a burning fury unfurled in my chest.

I knew the plans Zayn and I had made. I knew the mess I was headed toward, should I choose to go the other way.

But I would letbothworlds fall to ruin before I left Nova here alone.

Another surge of magic coursed through me. I didn’t bother trying to suppress it, this time. It rolled from my body, bolt after bolt of light lashing out, spinning and pulling Nova’s scattered shadows toward it.

I watched, still holding Nova tightly against me, as our power collided and tangled together, twisting up into a column that nearly brushed the corpse-grey sky before collapsing back toward the dusty earth. It stretched wider as it fell, creating a vast, fluttering veil of magic that was neither fully light nor shadow—one that settled over more of the shades surrounding us, wrapping them in its embrace, bringing more of them to life.

The air vibrated with a palpable hum of energy. The ground shook, and soon it was returning to life, too, the dust giving way to shoots of green grass, tiny dots of pale-yellow magic hovering over it like fireflies.

Nova finally stirred in my arms and opened her eyes, looking up at me from under her lashes. “I…tried to tell them you would be better than any magical pendant,” she said, the words slurring a bit. “And I was right.”

My jaw clenched. “This was a dangerously foolish way to prove a point.”

A predictably chaotic little grin inched up a corner of her mouth. “I knew you’d find your way to my side,” she said, attempting a shrug that made her wince.

“Must you always be so damned optimistic?”

“It’s a curse, honestly,” she mumbled—her last words before her strength seemed to fail her completely. She went limp against my chest. Panic briefly seized me. I placed a hand over her heart and forced my breathing to slow so I could watch hers until I was satisfied that it was steady enough.

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