Page 92 of What Blooms from Death

She woke enough to clutch at the dark strands of his mane, but her grip was feeble, her balance still off; I had no choice but to swing up behind her to continue to steady her—a move that earned me a haughty snort from Phantom. He seemed to understand the necessity of it, though, and managed to refrain from tossing me to the ground.

I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder in search of my cousin.

Our eyes met through a haze of smoke and magic just as he finished beheading another wraith. He seemed to be enjoying himself entirely too much, given the circumstances.

“I’ll catch up!” he assured me.

Before I could protest, Phantom’s muscles coiled with power and he lunged forward, knocking several bodies aside as he went. It cleared a wide enough path for Zayn to follow, at least—though I worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

We moved too fast for me to look back again, either way.

The city blurred around us. I kept one hand tightly woven into Phantom’s mane, while my other arm circled Nova’s waist. I tried to keep her from being jostled too much, though this was mostly in vain; every rough step or sharp turn drew whimpers of pain from her. The sound of them undid me in ways I wasn’t prepared for—ways I wouldn’t take the time to wonder about now.

Rowen and Farren met us at the northern gate, as planned. Rowen held the reins of Uldrin, Thalia’s stallion. Red was clinging to the back of that massive beast, wide-eyed and trembling.

Despite myself, I exhaled a small sigh of relief to see her safe.

Nova seemed aware enough to keep her balance for a moment, so I slipped from Phantom’s back and strode toward my soldiers.

“Where is Thalia?” I demanded.

“We’re not sure,” Farren informed me with an uncertain frown. “She disappeared shortly after bringing us here and speaking with the guards at the gate.”

I sized up that gate, wondering how the hell we were going to get through it.

Not that I was leaving yet—not without my foolish cousin.

I was a moment away from racing back into the city to find him when, finally, he appeared, racing down the street with his usual foolish, cocky grin on his face.

He wasn’t alone.

No less than two dozen wraiths were chasing him. He was well ahead of them, but they were closing the distance at an alarming rate.

My hand gripped the hilt of my sword, but I didn’t draw it out. How many more enemies would follow? We couldn’t behead the entire city. We were outnumbered, with no time to keep up this aimless butchering.

Phantom was pacing restlessly, sizing up the gate as I had done, looking as if he was considering trying to jump over it.

He understood as well as I did: Nova needed treatment. She needed out of this city.

Jagged lines of light split across my skin once more, as if in response to this thinking. I still had no real plan, but I embraced my magic and the thoughts that had summoned it. Thoughts of healing her. Protecting her. The light expanded, the bolts of it crackling out toward the approaching mob of wraiths just as Zayn raced to relative safety behind me.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was following the path of those bolts, walking directly toward our enemies.

Though she remained barely conscious, Nova’s shadows lifted and chased after me, the threads of her magic weaving around mine and giving it more weight. My steps, too, felt heavier, more purposeful.

I inhaled, breathing in the greater power building in the air all around me. But before I could wield a single scrap of that power, Thalia seemed to appear out of nowhere, grabbing my arm and roughly jerking me to a stop. “Don’t.”

I shot her a furious look, but stayed my hand and my magic—for the moment. “What do you mean,don’t?”

“If you two summon any sort of magic like you did on Lake Nyras’s shore, it will draw the entire city down upon us. Every wraith in here will come to try and take it for themselves—you can’t unleash something so powerful, something you have so little control of, within this desperate place. It will lead to pandemonium.”

“Then what are we—”

She shoved me back toward Nova. “Just take her and run. I’ll be right behind you, along with your soldiers. There’s help waiting on the other side of this city.”

“Help?”

“I told you: I’ve been arranging things.”

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