Page 70 of Too Dangerous To Die

I stagger, my legs giving way beneath me. My claws dig into the stone. My body begins to fracture, light pouring from my joints like the seams of a breaking vessel. My heart pounds like war drums.

Then she’s there.

Hands on my face. Magic in my throat. Lips against mine.

Not a kiss of love.

Not this time.

This is survival.

A desperate, brutal transfer of life.

Her magic slams into me like a stormfront, shoving back the unraveling, sealing the fractures in my skin with molten heat. I cry out from what I feel through her—what she gives without hesitation. What she bleeds for me.

Again.

My vision returns. My body stabilizes. And the Wraithborns’ disappear as magic swirls around us violently.

She collapses against me.

Her breath shallow. Her glow dimmed. Her hands trembling.

“Why?” I rasp, cradling her. “Why would you do that again?”

She smiles faintly, her lips cracked. “Because you’re mine.”

And it breaks something in me.

Because I know this can’t go on.

If she keeps giving herself to save me… she won’t make it to the final battle. She’ll burn out like a falling star—beautiful, bright, and gone far too fast.

I hold her tighter, pressing my forehead to hers, shielding her from the wind and ash with my wings.

She drifts off in my arms, trusting me to hold her while she sleeps.

And as the silence returns, I finally admit it to myself.

I have to find a way to sever the bond between her and Medea.

It must be done. Even if it means breaking her trust.

Even if I perish.

Because if I don’t… the woman I love will die saving a world that’s already tried to destroy her once.

And I will not let her be sacrificed again.

34

NORA

The moment I leave Rhaegar’s side, I feel the tether stretch taut between us. Not physically—but magically. Emotionally. It pulses beneath my skin like a second heartbeat, reminding me of the choice I made. Of what I gave him… again.

I tell myself I only need a moment. One breath of solitude. One sliver of quiet. But in these ruins, quiet is never peaceful. It whispers. It tempts. It opens doorways that were better left closed.

And I walk right into one.

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