Page 87 of Too Dangerous To Die

I don’t answer.

Because I already know.

But I don’t want her to.

Not yet.

The wind shifts again, sharper this time.

My wings beat harder.

I can’t let her fall.

But I feel it now,the splintering.

Not in the air.

In me.

The skin across my arms begins to tighten, stiffen. The edges of my vision blur.

I hear it in the way the wind no longer answers my flight.

The way the magic inside me sputters like a dying flame.

And then I lose control.

The descent is sudden. Violent.

We plummet.

My wings seize mid-flight, bones locking with a sound I barely register. She screams my name, arms clutching me as we spiral. I angle us down, twisting with everything I have left to shield her. The trees rise like spears, the ground a blur of green and stone.

We hit.

The impact cracks through me.

My body takes the brunt—wings flared, stone shielding, arms locked around her.

We roll, the earth tearing into me, the last of my strength unraveling with every breath. The world tilts. My vision blackens.

But she’s alive.

I made sure of that.

She scrambles over me, dirt and tears smeared across her face. Her hands find my cheeks, shaking, trembling, frantic.

“Rhaegar.Rhaegar!What’s happening—why did we fall?”

I try to speak.

Fail.

Try again.

“My magic,” I whisper, voice rough with pain. “It’s… breaking.”

Her eyes widen, pupils blown wide with panic. “No. No, we’re past this. You destroyed the tether. We made it out. It’s over.”

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