Page 92 of Draekora

“I can’t believe this,” Alex said, looking down at him through rain-blurred, impossibly wide eyes. “I can’t believe I’m eventhinkingthis.”

But despite her disbelief, there was no way she was going to let her friend die, even knowing the murderer he would become. That wasn’t who he was, not yet. And if she didn’t do everything she could to save him now, then that would make her just as evil as his future self.

When Niyx released a gurgling, ragged breath that sounded disturbingly bloody to her ears, Alex knew it was now or never.

“Please don’t hate me for this,” she whispered to him as she reached for A’enara. “Or do hate me, if you must, just as long as you stay alive.”

Before she could talk herself out of it, Alex sliced the ice-like dagger in a line above the scar already on her palm. She hissed at the pain it caused and steadfastly ignored Niyx’s horror-stricken face as he took in her glaringly obvious mortal blood mixing with the rain and flowing to the earth.

“Aeylia… What…What…”

“Shh,” Alex told him. “Save your strength.” Mentally, she added,We’re both going to need it.

Having only a vague idea of what to do and no guarantee other than her knowledge of Niyx being alive in her future, Alex reached out her noticeably quaking hand and placed her bloodied palm against the torn flesh over his heart.

“What…” he tried to say, but then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he released one final, gurgling exhale.

“Niyx?” Alex whispered, pressing down hard on his skin, their blood mixing together, dark and light. He didn’t respond, nor did he inhale; his chest remained still under her fingers. “No!Niyx!”

Knowing she was out of time, Alex didn’t think, she just acted. Screaming the Claiming words in her mind, she focused them outwardly in the same way she would call to Xiraxus.

Trae Menada sae, Niyx!

With rain soaking their bodies and lightning streaking overhead, Alex leaned in above his deathly still form. For a fraction of a second she feared it hadn’t worked; that perhaps she had to be Meyarin to pull off the ritual. But then her mind suddenly blanked, with her subconsciousness floating out of her like some kind of out-of-body experience, and she was pulled into what she instinctively knew was Niyx’s mind. Surrounded by the darkness of his swiftly fading thoughts as he moved closer and closer to death, she repeated her words with more urgency than she’d ever thought possible.

“Trae Menada sae,Niyx!” she yelled, impressing her will upon his. “I Claim you!”

In an instant she was yanked from the darkness and back into her own mind as a burning sensation ripped across her torso. The feeling was so intense that she cried out in pain and hunched over his body, unable to hold her weight against the agony shooting through her nerve endings.

A scream tore from her throat as inch by inch, shefelther flesh being slashed open, from her right hip to her left shoulder. Her free hand moved to press against her stomach, but all she felt were her rain-soaked clothes. She reached under the material, certain she would discover the gaping edges of shredded flesh, but there was nothing there—no wound at all, just phantom pain. Meanwhile, Niyx’s real claw marks began to pulsate with a soft, shimmering glow—a glow that was mirrored on Alex’s unmarred skin in four distinct diagonal slashes.

Heaving ragged breaths as strength drained from her body at an alarming rate, the pain Alex felt was excruciating enough to make her wonder what would happen to her future if she died in the past. Unlike with Niyx, she had no guarantee that she would survive to see another day in her real time. For all she knew, she was never going to make it back home. And if that happened, she wasn’t the only one whose life would be forfeit.

Alex!came Xiraxus’s cry, his voice more panicked than ever.Alex, what did you do?

Xira, she called, and even her mental voice sounded weak against the absolute agony rippling through her.Xira, I’m so sorry!

She somehow summoned the strength to send him the memory of her actions. In return, he bellowed out a deep, anxious roar.

But that was all she was able to hear from him because a burning like nothing she’d ever felt before scorched across the flesh of her torso, ripping another scream through her vocal chords. The glow of the claw marks intensified to a nearly blinding flash, blending with the lightning now beginning to streak around them.

The last thing Alex saw before she succumbed to unconsciousness was the glow disappearing as Niyx’s wounds began to seal. His body convulsed beneath hers, his chest rose with a great, shuddering gasp, and then Alex knew no more.

Alex! Wake up! Wake up—wake up—WAKE UP!

Bolting upright, Alex’s heart thudded in her chest as she came to her senses.Xira! What happened? How did I—Is Niyx—Where—What—

Her head was throbbing and she struggled to string a complete thought together. All she could tell was that she was back in her room at the palace. The storm was raging over the city, much fiercer now than when she’d been up on the Golden Cliffs, and her clothes were still sopping, soaking through to her bed.

What were youthinking, Alex? Are you crazy?Xira demanded.

That’s still up for debate, she returned, casting her eyes around the room until they came to rest on the motionless body slumped against the wall beside her unlit fireplace, knees raised, head pillowed between crossed arms.

Alex’s pulse stuttered as she quickly told Xiraxus,Listen, I can’t talk right now. I’ll check in again later.

You better, the draekon threatened,because storm or not, I’ll fly down there and make you talk if you don’t. And with that warning, his presence left her mind.

Alex slid off the bed, rising on wobbly legs, and moved towards the figure huddled near the fireplace.

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