Page 87 of A Legacy of Poison and Lies

Her assailant swiped at her with his blade, and Zylah only just managed to call out a warning for Holt as the vampire rushed towards him. She pivoted away from the sword strike, the man’s sigil swinging wildly at his chest with the force of his movements, the tip of his blade nicking her elbow as she moved.

Holt was moving faster and faster, rocks smashing and exploding into humans as he moved around the vampire, the entire tomb shaking beneath the force of his magic, despite the spells that would be preventing him from reaching his full potential.

Zylah swung around, driving her sword across the man’s abdomen, and didn’t spare him a glance as she ran towards the other humans surrounding Holt. She’d seen how this played out; the vampire would toy with him until he’d spent every last drop of his power, and then use his moment of weakness to strike. But then Holt surprised her; a ripple of power erupted from him, stone and rocks shaking to swallow up the vampire, pinning him beneath the stone.

“He’s losing too much blood, help him!” Daizin pleaded, shadows wrapping around Laydan’s wound. Kopi had landed on the witch’s hand, a few stray feathers falling as if he’d been fighting.

“Holt. Laydan’s hurt,” Zylah managed to call out, swinging away from another swipe of a sword as three humans came for her. Holt took out the first and began moving towards the second. “I’ve got this,” Zylah assured him.

He hesitated for only a moment before running over to Daizin, the Fae’s shadows lifting to let him in.

Zylah fought off the two humans, her limbs burning with the effort, her arms beginning to tremble. She sheathed her sword to pull for another dagger, just as the makeshift tomb around the vampire cracked and he shot out.

Empty, black eyes stared down at her, short chestnut hair ruffled from his fight with Holt. “He wasn’t lying when he said you were beautiful.”

“Tell Jesper he can go fuck himself.” Zylah gripped her dagger, but the vampire darted forwards, sinking its teeth into the soft flesh of her throat before Zylah even realised what was happening. It recoiled immediately, eyes flashing wild and mouth stained crimson with her blood as it hissed, but before Zylah even had the chance to register what had happened, Holt barrelled into its side and knocked it clean off its feet.

She pressed a hand to her neck; the vampire hadn’t bitten deep, whatever had made it recoil had stopped it, but already she was weak, light-headed, as Holt grappled with the vampire in the dirt. An orblight had smashed beside them and he was wielding the fire, bursts of flame shooting at the remaining humans, their screams filling the space as they dropped to the ground to try and extinguish the inferno threatening to consume them whole.

Zylah kept pressure on her wound, fighting back her drowsiness as she scrambled over to where Daizin still held Laydan. Holt was using more and more magic, and she searched the space around them for a way to lure the vampire away from him before he burnt out, her hope plummeting when she saw none. She couldn’t breathe watching him, couldn’t look away, her heart in her mouth at the sight. He landed a blow to the vampire’s jaw, his flames spiralling around the creature like rope, and it roared against the constraints.

Just as Zylah thought it might yield it lurched forwards and sank its fangs into Holt’s throat, pushing him back towards where she sat beside Daizin. She reached for him with a strangled sob, but Daizin hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her back. Holt’s name was a scream on her lips as his flames burnt hotter, squeezed tighter, Daizin’s shadows pulling everything into darkness, protecting them from the blaze, his arm still tight around her waist.

“No!” Zylah swiped frantically at the shadows, a sickening fear twisting her stomach at the thought of the vampire draining Holt, but the darkness cleared just in time for her to see it go rigid against him. He dug his hands into the creature’s arms, pressing tight, a roar erupting from him and his body convulsing as his flames consumed it, burning so bright Zylah had to shield her eyes.

She fought against Daizin’s grip, her hands trembling from her rising panic. Zylah called Holt’s name again, the light almost blinding as she fought to see him protected from his own inferno, the vampire burning until all that remained was ash. Holt staggered against the absence of the vampire’s weight, pressing a hand to his throat, his eyes lifting to meet hers.

“Let go of me!” she seethed against Daizin’s touch, her panic all-consuming, just as two more groups of humans burst into the chamber surrounding them, and Holt fell to his knees. “Holt!” Power flared from her, and Daizin recoiled, freeing her from his grasp. Zylah didn’t waste time weighing up her options. If she tried to heal Holt, they’d still be surrounded. There was only one way out of this. She lunged for his hand, reached out for Daizin with the other, and evanesced them all back to the safety of the Aquaris Court.

But it was too far, and with three others, four, if she included Kopi, they were too many, the burn of the vanquicite searing through every inch of her. Zylah screamed as the pain set her nerves alight and willed herself to travel just a little bit farther until she could smell the scent of the ocean and hear the crashing of the waves.

A choked sob escaped her as she took in the white balcony of the Aquaris Court, the feeling of Holt’s hand tightening around hers and a flurry of relief in her heart at the sight of his eyes fluttering open.

And at last, she let the pain pull her into oblivion.

Chapter Thirty-One

Juststaywithme.

Zylah was dreaming. She was back in the tavern in Virian with Holt after she’d brought him back to their room and healed him. His hand was warm around hers, and something in his voice made her pause, the way he seemed as if he didn’t want to let her go.

“Zylah.” His voice cut through the haze of her dream, and she remembered he was injured.

She tried to say his name, but every breath felt like fire, her throat full of ash. Everything hurt. Burned white-hot like thousands of blades slicing through her blood, her nerves, her flesh. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as a strangled sound escaped her, and the arms around her tightened.

Holt. He was trying to heal her, andhewas injured. She wanted to tell him to stop, to hold onto whatever he had left for himself, but she was shaking so badly she couldn’t get the words out.

Voices talked over each other, people shouting. Kopi quietly hooed somewhere nearby.

“I can work here. Get the others away. Aerin, towels. Niossa, bring Cirelle.” Zylah didn’t recognise the voice that spoke. Female, raspy. Old.

Another burst of pain made her curl in on herself, and she realised Holt had pulled her into his lap, his comforting scent wrapping around her, his warmth leeching into her too-cold skin.

I won’t let anything happen to you.

Zylah wasn’t sure if he’d said it out loud or if she was just recalling his words from that night on the balcony, but her panic flared again as she remembered how badly he’d been hurt, how deeply he’d pulled on his power to kill the vampire.

She reached a hand to his neck where the creature had bitten him, the warm stickiness of his blood coating her fingertips and her heartbeat wild in her chest at the thought of losing him.

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