Page 63 of A Legacy of Wrath and Reckoning

Another leg slammed into the dirt beside her head, and Zylah reached for her dagger, slashing and striking at anything it came into contact with, web slowing her attack. They were binding her. Cocooning her. Zylah tried to evanesce, but nothing happened. Her breath faltered and her chest tightened as panic threatened to overwhelm her, but she tried again. Still nothing.

Rhaznia screamed and Zylah tried not to echo the sentiment as spider silk pinned her to the dirt. If she risked distracting Holt, it could expose them both. But as another leg smacked the dirt beside her chest, as spider silk fell over her face, her mouth, Zylah bit back a whimper.

It was just like before. When Rhaznia had trapped her, when she’d blinded her. When she’d been moments away from tearing out her heart. Zylah’s breaths came shorter as she fought to pull back the threads of her magic, to summon a dagger to her palm, to evanesce… anything. But nothing answered, nothing snapped back into place.

Magic rippled over her, whatever spider had been working away at its cocoon stilling. Hands tore at the cobwebs over her face, warm fingers gently pulling away the webbing over her lips, her nose.

“Take us to the next location,” Holt rasped, hands bracing Zylah’s face.

“I can’t,” she choked out.

“Show me.”

Zylah could barely breathe, even as Holt tore at the spider silk across her chest, her arms. “I can’t,” she whispered when she realised what he meant.

“Zylah.”Now.Holt’s hand closed around hers at the same time as his voice echoed in her thoughts, Zylah’s chest aching at the familiarity of it. But she didn’t argue, just pushed an image down their bond, and barely a second later they were moving together through the aether.

The familiar scent of the cavern where she’d fought the water serpent assaulted her senses when they reappeared, Holt’s hand slipping from hers.

“Thank you,” she said softly, his pain almost tangible in the air between them. She still couldn’t see, but Zylah couldfeelthe way he grasped his head beside her, fingers knotting in his hair as if he might chase away the pain that had assaulted him.

He was in pain because of her. Because she’d wanted to stay, because she’d wanted to retrieve the venom. Because he’d asked her to invade his mind. The thought made her simultaneously miserable and furious all at once. Fuck Aurelia for this; fuck Ranon. Thallan. For everything they’d done. All the pain they’d caused.

“I’m alright,” he told her, his voice strained. She didn’t dare hope he’d heard her thoughts; it felt like too cruel a thing to want when it hurt him so badly.

“Rhaznia?” Zylah asked, tugging at her clothes for any pieces of spider silk her fingers snagged against as she caught her breath, as her racing heart quietened and she pushed herself to a seated position, legs stretched out before her.

“Dead.” Holt remained at her side, knees pressed into her thigh, his heart racing just as much as hers. Something rustled, something in his hand, Zylah thought. An echo of his magic danced over her skin, and she knew he’d sent away whatever he’d been holding. “We got what we came for,” he said quietly. “I’ve sent it to Okwata.”

Thoughts and words bubbled up inside her, gratitude and relief keeping the negative feelings at bay. The combined use of their magic had interfered with her vision, but voicing that seemed pointless. They were alive, and they were one step closer to finding Arioch and getting out of there.

Holt tensed at her side. “I remember this.”

“What?”

“Being here. With you.”

Zylah hugged her knees, wishing she could see him, recalling how it had felt the last time she was on this platform, gasping for breath. “You weren’t here with me. I was alone. But I think you helped me, somehow.”

“From my cell.” He shifted, taking his warmth with him, and she imagined him peering down at the dead water serpent below.

The movement stirred the air, the scent of blood hitting her and shoving whatever she wanted to say aside. “You’re bleeding.”

He hummed a response.

She wanted to ask what he remembered, to let him piece together what it meant that he’d helped her, but she’d caused him enough pain for one day. “I can try to heal it.” It would mean her sight likely wouldn’t return for a little longer, but she wasn’t about to let Holt continue their task with an open wound.

The air shifted as he knelt beside her. “Tell me how you killed the serpent.”

“That’s not how bartering works,” she said with a quiet chuckle.

“Tell me anyway.”

Zylah reached for him, his hand finding hers and guiding her to a spot near his shoulder. She had to rock up onto her knees to reach him, his other hand resting at her hip to steady her. “Healing first,” she murmured.

“Bossy, aren’t you?” he asked, an echo of what she’d said to him back in the tunnels.

Zylah didn’t hide her grin. There was a chance she couldn’t heal him. That she was too depleted to have anything left to give. But not being able to see the wound was elevating her heart rate, her mind conjuring all kinds of injuries that he might have sustained fighting Rhaznia, and she’d try whatever she could to fix it.

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