Page 203 of A Soul to Guide

With his sight black, Merikh lifted his hand above his head, parted his fangs, and dropped her soul into his maw.

Raewyn didn’t know what was happening when she looked down, and with his borrowed sight, saw Merikh’s entire hand had disappeared into her chest. Her skin waved like rippling water. It didn’t hurt, but it was oddly invasive, like he was gripping her spine.

Then, he pulled something from her, and a blue flame flickered in his enclosed fist.

She didn’t know what to do, or even say, as he held his hand above his fangs and dropped it into his mouth.

She let out a heart-wrenching scream when he didn’t even get the chance to close his fangs around it. One of the Delysian soldiers had leapt up with an energy blade, swung in a swift arc, and removed hisheadin one swoop!

The blue flame floated in the air as his body disintegrated in a plume of glittering black sand. His skull plopped against the ground like someone had dropped it, and tears instantly welled in her eyes.

“No!” Raewyn screamed.

She fought Cykran to go to Merikh’s skull.Is he dead?

He couldn’t be dead. There was no way. He said he’d come back from something like this.

“There’s no more time!” one of the other councilmembers shouted.

“I can’t hold it for much longer,” the other yelled back.

“It’s dead now. Just get her through the portal!”

Cykran shoved her into the arms of her fellow Elysian just as the flame floated back within her. With a hard, unbothered expression, the bearded face of their head of security shoved her through the portal, despite her protest. Earth was swallowed up in a bright light before she was spat out the other side. From the way she’d been pushed, she fell straight onto her backside before rolling onto her back.

She nearly flipped over with how hard she’d been tossed.

The welcoming heat surrounding her did nothing to warm her of the dread that chilled her bones. On her hands and knees, struggling to get to her feet, she darted for the portal.

I have to go back. I have to get him.

“Raewyn!” a woman shouted as people grabbed her arms.

Someone drew her in for a forced hug, and her mother’s floral scent cascaded over her. Despite how much she’d longed to be in the shelter of her mother’s arms again, there was someone else she wanted more.

“Please wait,” she rasped, pushing her off with her eyes glued to the rift.

Raewyn was disorientated from coming through the portal, her stomach queasy like last time. She also wasn’t used to the utter brightness that was Nyl’theria. The suns pouring through the glass ceiling, triangular in shape due to the branches above, were too blazing.

It didn’t matter that it was obviously late afternoon and the three multicoloured suns were descending. It hurt her eyes, and having Merikh’s sight always made it difficult to orientate herself. It’d been easier on Earth, where everything was dim.

Her mother, who she hadn’t seen in weeks, and even longer due to her lack of sight, stumbled as Raewyn carelessly tossed her to the side. Panicked, she headed for the portal, but Cykran and everyone else coming through it blocked her path.

With a crackle, it closed behind them.

Her heart shattered into a million fragments.

How could Merikh forgive her for leaving him behind? They were supposed to come here together!

“You jerk!” she screamed as she flung herself at Cykran. She punched his chest with the bottom of her fists. “Why didn’t you listen to me? I told you I wanted to bring him with us!”

More people grabbed her, and she kicked to get free and punish the foul Delysian she’d called her friend.

She didn’t care that his expression appeared betrayed, or that she was able to see it. She didn’t care that there were at least three dozen people in the room watching her.

Her tears stung, her chest burned, and her stomach was so knotted, she thought she was going to vomit right there on the black obsidian floor. She wanted to purge the crawling heartsickness burrowing inside her like a parasite.

“How could you do this to me?” she cried. “You didn’t even give him a chance and just attacked him.”

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