Page 74 of Severed Heir

Klaus’s breath hitched. “...wouldn’t hurt me,” he whispered, but the words were breaking.

My shadows surged to life. Rage howled through me, darkness coiling at my fists. “Strike him again,” I growled, voice shredding through my throat, “and I swear I’ll kill you.”

Charles raised his snowflake relic. For a moment, something flickered behind his golden eyes, like he was weighing whether tothread menext. “I don’t have a choice,” he said softly.

Then, to my shock, he pivoted and drove a spike of ice straight through the cloaked woman’s chest. I didn’t have time to process it. Before her body even hit the ground, Charles turned and struck Klaus again. This blow landed like a death sentence. It tore Klaus from Naraic’s back and hurled him through the air.

Their bond flickered like a dying star. I felt the snap in my own chest, the hollow silence that followed.

He was falling, and I couldn’t reach him fast enough.

Naraic shrieked, wings folding as he plunged after him. “No—Klaus!” I roared, diving hard.

Ciaran tucked her wings, slicing through the wind. Air tore at my clothes, at my skin, at everything I couldn’t hold onto.

Through the bond, Klaus’s voice cracked in. “I need you to promise me something…”

“Ciaran—faster!” I shouted.

Then I watched as his body fell into the lake. I couldn’t make it fast enough to the ground.

“He’s dying,”she said, voice breaking.“I can feel their hearts slowing.”

“Find Severyn,”Klaus whispered.“Protect her. And tell her… tell her I forgive you—for loving her. And she’ll forgive you… for hurting her.”

Severyn.

His sister?

My chest buckled. Then a rush of water filled my lungs, even as I kept tearing through the air. “I’m drowning,” I gasped. “I can’t—”

“No!”Ciaran cried.“Naraic—bond with her. Now. Force it!”

Naraic dove, twisting midair, but frost overtook him. Ice clamped around his wings, a spiderweb of frost racing across his scales. He dropped, plunging into the lake, sinking fast through the dark, murky depths.

“It’s done,”he whispered.“I bonded with her. As long as she lives… Archer, you’ll survive.”

“What the hell—who are you talking about?!” I shouted, chest heaving.

Ciaran slammed into the earth beside the lake, dirt and sand exploding beneath her talons. I tumbled from her back, hitting the ground hard. My knees buckled.

“Klaus—” My voice cracked as I crawled forward. “Say something. Gods, say anything.”

Silence. No voice in my mind. No flicker down the bond. Just the lapping of water.

I lunged toward the lake, half-mad, ready to dive in and tear through it with my bare hands.

But Ciaran clamped her jaw around my arm and yanked me back, hard enough to nearly wrench my shoulder from its socket. “Let me go!” I screamed, thrashing. “Let me go—”

“No.”Her voice was low and final.“That is his resting place. Only his family may bury him.”

Above us, Charles hovered on his griffin. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said flatly. “Klaus was loved. But if he’d survived, the guards would’ve dragged him to the prisons and torn him apart.”

The scream that ripped out of me didn’t sound human. Like something feral and raw, all the way down to the bone.

My shadows exploded. They swallowed the light whole—every ember, every flicker of sunlight. The Summer trails dimmed into nothing.

“You didn’t love him,” I whispered, my voice growing louder. “You killed him. You are a murderer!”

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