Page 147 of A Blightress of Wrath
Iwas seventeen, andI’dbeen given great power.
Thetime had come to wield it.
Thevinhauled me from the ground, never letting me go, never wavering in his protection, choosing me over his duty asRunnerto stay and fight.
“Ican fix this!”Ishouted.
Thecrackle of fire and death echoed around us.
“Ican fix this!”
Heshook my shoulders, pressing his hands to my face. “There’snothing you can do!Weneed to leave!”
Hepulled me closer to the portals, andIdug my heels in to the slippery rock. “Ineed to get to theBlightress!”Icalled, ducking as shards of stone flew over our heads. “Please,Thevin!Helpme!”
“No!” he screamed, urging me further. “Iwon’t let her take you!”
“Please!”Itook his face in my hands and kissed him hard. “Ijust need to take her hand, andIcan fix this,”Iurged. “Ineed your help.WeneedBoros.Please,Thevin.Thisis me, fulfilling my promise to you.”Hejerked his head as if to deny me again, butIheld onto his face, pressing the pads of my fingers to his cheeks, stroking the left side where his dimple would appear in every one of his smiles for me. “Thelife we want is ours, andIneed you to believeIcan get us there.Ineed you to believe in me.”
Hislips trembled and a cry left his chest. “Ican’t let you go,” he shuddered, gripping me tightly, his voice broken in a repetitive, “Ican’t.Ican’t let you go.”
Ipressed my forehead to his, feeling my own tears slide down my cheeks. “Ican show her.Ican show her all of what she has done, andIcan keep my promise to you,Thevin, please.”Ikissed him again. “Letme fix this.”
Hiscountenance shattered and he held my head so tightly as he pressed his lips to mine in a kiss goodbye.Akiss to tell me that if he believed in anything, he believed in me.Heturned through his tears, calling toBoroswho fought aBlightbeast, snarling and ripping at its throat in one tear of branches that sprayed black blood through the air.
Myloyal lumen heard the call and came, leaping over and under theBlightstill winding its way along the walls.
Wejumped on his back, andIleaned forward, whispering in his ear, “Getme to her, my friend.You’regoing to have to leap as high as you can.”
Hebolted toward the stairs, andItook in the battle in all of its finality—the last stand of theFour’sarmy against theBlightressofWrath.
OfHatredandRage.
Ofa bloody heart that had been wrapped in the warmth of love my father held for me and my mother for seventeen years, draining her of her power, but keeping him alive.
TheBaronofFelgrenwas unrecognizable.
Mymother changed into somethingI’dimagine in a nightmare, ripping the head from aBlightbeast’s body, flicking her hand toward a thick vine ofBlightonly for it to snap, oozing a black puss and writhing on the ground.
Darknesssurrounded her as she gazed up at theBlightresson the rocky stairs, who grinned with lips of a blood-red crimson.
Borosnarrowly avoided a vine that burst underneath us, and he leapt over the swiping branch of an enormous blackened tree, its maw cracking under its cry of ire at our escape.
Weclosed in toward the staircase, passing bodies and uprightRunnersandWieldwrynsalike.Thevinslashed through branches and vines at our sides, ignoring the cuts on his arms and face from the sharp thorns that ravaged his skin.Wepassed my uncle as he dove over his guardswoman,Renn, shielding her body from the withered branches of theBlighttree swiping at them.
Mymother rose from the ground, lifted by pulsing black trees, dripping with more of the black viscous substance that trailed from her hands.Fruitthe size of plums grew and burst one after another, the flesh splatting to the wet rocky floor, only to sink down into the stone, emerging in saplings that rapidly grew into more of her ownBlighttrees.
“Youcould have been this all along,LittleSprout.”TheBlightress’svoice rang through the screams and snarls, hitting its mark.
Mymother screamed in rage.Thehaunting black of her hands shot forth as she continued to rise from the ground, the nameBlightressnow earned by both of these women, set in a course of never-ending war.
Ican fix this.
“Iwill make you suffer!” my mother snarled. “Icannot kill you, butIcan bury you so far beneath the earth, not even your rot can reach you!”
Ican fix this.
Agrin of malice crept across theBlightress’sface. “ThenIwill take you with me, daughter.”
