Page 4 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“Torrel!” I yelled as I neared the edge. Then, without a second thought, I lept off the mountainside. Asta had taught me just how wonderful it could be to fall like this—the testing of our immortality an odd sort of freedom. As the ground below beckoned me down and the wind desperately tried to push me upwards, I smiled despite the pain in my cheek.
Glowing pink scales caught the teal light of day, and then Torrel was there to scoop me from the sky. I latched onto herscales as my chest connected with her neck. For a second, I lost my grip, but I squeezed my thighs and gritted my teeth. In all my life, I had never fallen from my girl, and I wouldn’t start today.
“Take me to the cottage, Torrel.”
Chapter Three
Bellamy
Bile climbed up my throat, magic digging into me like desperate claws seeking purchase. I ran my fingers over Asher’s necklace atop the desk briefly and fought off the pain. My head was throbbing as the knife that was Asher’s magic stabbed into my temples—punishing me. Still, I pressed on, my hand shaking as I gripped the pencil and attempted to write upon the page—the graphite staining my pale fingers.
Please, justonesentence.
A gong seemed to ring in my mind, the tremor of pain caused by its echoing tenor finally pushing me over the edge. I heaved, vomiting mostly blood into the bin I now kept at the side of my desk.
Another failed attempt.
My entire body convulsed, Asher’s voice whispering into my mind.You will not come looking for me. You will not save me.
Tears spilled from my eyes at the memory. That was all it was—all she was—now. A mere ripple in the sea of my past. A blip of time that was not nearly enough. The blood had poured from beneath the small log of wood, her body shaking and her eyes half closed. When she had fallen to her knees, I nearly exploded from the rage and magic within me. Of all the times for Asher to realize just how strong she was, that had been the worst. And now she was gone.
No, I would not let that be our ending. I could fight this. I attempted to sit back up, but my body protested, seizing and leaving me no choice but to fall to the floor in a heap of desperation and failure.
While I laid there upon the cool rock, crying unabashedly, I thought back to the letter Nicola had sent us. The instructions she had given.
First, you must not plot to get Asher. Not directly. Your best chance at saving herandAlemthian is by doing exactly as I say.
Second, in one week’s time, you will portal a ship bearing the demon sigil to the coordinates I have written on the back of this missive. Wait until midday, when the sun is highest in the sky and its rays light the black waters.
Third, a stranger will come upon you, and you will trust them. This is vital. Carry two standard pouches of gold and pay for their trust in turn.
Fourth, train those mortals and focus on rebuilding alliances. Your light-haired mortal king will be uneasy, but a queen will come to your aid. You must not lose any of the mortals to the fae. Asher was right in her desire to craft alliances. Without fiveof the six kingdoms on your side, youwilllose this war, and we will all die.
Finally, stop fucking trying to write strategies to save the princess, Elemental. You will only embarrass yourself. Asher’s magic has awoken, and it will not be defeated in this.
My fingers went slack, the pencil rolling away from me. Tomorrow we would sail, and I had yet to follow her final rule. Every day for the last week I had attempted to plot rescue missions. And every day, just as Nicola Salvatore said, I embarrassed myself.
Sighing, I closed my eyes and called to my fire. The red and blue flames flickered beyond my eyelids, the heat scorching as it licked up my hands. I welcomed the burn, the pain of my flesh melting away. Ranbir would be upset, but if Asher was being harmed, then we would feel that hurt together.
***
“Faster!” I screamed, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth as I leapt over a group of fallen branches, the sight of the large pieces of wood raining down unwelcome memories upon me. My hands balled into fists, the itch of newly healed skin making my teeth grind. Ranbir had yelled at me as his power seeped into my body, his tone furious and filled with disappointment. But I did not care. Getting to feel that blazing pain momentarily distracted my mind from the excruciating loss.
“Bell, I cannot keep up when you—” I heard her fall, the snapping of twigs and the smack of her body on the grass loud, before her curses filled the sweltering air. “Fuck! I swear to the gods and Eternity above that I will beat your ass!”
I sighed, slowing before coming to a halt. Within my chest, my shattered heart beat a ferocious rhythm as I spun to faceLian. Her blue hair had dirt in it, her yellow-toned skin red from the exertion and her fury. Scowling up at me, she squinted her almond eyes, the upwards tilt of them making her anger all the more prominent. Oh yes, I had done it this time.
Offering her help up, I awaited my second scolding of the day. She took my outstretched hand, but instead of using it to get back to her feet, she yanked me downwards. Unprepared for her vengeance, I careened forward, landing hard on the forest floor. A stinging in my forearm alerted me to the rock, but I did not care as my blood spilled upon the dirt and stone. Instead, I laid down, staring up at the scorching sun and sapphire sky beyond the greenery of the trees.
“I have loved and lost too, Bellamy,” Lian whispered between clenched teeth, her tone bordering on murderous. But I knew it was not simply frustration that led her to speak of Yuza when she so often did not. It was concern. My eyes drifted to her face, which was slowly relaxing. Clearing her throat, she reached up to dust off her training leathers as she continued. “Yuza was fiery and determined, like Asher. In the twenty-four years we had been together, she never once wavered in her desire to change the future—in her wish for us to be free to love and live. It was I who was scared and selfish, who wished for nothing more than to be by her side, even if in secret. Like you, all I dreamed of was her. Like Ash, Yuza would not settle.”
A gasp slipped from my lips, the surprise startling in its raw form. I knew some of this story, but to hear it relayed to me in direct comparison to my own tale? Well, there were few things that still hurt these days, but relating the tragedy of Yuza and Lian to Asher and I absolutely stung.
“I did not know at first that she had contacted the rebel group stirring within Betovere. Even when I had become aware, and begged for her to stop, I was still ignorant to what it all meant. Honestly, I did not know how deeply she had woven herselfwithin their ranks until she was dead at my feet.” She scoffed then, a sound of both pain and disbelief. “But Yuza, she thought it the only option. Overthrow the Mounbetton’s and we would be free. We did not know then that we were being watched, nor did we see that it was not the demons attacking our homes, but our own fae.”
I sighed, facing the sky once more as the knowledge of how deeply woven I was within the pain of all who I cared about. It wasmyfamily that had been the cause of Lian’s pain. Of Ranbir’s.Myparents that had killed Winona and Luca and Pino—that had destroyed Haven, demolished cities in Eoforhild, and attacked Behman.Myblood that held Asher hostage.
Like Asher, I understood how heavy the world was.
