Page 67 of Veiled Fate
Nodding brought renewed pain from my ripped and torn neck, the muscles protesting every bit of movement. As was my stomach and forearm. In the depths of the open wounds, I could see bits of emerald and jade lightning bouncing around. The very power of Fate herself. Trying to escape me.
Once we reached the game trail, Kiel broke into a long-legged lope, covering ground swiftly as his massive legs powered us forward.
“Just hold on,” he whispered, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. “We’re not far from the temple. I can get us there soon. All you have to do ishold on, Jada. Please. Don’t you let go.”
He thinks I’m going to give up. After what he said.
I could see it written in his eyes and hear it in the tightness of his voice. Kiel was all but pleading for me not to give up. To stick around. It hurt so bad to fight the pain. Letting go, letting itout, would be easier. The pain would go away, would leave me.
“Jada!” Kiel howled. “No. Get back here. Stop that. Fight it, Jada. You’re strong. You can do this. You can push it back.”
Why?
My agony-ridden brain wanted to shut it off. To stop the hurt, it was slowly detaching itself from reality, unable to processso much. I was wounded beyond the point anyone should be able to handle. My throat was a tattered mess, my arm had aholethrough it, and my stomach was bleeding out my front and back. Blood poured from my wounds, puddling in places where Kiel’s body formed a seal against mine, only sliding out when his running pace resulted in us splitting apart for a second. I was sure he was a bloodstained mess from the waist down.
But he didn’t stop. Didn’t quit running toward Mount Triumph and the temple within. It was fruitless, of course. At the rate I was losing blood, I simply wouldn’t live for the hours it would take him to cross that distance. No matter how fast he ran, it wasover.
“Please,” Kiel moaned, glancing at me between strides. “Jada. No. I …”
Say it, I urged him.
A wave of green colored everything around me. It started at the corners but worked its way across my vision completely.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Kiel whispered. “Please, Jada, fight it. I spent forever without you. Now that I’ve found you, I can’t lose you. I can’t. I’ve tried so hard to right the wrongs I did. Please don’t put this burden on me as well. I don’t know if I can handle it. Too much. It’stoo much.”
The confession ripped away Kiel’s strength, took away his voice, reducing it to rags as it wavered andalmostbroke. But he was made of sterner stuff, and even that glimpse into his soul—into the very depths of the emotions he worked so hard to hide from a world that wanted to strip him of everything—was enough to rattle me.
It pulled me back from the edge by placing me on the wings of a question I couldn’t ask him at that moment.
Who am I to you?
I thought I knew the answer. I wanted tohearthe answer. And Kiel looked ready to say more.
But something ahead brought him to a skidding halt.
“No,” he half-moaned. “Not now. Please, not now.”
My head lolled to the right, and I got a good look at what he saw.
Ahead of us, blocking the path, was a figure standing so still it was almost unnatural. An aura of death radiated out from him as if the way he stood could steal a life. A slate gray cloak and cowl covered his face from view, but two dots of brilliant blue stared out at us, more sapphire than Kiel’s ice.
He wore two weapons, a familiar short, thick-bladed stabbing device and a long great sword unadorned with any markings or fancy details. Just simple killing steel.
Nehringi.
I knew it could be none other than one of the assassins. The poise and confidence were unmistakable, as was the choice of blades. Yet the being was different. I knew because it was impossible for me to forget the blazing emerald eyes that had looked down at my dying body.
“You must be Lycaonus’ pet,” Kiel said.
“The girl goes no farther,” the assassin said, his voice a dark rasp in the fading light. An ominous warning of death that would soon follow.
Not that I would live much longer anyway.
“Don’t give up on me,” Kiel whispered under his breath, crouching to place me on the ground. “On us.”
I flopped unceremoniously to the ground, my body weak and fading fast. Even keeping my head turned to see the Nehringi was almost more than I could handle. Everything was still colored in green, from the ground to the sky to the skin of the two shifters.
“What is wrong with her?” the Nehringi asked, his head turning ever so slightly to look at me.
