Page 141 of The Lands Defying
It means she is going.
Colten kneels down next to him, Hudson at his back with a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t believe this.” He shakes his head, his voice raspy. “I just can’t.”
Hudson grips his shoulder tighter as he looks down at Rhea. “I know, pup. Life does not grant you mercy. Even to those most deserving.”
Anna, Taylor, and Sebastian move to the bottom next. Anna’s eyes are puffy from crying, and Taylor’s scowl is deep while Sebastian remains quiet.
“There must be something else we can do,” Anna sniffles.
“We will try the library again,” Taylor grunts as Sebastion nods.
“She doesn’t deserve this,” Josh says eventually. “Not her. She saved us all and this is how she’s repaid?”
I say nothing. What can I say?
I should have saved some of my magic so I could have used it to catch her before she fell? I should have crossed the river and gone to the other side so I could have caught her? I should have never set foot in The Deadlands in the first place, and she would have still been living her life.
Everything was set in motion as soon as Charles gave me an ultimatum for me to go there, and I should have refused.
I should have fucking refused and just became a Higher.
I may see you sooner than intended, baby sister.
I sit next to her for a long time, holding her hand as the others speak around me. To Rhea, with each other, it doesn’t matter. I can’t hear them anyway. I sit there long enough that they all leave, and I’m left in a cave with the woman who is my everything, who won’t wake up.
Hope is no more.
It’s been too long for a body to come back from this. She exhausted herself too much to get back to me and it caused her the most damage. She was warned of the dangers, we both were…and now this is how it ends.
I’ve known this for days, deep down I knew this. I just didn’t accept it.
Another set of footsteps penetrate the fog of my mind. These ones are more soft, hesitant, and I growl.
“You really want to die if you have dared to come here.” My hand tightens around Rhea’s, and I quickly lighten my touch, not wanting to hurt her.
There is a stagnant pause, and then, “I needed to see her,” he says quietly, and it takes everything within me not to get up and tear his head from his shoulders. I haven’t seen him since that day he was atop the cliffs with Rhea.
The reason she was there in the first place.
I breathe deep to try and calm myself as magic curls at my feet, trying to remember what Rhea would want.
The rage that fills me nearly makes me lose my grip on remembering that.
Only she can have power over me and sway me.
So I sit there, rigid and tense as he gets closer.
I open my eyes when I hear him stop, take in a shuddering breath, followed by a rough swallow.
He looks a mess. Dark circles under his eyes, his blonde hair choppy and he’s lost weight. I feel no sympathy though as his stare never leaves her face.
His knees give way the next second, and he drops to the hard floor, his shaking hands reaching out for her.
“Mom.” That’s all he gets out before he begins to break.
Just like he broke her heart.
He leans forward and places his head on the side of her shoulder, his hand gripping hers as he sobs. His whole body shakes as his guttural cries fill the cave, and I have to get up and move away as he babbles words to her.
