Page 138 of The War of Wings
Miles stepped out from between the trees like a bloodthirsty, prowling animal, his dark eyes empty aside from the blue flame blazing in their centers. His steps werepredatory, his chin down and fists clenched as he stalked toward me.
“Miles.” I wanted to shout, but his name came out as a whisper. Maybe it was the broken ribs in my chest, but I was almost sure it was the broken heart that beat behind them. “I’m Petra,” I tried, my voice low and broken, but his steps didn’t stop. “Your brother is Cal. The woman you love is Cielle.” I took a cautious step backward. I didn’t summon my flames yet, as if between now and the five or so steps left between us, I could get through to him. “You need to come back, Miles. You’re still in there, I know it.”
But the face that stared back at me was unchanged as he crossed the distance and his calloused hand closed around my throat. My feet kicked wildly as he lifted me off the ground with inhuman strength.
“Miles.” His name was garbled as I fought against him, fought to drag in a breath. He couldn’t kill me, but–
What if he could kill me?
I’d imbued a blade with my power, hoping it could kill Malosym. What if… What if Malosym had done the same with Miles?
The pressure in my head began to build as his hand tightened around my throat. Miles cocked his head, his expression savage, his grip ruthless as my vision grew fuzzier.
Why did I have to choose mercy? Why hadn’t I just commanded Rixa to incinerate him? That would’ve been mercy in itself. Why did I still cling desperately to the belief that Miles was still somewhere in there when it was very,veryclear he was not?
I had to kill him. It was either sentence Miles to death or the rest of the world at Malosym’s hand.
“I’m sorry,” I tried to say, but my body was so devoid of air that I was only able to mouth the words. I hoped he felt it. I hoped he was somewhere in there still. I hoped he understood, somehow.
With one final surge, my hand collided with his chest. I cried out as a blinding flash of light overtook the world and Miles’ grip loosened and fell, and my temple hit the ground with a nauseatingcrack.
The last thing I saw before darkness overtook me was Miles’ form painfully curling on his side, smoke floating from his marred chest, and his open, distant eyes, completely dark once again.
???
Fuck, fuck, fuck!I squeezed my eyes shut in the new, eerie silence of the Darkness Beyond. No Occulti were here any longer. They were all in the Human Realm where my consciousness had left my body. I needed to get the fuck back therenow. I killed Miles.
And it was going to be for nothing if my body was found by Occulti and taken to Malosym.
“Petra?” Katia’s panic-stricken voice cut through the darkness. “Rhedros, she’s here!”
I wanted to scream, to tell them to shut the fuck up and let me focus on reattaching to my body in the Human Realm, but the fear in her tone was the same that was festering in my gut. I opened my eyes.
“Are you hurt?” Rhedros called through the darkness.
“No, I’m fine, I–” I swallowed hard. “Adorex is dead, and–”
Katia’s gasp was a knife to my chest. “Rhedros, it’s time.”
“No,” he answered, his voice hard. “I’ll go alone.”
“It won’t work alone. I’m going with you or we’re not going at all.”
“You impossible woman,” he murmured, his voice suddenly softer.
And it was that sudden shift in his tone that had me straightening. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice unstable with rising panic.
“The same thing we did all those years ago,” Katia answered.
A painfully slow, heavy sigh left Rhedros. “And something we should’ve done a long time ago. We’re sorry, Petra.”
My head shook violently, the dread in my gut expanding. “Sorry for what? No, whatever you’re doing, don’t! I’m going to free you! I’m–”
“Katia, Keeper of the Benevolent Saints,” Rhedros started, cutting my words short.
Katia came next, her voice trembling with fear and sorrow and resolve. “Rhedros, Keeper of the Blood Saints.”
And then they continued at the same time, their words perfectly aligned as they echoed through the Darkness Beyond, “You are hereby cursed to the Human Realm, never to return to the Saints’ Realm for the rest of your days.”
