Page 264 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Hallie yanked the heat left in her core to the surface and forced it into Kase with all the strength she had.
She could undo this. She had the power to rewind time.
She could heal him.
She could save him.
She’d evaporated hundreds of souls with a single spell.
She could do this. Shewoulddo this.
Dimly, she was aware of the light emitting from under her skin. It was like her power glowed within her very soul. Kase’s dark eyes reflected the mix of gold and blue, but wouldn’t absorb it. She couldn’t push it into him. He refused to accept it.
A glittering black cloud of fire surrounded them—almost like a dome. Her power raged at it uselessly.
“Come back to me!Please!” Desperately, she pressed her lips to his, begging him to fight, to not leave her.
One of his hands curled around hers, and her heart leapt, a sob of joyful relief escaping her lungs—
As Kase tore her hand away, his other hand found her throat and squeezed.
She gasped and choked, but his grip was too strong. She clawed at his hand. Her fingernails tore his flesh, but he didn’t let go, didn’t even flinch. Black blood ran in rivulets down Hallie’s fingers, dripping like rain on the floor below.
“Please,” she croaked. Her vision blurred, a dull haze creeping in. Even the golden light of her power couldn’t push it back. “Kase…stop…s-stop…it’s m…it’s Hal…”
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t speak.
She tried to force her power into him, anything, but he was like an impenetrable wall. His face contorted in rage. It made him look more like his father than he ever had.
What was the point of all this power if she couldn’t use it to save the one she loved most?
Hallie couldn’t breathe. Her throat swelled with pain, her lungs straining for breath that just wasn’t there. She drew power up and into her hands, but all she could do was scratch weakly at his wrist. The nearly healed cut on her hand opened once more.
“Please,” she mouthed with no voice.
She sensed someone come up behind her, but she couldn’t see them, not really. Would Kase go after them next?
Not Kase. Jagamot. Kase was…
Kase was…
Tears welled in her eyes, pain and grief and abject, miserablefailure.
She had done this to save him—and she hadfailed.
How did one die in Valora? Would her body fade away? Would she reappear beside her corpse, unable to rejoin it? Or would she simply move on to whatever awaited next? Loffler’s hadn’t disappeared. Neither had Mr. Gray’s.
The darkness smothered her thoughts, a heaviness settling over her like a quilt. She could no longer see anything at all. Only one thing remained, a kernel of gold at the very end of a long, lightless tunnel.
“I…love…you.”
And then she was gone.
Chapter 51
WE’LL STAY
Kase
