Page 48 of To Sway a Prince
The black dots spiraled over my vision. I remembered what he had said. I envisioned myself breathing and swimming. My limbs moved as if they had weights tied at every joint. My lungs ached. But I moved and I breathed, slowly—painfully slowly.
Above, I could hear Zephyrus's desperate roars dimly. He was up! Two other dragons—the purple and the dark green-blue one shot across my field of vision. How had they gotten here so fast?
I pushed forward in the substance filling the Chasm, swimming through the purple mist and slick gel toward the nearest rock formation. My right arm hung useless, that pain spreading from my wrist up to my burning shoulder. Each movement felt like dragging myself through molasses, and it immediately filled in after I moved farther, preventing me from gaining any momentum.
The cold seeped deeper, beyond flesh and bone.
Down below, red eyes opened. Multiple sets. Something brushed against my leg, greasy but solid.
"Hold on, Astraia. I'm coming for you. Just reach the rocks." Ramiel's voice echoed in my ears. "Get to the rocks, and I'll get you out!"
I twisted my head back, feeling that horrible cold slick substance filling my ears and mouth. Up above, I vaguely saw the dragons flying. Zephyrus's roar echoed louder, rageful and terrified.
Another greasy claw scraped against my leg. I yelped and surged forward, my fingers scrabbling against the rock. The red eyes below swam up closer. Three, four, five separate sets. I hooked my hand into a pocket in the granite and dragged myself closer.
The world exploded. Light and energy flared through. A hand seized me by the arm and dragged me up. Blessed warmth engulfed me as Ramiel pulled me into his arms. The greasy cold fled, all slicking off into the rift below. Claws swiped into that space, and a gurgling roar followed.
"I've got you. I've got you now," Ramiel said as Thalorion thrust his wings down.
We shot back up into the sky as the purple mist screamed. Runes hung in the air at regular intervals.
Four dragons swept down and snatched them up. The others wove back and forth. Silver light shone as they unraveled the runes, and the dragons worked in concert to weave the rift shut.
"Z-Zephyrus—" I stammered. I couldn't spot him yet, but my sight was limited to what I could see without turning my head. Where was he?
"He's fine. He's coming with us." Ramiel's hand pressed my head to his chest as he hugged me tight. His heart thundered against my ear. Even in my weakness, I could hear the straining of the curse as it tried to tighten around him and summon the omenfang. The wind didn't tug on my hair or chill me as I expected, so I guessed he had used some other charm or spell to shield us. I tried to tell him to let it go, to save his energy, but he shushed me as if he guessed. "Just breathe for me and hold fast, gnat. You're going to make it."
"I feel vile," I gasped weakly, my eyes watering.
His mouth quirked, his eyes bright with concern. "The curse makes it worse. Much worse." His thumb smoothed my hair back from my face, stroking my cheek. "My curse got on you somehow. It's still on me, but it's also on you. It shouldn't have gone like this. It didn't just change a little. It's like a full transference. Like it grew into you."
The threads. My wrist still burned, and I could see them trying to burrow in. Curses often changed. Was this just that? Maybe. My eyes slid shut. I didn't even know how Ramiel had gotten to me or how he did what he did. But if he hadn't, I would have died.
As Thalorion thundered up into the sky, Ramiel wrapped his cloak around me and settled me tight against his chest. "Just keep breathing," he whispered.
I managed a shaky nod.
He cut his hand across the air. A bolt of silver light struck the sky, and a long line formed, blinking ever wider. Thalorion circled it. "We're going to get out of here, gnat. I'm going to get you back home. You need rest. Rest and warmth and food. It's all right. Just stay awake, all right?"
My very spirit ached. I was raw. The throbbing in my shoulder had intensified. I watched as the dragons began sealing up the Chasm in that complex aerial dance similar to the one they performed before. The purple mist closed in as the weak points in the Chasm vanished as if they had never been there. Except for one. The one where the chasm wraith had broken free and seized me. Maybe it was the curse or my magic or a combination that made it more resistant.
Ramiel hissed with frustration. That tension radiated through him. My hand settled over his heart. It wasn't beating as steadily as it should. He'd almost reached his limit. The knots were pulsing around his heart. I could feel them even from here. They were tightening and clenching, gripping him tighter.
I flexed my fingers against his chest, trying desperately to summon up some of my magic. I felt empty and chafed, but there—there was a little more in there. I summoned it as best I could.
"What are you doing?" he scowled as he looked down at me. His attention had to snap back to the runes.
"Breathing room." My tongue struggled with the words. I couldn't fully remove the knots right now, but I knew what was coming. I focused instead on loosening them. I was too weak to even cut one free. If I could just give him more space before they tightened after his magic expenditure, then he could breathe better. And if he could breathe better, he could fight the omenfang.
"Don't risk yourself, Astraia." His voice shook a little. "You've done enough. You've been through enough. Just trust me. I'll getyou home safe. It's easier to fight it when we're in the tower. Just stay awake."
I just shook my head, breathing him in. Even with the afternotes of that horrid gel in my lungs and mouth, I could smell him and his woodsy and calming scents. My magic smelled more like burning cashmere now.
He lifted his gloved hand as Thalorion wheeled around. He then carved more runes into the air. His breath hitched, a pained gasp choking him. He curled over me.
My fingers dug into his chest again. My magic faltered. It sputtered from my core, down my left arm, and into my fingertips. Loosen. Loosen! The threads writhed and stuttered beneath my grip. It lit up within his chest again. I could—I could almost see the central thread. The one thread I desperately needed to undo this curse once and for all.
His breaths shaking, he finished carving the last of the runes. The dragons darted in and seized them. That line of light had expanded. It opened into a silver-rimmed hole large enough for a full-grown dragon to fly through. The Eye of the Needle was on the other side, the tower jutting out of the forest and framed by storm clouds.
