Page 47 of To Sway a Prince
The chasm wraith twisted toward us. Though it had no eyes, I knew in my gut that it had focused on me.
Thread rot!
My breaths fled me. Everything spiraled down to that horrific creature as it snapped its hand out. Before I could even cry out, it seized me.
The whole world went ice cold as it lifted me away from Zephyrus. Some part of me was tearing. Color fled as my skin turned ashen. Black dots filled my gaze.
No! Let go. Let go!
I was tearing apart, my spirit desperately struggling to escape that soul-wrenching cold.
Ground. Breathe. I struggled to lift my head, pulling in memories. I was alive. I lived. My family's faces flickered through my mind. Each one darted out of my consciousness, thrusting me back into the void of nothingness.
The chasm wraith growled at me, claws clutching tighter as it brought me back to its rapidly distorting face. My heat and strength seeped away at every point of contact as its poisonous slime worked over me, but I held fast, rifling through my mind for a memory strong enough to ground me until I could get free.
One scene cut into my mind.
Those violet eyes gone soft and that deep voice low in my ears as I remembered him sitting across from me as we sipped mead in the calm:"I would tell her what I would tell you. When all of this is said and done, I hope you have a good life. I hope you find peace and joy. That you make a home with someone wholoves and cherishes you. Someone who sees who you are and realizes that they are blessed to be able to experience life with you. You may have severed your mate bond, but that does not mean you severed your ability to find happiness, love, peace, and joy."
My spirit flailed and struggled in the chasm wraith's grasp. But I was here. I wasn't leaving. I had a future. I had a hope. And I—I wanted that life Ramiel spoke of. I…I wanted him.
If I got out of this, I was going to tell Ramiel I wanted to be with him. I loved him. I did. Knots take me, I loved him!
Ramiel and Thalorion shot around the chasm wraith. Ramiel carved out five runes in silver. His hands sliced through the air like blades, forming burning silver lines. Then the runes snapped out and embedded in the chasm wraith.
A deafening bellow shook the world around me. Zephyrus shot through the chasm wraith, his jaws snapping on the dark smoke. Color drained from him as he did, and the strangled roaring yelp he made cut me to my core.
But his attack worked with the runes. The chasm wraith evaporated. Black tendrils of greasy smoke vanished into the purple mist.
The world slowed as I sailed through the air and Zephyrus crashed in the opposite direction.
"Pulseport up to me!" Ramiel stretched out his arm overhead, staring down at me with terror in his eyes. His voice echoed in my mind.
It was perfectly clear. I'd land in the Chasm if I didn't act fast. But Zephyrus struck that stone island and rolled, his body limp. Pebbles ricocheted off. The force of his bulk and temporary weakness from the wraith would send him over the edge.
If I abandoned Zephyrus here, he'd be vulnerable. He was bleeding and stunned.
It'd be easier for me to get out of the Chasm than Zephyrus.
I had just enough magic left. My focus homed in on Zephyrus, and I wove a shaking lasso of knotted gold and swung it over. Only three strands and five loose knots. It barely shot over Zephyrus and stopped him from careening off the edge. Yes! It was enough! Some of the color had returned to his jaws and head.
SLICK!
Clinging greasy cold shot up my feet, my legs, my hips, my belly, my chest, my arms, my neck—my face!
I had plunged into the rift in the Chasm. The cold gel-like substance swept over me, freezing me and choking me at once as it engulfed my entire body.
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Shock radiated through me as I struggled in the strange gel of the Chasm.
"Astraia! Astraia, keep moving. Get to the side. I'm coming for you." Ramiel's voice echoed in my mind. "Keep moving. If you stop moving, you'll sink. But don't pulseport. Get to the rocks and climb."
"I can't breathe!" Panic cut through me, fiercer than the cold as that gel filled my nose and mouth despite trying to keep it out. It tasted of algae and mud and rot, relentless and all encompassing.
"You can. It's an illusion. I swear it." The panic in Ramiel's mind voice did not comfort me. "Zephyrus!" Ramiel bellowed, his voice remaining in my mind though he was no longer talking to me. "Zephyrus, I command you: do not enter after her. You'll just trap both of you. We'll get her out. Giselle, Veyruneth, flank him! Get him strong."
