Page 183 of Fortress of Ambrose
“What are you thinking?” Erla asks as I hand her the dagger. Jordan’s fallen unconscious. The Sphere’s toushana is agitated. We need to hurry.
I hand Erla the blade. Nore hovers near the Dragunhead’s body, waiting for my signal with a dark glove in hand. Erla cuts an incision into Jordan’s side and slides the dagger against his ribs. The blade glows red, then darkens. She holds it there, and I watch as black peels itself off his insides and siphons into the dark silver.
“Is it working?”
But Erla doesn’t answer. Her mouth pushes sideways in consternation.
Jordan groans. Then his head lolls.
“What’s happening!”
“He’s tired,” Erla says. “Talk to him.”
“Stay with me,” I tell him. “Can I try?”
She hands me the blade’s handle, and I hold it firmly against him, watching his chest rise and fall slower than before. The stream of blood running to his body from the Dragunhead slows as well.
“Jordan, can you hear me? We’ve done it! The world is not yours to fix, but dammit, this is.You stay with me! You fight.” Tears sting my eyes. “Hold onwith everything you have. Youcan’tleave me now. Not when we’ve nearly won.” I press my forehead to his, tears forcing their way down my cheeks. “I can smell saltwater. Can you hear the waves?” I sob against him, my tears dripping onto his face.
His mouth moves.
Then his hands.
“His bruise,” Erla says. His purpled skin fades like a ship on the horizon. Gradually, after several long minutes, what feels like a lifetime, the layers of rot fade from his ribs, leaving thick, sturdy bones in their place.
Jordan gasps, batting his eyes open.
And I can finally breathe again.
Seventy-Five
Nore
Yagrin and Nore descended on the ice garden. She held the glass box with her heart in her hand and the shadowy glove with the Dragunhead’s heart beneath her coat.
“Why are we here again?”
He didn’t know her plan. She’d just dragged him out of there as fast as she could once Jordan was up and talking. She wasn’t even sure it would work. The dead were prickly. They’d made a deal with Yagrin for Jordan’s heart. Showing up with a different one was a risk.
“Just trust me.”
Yagrin’s hand slid up her back as they walked. And she couldn’t help but lean into the comfort. If this didn’t work, this would be the last time she saw him. When you renege on a deal with the dead, the penalty is death.
When they rounded the corner, Nore gasped at the number of dead she found. The amount of shadows had grown tremendously.
Yagrin stuck near her side.
“What exactly happened in that forest?” she asked. “You never said.”
He set a hand on her shoulder. “Your brother is dead. I’m sorry.”
A strange discomfort nudged her. The brother who she’d loved, the only one who had ever tried to protect her, was gone. And she hadn’t even said goodbye. She hadn’t even gotten to see his face one more time. Yagrin’s touch slid to her hand. She held his hand, realizing shehadseenher brother before he died. He was lost the minute he turned on her. The brother she loved was long gone and had been for some time.
“Thank you,” she told him.
But before Yagrin could respond, Nore pointed in the distance at the snowy landscape. The grounds were covered with overturned holes, dug-up graves every several paces. Had they found a way to raise more dead? Her hands were slick on the glass box when the darkness closed in around Yagrin. She watched as a message appeared on the ground.
Youve come to fulfill our deal
