Page 111 of A Court of Fire and Frost

I look down, my eyes growing wide as I see the hilt of his dagger buried in my chest. My fingers release the sword, and I see it falling to the ground in my peripheral vision. The pain grows in my chest, and numbness spreads all over.

It’s over.

I let out a choked sound before raising my gloved hand and brushing it down his face. “I love you,” I tell him before my legs lose the ability to support my weight. I crash to the ground, letting the soft snow envelop me.

Darkness claims me instantly.

Chapter43

She’s Dead

NATHANIEL

Silence ripples around me, enveloping the stadium. Elva is on the ground, scarlet blood leaking from the hole I’ve just made with my dagger. Tears are spilling down my face as I silently pray to any gods that will listen.

“She’s dead!” someone shouts, slicing through the panicked silence.

I drop to my knees next to her and whisper in her ear.

“The Fae has killed another heir!”

“Kill him!”

I am whispering faster now. Instructing her heart to keep beating slowly. Just enough to keep her alive but not enough to be detectable, I pray.

I press my hand to the soft spot on her throat, checking for a pulse. There’s nothing, and for a second, I panic. I tug on the awareness between us and find her alive. Her frosty, glittering ice still coats the other end of the bond. Barely.

The end of a staff shoves me to the side viciously. I tumble into the snow, ramming my head against the ice beneath the thin dusting of powder. I groan and try to scramble up as the guard reaches for Elva.

I move to stop him, but the guard growls. His tone promises violence. I stay put as he checks for her pulse and finds nothing. He raises his hand, fist closed tight.

Dead.

Not dead,I remind myself. Hours earlier, as I sat in my room, I thought about every fairytale I’d ever heard. There was no library, so I was left to sift through my thoughts as I stared at the ceiling. I had absentmindedly tugged on the thread between Elva and me repeatedly until a thought popped into my head that made me sit straight up.

The Names.

I know her Name. I can, technically, command the speed of her heart. She won’t stay alive for long, especially if she bleeds out before I can figure out how to heal her.

But I also have Akron on my side. I am almost sure he will help me. Perhaps he will even congratulate me for my ingenuity. The plan unfurls before me. It is a terrifying, impossible path, but we both get out alive this way.

I yank on the bond so fiercely, hoping for a way to tell Elva what I was thinking. I can’t stomach the idea of her thinking I would actually kill her.

Silence is my only response.

I am snapped back into reality when the guard turns around and expertly twirls his spear at me. He draws the weapon back, preparing to deal the final blow, and I squeeze my eyes shut as terror floods my whole body.

Failure. This whole stupid idea has been a failure, and now I will die next to Elva.

I force my eyes open. I need to see this next part. Elva is the first thing I look at, and I am filled with guilt and despair. We deserved each other. Deserved to be happy. They don’t know she still lives.

“Heal her,” I choke out as the spear plunges toward me. The guard’s eyes fly open.

“Stop!” a voice bellows, echoing throughout the open space. The guard freezes, along with everyone else. The scent of magic rips through the air as the screaming and chanting “Kill the fae” ceases.

My chest heaves, the point of the spear digging into my throat just slightly, as I catch eyes with Akron. He materializes slowly next to the guard. Not as quick and efficient as Iter Dust, but I didn’t know he could travel like this at all.

He grabs the neck of the guard and tosses him to the side easily. He is terrifying, with his eyes and tattoos glowing brilliantly.

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