Page 91 of Heir Of Sun And Moon
“Rhea, I’m not giving you to him,” he warns, turning me around so that we’re facing each other. Alarm flashes through his eyes as he surveys me, but what can we do? My life isn’t worth the loss of both of theirs.
“You promised me that you would do whatever I wanted. Even if it destroyed you,” I say tearfully, gasping for air. “You promised.”
“I did,” he agrees quietly. His thumbs brush my shoulders as he looks behind me towards Bella. It’s just a few seconds—a breath’s worth—before his gaze finds mine again, and it’s agony staring back at me, an unrelenting agony that threatens to take me to my knees. “But I’m not willing to let you destroy yourself.”
My eyes go wide, but in two quick movements, he hauls me up against his chest and starts backing up towards the Spell, his dark magic glowing powerfully around us. My gaze flies to Bella, where a glowing ball of Flynn’s magic hits one of the guards holding her. I watch as she turns and snaps her jaw around the hand of the blonde guard. His blood-curdling scream pierces through the air, the rope falling from his hand. Terror locks my limbs as Flynn continues to move us farther away from Bella, though he sends another ball of magic at the guard holding the bow and arrow and knocks it out of his hands.
The other guards dodge around the trees as they descend on us like a sea of shiny gold, their swords lifted high in the air. Time stills as everything around us blurs. The only things I see is Bella and the unrelenting love that I can somehow decipher within her eyes. She darts in our direction, only making it a few feet, before she’s yanked back—a different guard standing on the ropes that are still bound around her neck. I scream until my voice gives out and I have to force air back into my lungs. She darts around to the guards she can reach, snapping at any exposed flesh not covered by their armor. She’s giving us the chance to escape. And I hate it. I hate it with everything that I am.
“Bella, no!” I scream, trying to pry myself away from Flynn. “Don’t do this!”
My feet kick in the air from how I’m being held, Flynn’s strength overpowering any of my attempts to escape. The guards are pushing on the barrier made from the dark radiance of his magic that he has up to shield us from them.
“Flynn, please stop.” My words ride a ragged wave of despair, filling the distance that separates Bella and I.
She dodges the sword of a guard, his blade missing its mark but severing the ropes that are keeping her in place. Immediately, she turns and rounds a tree as she starts to sprint to us. Flynn sends another glowing bolt of magic into the closest guard chasing her, their back slamming into the forest floor from the impact. I canfeelthe humming of the Spell right at our backs, the opalescent glimmer of a foreboding wall separating kingdoms. The guards can’t come after us if we go through it, but Bella needs to make it through as well. Her paws kick up dirt and fallen leaves as she weaves around trees, the distance separating us closing quickly. The brush of something powerful, ancient and familiar, blankets my skin and soaks into me as Flynn pulls me through the Spell. I sharply inhale, and in my mind’s eye a series of images flash by too quickly for me to make out what they are.
And then we’re on the other side, the sensation indeed like going through a bubble. Because the Spell is nearly crystalline, I can still see Bella running in our direction. My hand reaches out towards her—only four more strides, and she’ll be on this side. Blood rushes in my ears while my heart beats hard in my chest, the pace matching the pounding of her paws on the forest floor. I stretch my arm out, fighting to wiggle free of Flynn’s hold. My eyes meet hers through the distorted barrier, and then she collapses, her body sliding to a stop as a sharp, brutal howl rends the air. An arrow sticks out of her hip, blood already spilling onto her white fur.
“No!” I roar as I drop to my knees and Flynn falls down behind me, an arrow whizzing overhead. I try to crawl to her, my magic alight in my palms ready to heal as soon as I reach her, but Flynn is there, pulling me backwards. The guards—gods, there must be forty or fifty of them—line the Spell and surround Bella. The dark swirling glow of Flynn’s magic rests on one palm, slowly seeping down into his body again until it disappears—my hope along with it. “Let me go!” I yell, pushing my hands against his chest.
“I’m sorry, Rhea,” he rasps, holding my wild gaze with a silver-lined one of his own, “I can’t.”
I spin around to look at Bella again, her chest lifting up and down with the heavy panting of her breaths. Through the Spell, I watch her pick her head up, the guards coming in from all directions to surround her. And in her eyes, I see it—her desperation for me to go. Her silent pleading for me to be safe, and with a mortal-like nod of her head, her permission for me to leave her behind.
An arrow flies through the Spell, nearly hitting me before Flynn drags me to the side. “We need to go,” he begs, hauling me up to stand, but my legs give out almost immediately. An arm reaches under my knees, the other around my shoulders as he scoops me up and starts to run, another arrow landing precariously closely behind us. I watch as the guards completely encircle Bella, cutting off my view of her. And as Flynn rounds a corner of the path, before my eyes completely blur from the tears gathering there, a flicker of light blue briefly shines at the center between the guards before dying out.
And then, Bella is gone.
“I’m sorry, Rhea.” It’s the fourth or fifth time that he’s said it as we walk, his glances burning into the side of my head.
I don’t know what to say though. A familiar numbness blankets my body, my mind, mysoul.I understand why he pulled me away. I know that we were in a difficult position. I’m even aware that Bella sacrificed herself so that we could get across the Spell. I comprehend all of this, and yet I can’t stop the way that my heart aches like it’s been pierced with a sword. An invisible weight sits square on my chest making each breath nearly impossible. And Flynn… I know he was doing what he thought was right, but he chose me over her, and I can’t help but feel like he chose wrong.
We spend hours following a well-worn path of gray stones that cut through the most beautiful and lush scenery I could imagine. Trees surround us in all directions as we walk, and I notice that there is a variety I’ve never seen before. The trunk of this one is absolutely massive as it stretches high into the sky, no branches growing from it until the very top. There, a thick canopy spans out in all directions. There is so muchcoloreverywhere I look that it’s almost as if I can’t comprehend that this place is real. To go from being confined by gray stone to unbound in a brilliant forest of color is too good to be true.
I breathe in more deeply, the scenery helping to calm me. A familiar smell tugs on my memory as we continue walking.Flynn.His scent has an underlying note of something unique to him, but without a doubt, he smells of this forest—of his home. Even though I know that the sun is high in the sky, the treetops are so tightly woven above us that the light only trickles in where there are small gaps. It’s beautiful, enchanting even, and I sigh deeply because I can’t enjoy it. I can’t allow myself to when the only reason that I’m here is because of the sacrifice of someone else—someone who matteredmore. That is the sum of my existence—either I suffer alone and in a cage, or I have to watch as the people and beings I love are forced to give up everything so that I can have a modicum of freedom. It isn’t fair, and it isn’t right.
“Rhea,” Flynn says, his hand brushing against my arm. I halt my steps, finally turning to look at him. His face is like a heartbroken plea for me to talk to him. “Let me help you.”
“You can’t,” I mutter. The sound is barely audible.
“Talk to me. I know you just lost someone—”
“I didn’t just losesomeone,”I snap, taking a step closer until we’re nearly chest to chest. “I losteveryone.My parents, Alexi, now Bella. Let’s not forget about the nearly twenty-two years I spent inside a fucking tower and everything I lost because of that! I lost my freedom, the possibility of ever having friends, even the ability to choose a meal for myself.”
My hands shove into my hair, pulling at the strands as I step back from him. Flynn’s panicked gaze follows me, moving from where my hands rip at my hair and then back down to my eyes.
“Don’t pretend that you know anything about what I’m going through right now or how you could possibly help me, because you don’t. You can’t!” I scream as my hands slide down to cover my face. “No one can. I’m completely alone.”
“You’re right,” he concedes. Gently, his hands cover mine and pull them away from my face, holding them safely in his as he steps closer. “I don’t know what to say right now. I don’t know how to help. But you are not alone anymore.” He enunciates each word sharply, imploring me to feel the truth in them. Begging me to not walk this path of grief and sadness and anger by myself any longer, and to let him take some of the impossible pressure that burdens my heart and soul for himself.
You are not alone anymore. Let me help you. You need only to let me.Each declaration from him washes over and through me like a phantom wind. And I may not know anything about love—aboutbeingin love—but I know that the way I feel about Flynn is stronger than any other emotion whirling inside of me, and maybe that means I need to surrender to it. To him.
“Okay,” I whisper, crashing my body into his as I weep. I weep and weep until my eyes burn and my throat is hoarse. Until I have nothing left and have hit rock bottom. “I feel so broken.” I murmur the words into his chest, unsure if he can even hear me.
But he does—of course he does.
“You need to break in order to heal, Rhea,” he says quietly while he rubs my back. “And I will be here the whole time. You can fall apart piece by piece until you feel like you have nothing left to give. I will be here picking up your pieces and holding them for you until you’re strong enough to put them back together.” His hands slide up to cup my face as he steps back, his beautiful gray eyes engulfing me in compassion and love. “Because youarestrong enough, but until you’re ready, I will hold you together.”
