Page 101 of A Clash of Embers

He quickly landed on the ground and transformed into his human form, picking me up over his shoulder and running.

“Luke,” I coughed up the blood as my body bounced over his shoulder sending waves of pain throughout my entire body.

“What is it?” I coughed out.

He didn’t answer me, he just kept running as I was dozing in and out of consciousness. I heard the thunder of feet; I heard the screams. Something was wrong. Something that wasn’t supposed to happen, happened. Perched on a tree we were passing sat the birds, the ones that I had talked to before. They nodded to me. I was trying to see what it was until all I saw was darkness.

Gods. If you can hear me, Ev. Please be careful.

Cold, crisp sheets lay over me as I moved my feet around trying to figure out where I was lying. I took in the smell of where we were. I had been here before.

“Don’t move too fast. You were injured badly,” Kay’s voice spoke sweetly over me.

My eyes fluttered open as I took in the space. We were in the Beacon. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain traveled from my neck down to my toes as I muffled a scream and Kay quickly pushed my shoulders down.

“You shouldn’t move, Clara. You are lucky to be in one piece. Alesca, go grab the other witches. Tell them she’s awake.”

I rubbed my hands over my eyes, “What happened? Where is everyone?”

Her eyes were empty and hollow. Gods, please don’t say they’re all dead. Please.

“Some are here, being treated. Others didn’t make it off the cliffs. And a few were taken.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, “Who was taken? Who? Where are my friends?”

Her head dropped down as she wiped a hand over her face, “Clara, there were creatures that came from Tetharus. Some we’ve never seen before. Griffin was gravely injured, but we were able to heal him. We’re not sure how he is doing right now because he is weakened. Lachlan and Mia are here. They’re safe. He protected her. And Lettie is here, locked away in a cell. We can't trust her fully yet. The Lyetta, we anticipated, but we didn’t expect the others to come. We tried to reseal the lock, but it can’t be locked again. It’s permanently open.”

She paused, looking around the room. I sensed her nervousness.

“Where is Luke?” I asked.

Kay blinked rapidly, avoiding my eye contact.

“Where is Luke?” I spoke through clenched teeth, anxious and fearful of what the answer might be.

“Clara, Luke was— he was taken.”

“Who took him? Why did they take him?” I asked hastily.

She sighed, “Athiana. She took him. She took Luke, Callan, and Consul Loveridge.”

My heart was hurting. Physically breaking. Not Luke. She couldn’t take him.

“Was he... was he injured when she took him?”

Kay shook her head, “No. He willingly went with her to protect Callan and Estelle.”

I closed my eyes to hold back the tears.

I’m coming for you, Luke.

Epilogue

Ev

Walking away from her was the hardest thing I’d ever have to do. Knowing that I needed to go with Madok to Tetharus was the most fucking cruel thing I’ll endure in my life. The cruelest part is knowing that Clara and I had the opportunity to live our life happily together, just for a fleeting moment, and then it was taken away.

I looked back at her face, searching for a sliver of hope that we would be back together again one day. Her eyes flickered purple for me and only me. I smiled a half-hearted smile one last time before I turned to walk into the prison.

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