“You’re a naive fool, little brother!”
“Not anymore.”
“Fine,” he says through clenched teeth, between whines of pain and panting breaths. “If killing the bitch that murdered me will save the world, then you damn well better believe I’m ready and willing to tear her limb from limb.”
I suck in a breath as Rev presses the iron blade to this brother’s chest, right where the white light flickers inside his smoky body. He’s going to kill him. Destroy his soul for good.
“How dare you?” Reahgan screams. “You would choose her over your own brother? You would choose my murderer? The fae who will destroy everything you’ve ever loved.”
“Yes,” he says, but his determination falters. “I choose her.”
Rev
“I will kill you if I have to,” I tell Reahgan, pressing the iron blade tighter to his soul, and I mean it. Although, I’ll do everything in my power to avoid it. He is my brother, and evil or not I do love him.
“You think she is better than me? You think she is not just as evil? Just as broken?”
I nod. “She is certainly broken,” I admit. “But she is not evil. Everything she has done, every bad thing, was for a purpose. All of it was for me. Killing you? She did it to save me. To save herself.”
“Lies! You always were a pathetic fool. So naïve.” He’s hysterical now. I have his life in my hands, and he’s powerless. If there is one thing Reahgan cannot stand its powerlessness. “It’s no wonder father hated you,” he screeches. “Even if you were his blood, he’d hate you. He’d hate you how I do.”
I clench my jaw, anger and pain swirling inside, but I do not react.
“Fine, I was going to play the nice big brother, but if you both must die—so be it!” He snarls and then pushes against me. He’s calling my bluff because all I have to do is not move and his soul would be destroyed, my iron blade severing his connection to this earth.
But I pull my blade back and allow him to leap away.
He spins past me, toward the swamp—toward Caelynn. I throw my iron blade at his flying form, right over her fallen body. He hisses again, dodges the blade, and flits away.
My hands are trembling, my magic running low, and the wraiths surrounding us have begun their descent toward us.
Caelynn gasps as I quickly grab her, one arm gently beneath her head and the other beneath her knees. She winces and whines as I pick her broken body up and carry her to the cottage.
Caelynn
Rev lays me on the bed gently. “Rev,” I say stupidly. What else do I say when he just protected me, his enemy, against his beloved brother? “I’m sorry.”
He shrugs. “I made a choice.”
I bite my lip, remembering those same words from the trials. Only this time, he chose me. I swallow, unsure what that even means.
“Thank you,” I whisper and close my eyes. I don’t know how long it will take to heal from an injury like this. Even with a partial healing it could take a week or more. Reahgan had my heart in his grip—literally. He could have killed me. Would have, if he hadn’t wanted to drag it out. He wanted me to suffer. And Rev too.
I can still feel him. His magic clenches over my chest. It’s not enough to kill me but enough to keep me miserable for an extended period of time.
Rev gets to work boarding up the shattered window, and he carves a new symbol into the wood.
“That’s not going to keep him out, is it?”
Rev shrugs. “Luminescent magic seems to work very well against wraiths. The ward may not hold against my brother, but it’ll help. And I’ll protect you if he does come back.”
I swallow and allow myself a moment to revel in those words. But they only go so deep because the truth is not much has changed.
He chose me. Which is wonderful for my heart. But... Reahgan was still right. I need to die for this to all be over. I have what they need, and until I’m dead and gone, the war will continue.
And we are both still trapped in the Schorchedlands with no way out. Only one of us can escape this wicked prison.
“Rev,” I say, eyeing the iron blade sitting on the ground beside the bed... How could I say those words, the words on the tip of my tongue, to the male who just chose me over his brother? How could I kill myself now?
Seeming to read my thoughts, Rev saunters across the small cottage and looks me in the eye. “You’re not dying, Cae.”
The corner of my lip ticks up at the use of that name, but it falls quickly. “He was right,” I say, plunging us both in icy despair. I can feel it in the air, settling between us. I know he feels it too. “If I were to die...”
“No,” he says firmly. “I know the only way you’ve found to solve things in your life has been to give away pieces of yourself. But that’s not how this is going to work. You’re done. You hear me?” His eyes flash to the blade. He grips it quickly. “They want us apart. But we’re stronger together. We’ll find a way to kill those bastards. You and me.”
I can’t help but smile.
“Besides,” he leans forward placing his knee between my legs and leans in, pressing the iron blade to my neck gently, “if anyone is going to kill you, it’s me.” The edge of the dull blade slides all the way down my neck to my collarbone. I shiver and close my eyes.
Then, he drops the blade, and his lips crash onto mine. My lips part in surprise, eyes fly open. I grip the back of his head, holding him tightly to me. His delicious taste on my tongue.
He pulls away too quickly, leaving me breathless and more confused than ever.
His fingers find the hem of my shirt, and he drags it up slowly exposing my stomach and finally pulling the fabric away from the raging hole in my chest. I wince and whine as the bloody cloth is pulled away.
His grey eyes hold my gaze as his hand slides from my hip up my stomach until his palm hovers over the wound. My chest heaves desperately.
Then, magic burns as it tears me apart and stitches me back together. I moan in a mixture of pain and pleasure, throwing my head back and arching my back at the flood of fiery pleasure
“Have I mentioned I really like it when you do that?” His husky voice sends another wave of pleasure and desire through my body.
His powerful heat subsides after another moment, and I’m left gasping for breath. He rolls onto his back beside me.
“That’s all I get?” I lick my lips.
He chuckles and then sits up. “We both need to rest.”
I swallow, pushing down all my desire and questions at once. He leans in and slips his arm under my head then presses soft lips to my forehead. I sigh and curl into his side.
As much as I’m loath to admit he’s right, I can already feel my body slipping into a warm haze of sleep.
“We’ll figure this out, Cae. I’m not leaving you here.”
It’s a stupid hope—that we could somehow both be free of this cursed place—but with Rev’s arms around me and his magic still singing inside my chest, surrounding my healing heart, I allow myself to believe it. If only for the night.
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Caelynn adores her homelands in the Shadow Court, but as the one of the poorest and weakest courts in the realm there's little opportunity for a talented fae like her.
When she overhears her parents deciding to send her away to a different court she runs away—straight to the Cave of Mysteries to jump start her initation into the court she loves. She'll become a shadow fae or die trying.
But there are monsters in those deep tunnels. The Night Bringer is waiting for her. And once she's in his clutches there is only one way out.
Outwit him.
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