“Jacinda,” he chokes, “I—I’m sorry—”
I shake my head and press fingers to his lips. “Shut it. You’re going to be fine. Don’t go making apologies like you’re dying. Besides, you probably don’t mean it anyway. We both know you’re a jerk.”
He starts laughing but ends up in a violent coughing spasm.
I grunt. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.”
I wince. Of course he will.
I turn back for the river. For Will. For Cassian.
The dirt is everywhere, inescapable, so thick and swirling. Like a sandstorm I can hardly see through. My draki eyes fight to adjust, assessing my surroundings, peering into the chalky brown all around me.
I just need to find Cassian, to reach Will and get him out of here, to locate Tamra so that she can shade the hunters. Then we’ll be fine. We’ll be free. I cling to this hope, this belief as I stagger back into the fray.
I detect a tall and lean shape in all the swirling brown. “Will,” I shout, hoping that he can hear me over the roaring wind, even in my unrecognizable draki speech. By now he should know my voice, no matter the language.
The wind alters, grows more alive, more violent. Doesn’t he know he can ease up? I fight against the barrage to reach his side. Particles sting my skin like needles. Holding a hand over my face in a weak attempt to protect my eyes, I look up, squinting against the assault of grit.
For a moment, I think I see rippling shadows, dark shapes swirling through the flying earth and debris—like murky forms moving through swamp waters—but with the opaque air it’s impossible to tell for sure what’s real.
I move toward Will, clenching my teeth as I battle for every step against the powerful wind, my wings folded so they don’t catch air and pull me back. I’m almost to him, my aching eyes devouring the sight of him—and then he’s gone, down, laid flat on his back by a swooping draki clearly unaware that Will is helping.
Instantly, the tornado of dirt dies, Will’s concentration severed. He grabs at his face, and I glimpse blood streaming between his fingers where the draki clawed him.
I blink and scan everything in a glance. Chaos reigns as half a dozen draki screech across the sky, diving at the hunters. They’re all onyx, the soldiers of our pride … doing what they’ve been trained all their lives to do. Cassian is there, chasing a hunter into the river, his great leathery wings stretched wide in a low fluid glide.
With a desperate glance at Will, I shout for Cassian, but he doesn’t look back. He’s full of cold resolve, eager for payback. I feel this. It wraps around me like a hunger. If Will and I are going to get out of this, we’re going to have to do it on our own.
Several draki circle above, carrion birds on the clearing air, calling to one another in guttural cries. Will lies exposed, an easy target. Fear for him coats my mouth as I rush toward him.
I spot Severin, sweeping high over the scene. His wings are large, nicked in spots, the tips jagged and irregular in shape. His gaze sharpens on Will and he screeches.
I dive for Will, determined to shield him.
And that’s when Tamra and Deghan emerge side by side from the trees. Fully manifested, they look powerful and magnificent, a daunting pair.
“Tamra,” I shout as I help Will to his feet, wincing at the bloody gashes scoring his face. “Shade them, Tamra!”
It’s the only way to end it—before every last hunter is killed. Maybe I wouldn’t have cared before, but now … with Miram’s and Xander’s motionless bodies mere feet away, I just want this to stop before more blood is shed.
I’m sick of it all. And these are Will’s family and friends. I don’t want their deaths on his conscience, and I know it would weigh on him. On us both.
Tamra nods purposefully and steps forward. Amid the gunfire, shouts, and screeching draki, she holds out her arms and mist begins to flow.
Standing close to Will, I watch, marveling at my sister’s gift. She possesses a talent that can save lives. As a shader, she is hope and salvation.
The mist doesn’t have a chance to build and rise. One of the many bullets zooming through the air finds its mark.
I scream as Tamra staggers from the impact, one hand flying to her head where blood pours. She lowers her hand, stares at it with incomprehension.
My agony is intense … the closest thing I ever felt before was losing Dad.
Deghan grabs hold of Tamra. Her head lolls and then sags against his shoulder. He lowers her to the ground, shouting her name. The anguish in his expression echoes what spins inside me.
Almost immediately, the shielding fog begins to evaporate, and we’re exposed again, caught back in a war zone with nowhere to hide.
“Tamra!” I scream. I move toward her, one arm still wrapped around Will’s waist, unwilling to let him go.
It’s slow going, and I think I’ll never reach her when my back explodes in pain, propelling me forward.
I land chest first on the ground, unable to move, too stunned, too hurt. My vision grows fuzzy, tear blurred. I try to speak, cry out. Pain radiates up and down the length of my body. Even so, the physical aches are no competition for the misery of my heart. Tamra. Tamra!
Will’s face is there, filling my vision. His mouth forms my name. He touches my face, but oddly everything is silent around me, like someone stuffed cotton in my ears.
I feel my lips part, speak, say something. I can’t be sure what—not while I can’t hear my own voice. Not while a million thoughts ricochet through me.
I think I say Will’s name. Tamra. Mom.
Help, help, help …
Then nothing as darkness rolls in.
23
Snatches of light drift in and out, fracturing the dark, offering hope one second and then bleak nothingness the next. Voices rumble past like distant thunder, so close I can almost understand, almost make out the words.
But it’s impossible to concentrate when all my world is pain.
“She’s not going to make it …”
“Don’t say that. Never say that.” Wincing, I turn toward the sound of this voice, knowing it on an instinctive level even when I can’t arrive at the name. Can’t form it in my head. Because I can’t think … only feel.
Then, like the fading of a morning mist, the voices die away. Everything vanishes. Including me.
Pain brings me back. Every time I open my eyes it’s to this anguish, blinding me to all else. It’s the only thing that convinces me I’m still alive.
Faces flash. Hands hold me down. None of it registers. None of it sinks into me like the burning torment of my body. The agony radiates through all of me. The heat … even the heat is too much for me.
The only thing I can do is surrender to the blanket of dark where I feel nothing, see nothing. Where even nightmares cannot find me. No pride. No hunters. Nothing.
Where I can cease to exist.
Whispers become louder in my ears—grow into real, actual voices. Words and not slivers of dreams. They coax me back to the living. Become more than ghostly sounds that overlap in my head.
I recognize them. Nidia. Tamra.
Tamra! She’s alive. Like a balm to my wounds, this knowledge fortifies me.
And there’s another voice I more than recognize. A voice I know deep in every pore, in my soul—Will’s.
“Will,” I rasp, trying to lift my head, questions buzzing through me.
I hear the smile in his voice, the joy. “Welcome back, Jacinda.”
I blink slowly, opening my eyes to a shadowy world. Blurry faces are there, but before I can focus on them I have to close my eyes against the sudden dizziness that assaults me.
I open my mouth and shut it again at the scratchy dryness. A cup is pressed upon me and I drink greedily, ignoring the tart tang of verda root lacing the water. As the cup leaves my lips, I turn my head. A cool touch brushes my cheek, and it’s only then that I realize I’m lying flat on my stomach, my left cheek against the cool sheet of a mattress.
I reopen my eyes again and find the world is no longer spinning. “Hunters … Tamra …,” I get out, the fear still there, a fresh wound. For me, it was only moments ago that I fought for my life, the life of my sister and friends … Will …
Tamra’s voice comes to me again. More than a whisper this time. “I’m okay, Jacinda. The bullet just grazed me. Bled a lot, but nothing more. Nidia patched me up.”
“The hunters are gone,” Nidia’s voice reassures me. “We moved them miles away. They’ll have no memory of what happened. I saw to that.”
Relief eases through me. I fight to clear the last of the fuzziness from my vision, and when I do, it’s to see the person I’ve been longing for. Will.
I just manage to sigh his name before Nidia’s drink takes hold of me and drags me back under.
“Jacinda, you have visitors.” The voice pulls me from my light doze. I open my eyes and slowly turn my head.
I’d fallen back asleep shortly after my reunion with Will and Tamra. After Nidia forced some broth down me. Once I had been assured that Will, Tamra, Cassian, and Deghan were all safe, it had been a relief to sink back into sleep without any lurking worry. Except for Miram, we all made it. And at the moment no one in the pride seemed intent on destroying Will. Double bonus. I could sleep free of fear … I’m not sure when I last felt that way.
I’d rolled onto my back. The pressure wasn’t too terrible and it felt good to shift positions. I glance at Will in a chair to my right and Nidia standing over me. I nod at her as I maneuver myself carefully into a sitting position, mindful of my still-tender back. Nidia quickly rearranges the pillows behind me.
“Are you up to it?” Will asks, setting down the book he’s been reading on the bed.
I nod, even though I’m unsure what it is.
Footsteps march across Nidia’s floors outside the bedroom. I run fingers through my matted hair, wishing for a mirror and then deciding it’s best that I don’t know what I look like.
As the elders clear the threshold one by one, I hold my breath, expecting to see Severin, but he never enters the room. And then I guess that shouldn’t be so surprising, after all. He just learned his daughter died … at the hands of his sister. Even if he wanted to continue on in his role as alpha, I’m not sure he could. Even if he was emotionally capable of it, the crimes of his sister would no doubt overshadow him.
The last to step inside is Cassian, and my suspicions are confirmed. If Cassian is here, he must have taken Severin’s place.
My breath catches. He’s undoubtedly proven himself. He will make a much better leader. And it explains why Will is unharmed. My gaze roves over Cassian’s tall form. He looks healed. No sign of injuries. The last time I saw him he was busy killing hunters as fast as he could. To avenge Miram. I feel a pang in my chest at the thought of her murder. I play with the edge of the sheet, wanting to say something … stretch out a hand and touch him, ease the answering pain that reaches me through our bond, threatening to consume me. His expression reveals nothing, but he can’t hide his grief. Not from me.
“Jacinda, we’ve come to ask for your accounting.”
My gaze darts between Will and Cassian. “You haven’t heard it all yet?”
The elder who spoke inclines his head. “We have received reports on Miram’s death from your sister, the draki who calls himself Deghan, and Corbin. But we need to hear from you.” Corbin? Did he speak the truth? I assess each of the elders’ faces, trying to gauge their thoughts.
“I witnessed Jabel kill Miram and then throw her in the river.” I moisten my lips and glance at Cassian, hating to say words that I know must pain him. But not saying them won’t make it less true. Sucking in a breath, I add, “She did it without blinking an eye.”
A muscle flickers in Cassian’s cheek. Otherwise, he shows no outward sign that my words affect him. He gives no hint as to the rage and grief that surge inside him. But I feel it. My breath escapes in a hiss between my teeth and I clench my hand in the sheets as I battle the onslaught of emotions.