Their rattles filled my ears and suddenly a clawing sense of darkness seemed to creep up in the back of my mind. Anger unlike anything I’d ever felt before rose in me and I coated my hands in flames as I dove at the closest Nymph, punching and punching in a wild, feral fury. Its probes tore down my back and a cry of pain left me a moment before I sent a fireball right into its chest, making it grow bigger beneath its ribs and watching as the beast turned to ash before me. A sick satisfaction rolled through me as the fire sizzled out against my palms and power thrummed headily through my veins.
Beyond it was the final Nymph, running straight for me and I raised my hands, my teeth bared as I prepared to take it on. I wanted to kill it for all the suffering my friends had faced, for the people who’d died at The Palace of Souls, for my father whose name had been ruined, whose magic had been stolen by these monsters. And I wanted to do it first hand, and feel it die because of me.
I let my wings burst from my back, raising up so I was on eye level with the enormous Nymph and lifted my hands, waiting for it to collide with me. But before it did, Orion shot into view, swinging his sword and beheading it with a furious blow that made his biceps bulge and the creature’s black blood spray across his chest.
He hit the ground at the same time as the Nymph’s head did, then it burst into ash and Orion looked up at me with a dark smile on his face.
Blood was running hot and thick down my back and my sweatshirt had been almost burned off of me by my wings, the scraps on my chest barely clinging there as the scent of death and embers hung around us.
I flew forward, landing in front of Orion as anger pulsed through me like a living thing.
“That was my kill,” I snarled.
“You’re bleeding and you weren’t casting fire. I wasn’t going to take the risk of it getting close to you like that other one did,” he said, his tone hard.
“I’m not some damsel in distress who needs saving,” I growled, pushing him in the chest which made his fangs snap out as he immediately moved closer. But then his eyes softened as he noticed the blood dripping onto the ground from my back.
“You’re hurt.” He reached out to heal me, but I slapped his hand away. “Why are you so angry with me?” he demanded and a dam of emotion shattered in my chest.
“I’m angry because I’m scared,” I admitted in a rush of words. “Because if you keep trying to save me, maybe one day you’ll put yourself between me and death and it will claim you from me.” Terror coated the admission of my worst fear. “Or maybe you’ll end up in Darkmore again because you make choices for us without consulting me and I’ll lose you all over again.”
“That’s love, Blue,” he said in earnest, capturing my wrists as I went to push him again, just wanting to let out some of this burning rage that was coiling through my body. “You’ve saved my ass countless times, you do it for me, but you can’t bear that I do it in return. And you know why?”
I didn’t answer, my teeth locking together as I fought to get my wrists out of his grip, but he just held them hard and placed my right palm against his thrashing heart.
“Because you’ve never let anyone love you but your sister. You don’t trust the world and you have damn good reason for that, but I’m not your enemy. I know I’ve hurt you, but I did it because I love you in a way that’s bigger than every galaxy in this universe. I was miserable before you showed up in my life, and now you’ve awoken a man in me who I actually fucking like, and I don’t wanna lose him almost as much as I don’t wanna lose you. So yeah, I’m going to put myself between you and death at every chance I get, and maybe that scares you, but it doesn’t scare me, Blue. It gives me a purpose I’ve never had before, and I never want to let go of it.”
“I can’t watch you die,” I said, my voice cracking and giving away my terror over that possibility. “I won’t survive it, Lance. Swear to me you won’t die.”
We’d come so close to death in that arena, I’d almost seen his end and it was the most painful thing I’d ever faced. So now I wanted to be strong enough to take on the whole world and cast a wall of fire around him that no enemy could ever get through.
“I can’t promise that, beautiful.” He stepped closer, releasing my wrists and carving his thumb along the line of my cheekbone instead. “But I can promise that I’ll try my hardest not to die just so long as you promise the same.”