When it’s all over, a thick cloud of ash is all that remains of Slaine’s army—thousands of soldiers and soul-crazed demons reduced to a swirling plume of soot in the blink of an eye. It settles to the top of the canopy, covering the shimmering white leaves in a thick layer of dust and raining down to the forest floor below.

I gaze downward, a small smile tipping my lips to discover the false king has been reduced to the same basic matter as the rest of his army, his soul returned to the source.

I let my arms fall to my sides, tilting my head back to the heavens as wildfire spreads beneath my skin, bathing every part of my soul in white-hot agony. I’m scared to look down, to see the exposed muscle and shattered bone, to realize the extent of my injuries.

My wings seize as my body gives out, sending my crumpled and battered form crashing to the ground below. Pain flares out of every orifice as I make contact, causing my vision to tunnel as swirling shadows encroach from all sides, threatening to pull me into the void.

With a ragged breath, I turn my head, watching as my mate crawls to me across the ice, her fingertips bloodied and fingernails cracked as she desperately pulls her body toward me.

Just as she makes it to the center of the clearing, a single soldier rushes out from the depths of the shadows, his brow pinched in concentration, and something small and golden clutched in his palm.

He moves too quickly for my mate to notice and too quickly for me to react. Rai lunges across the distance, his lips peeled back in a snarl and expression twisted with rage.

“This is for Slaine, you bastard!” he screams, wrapping the golden wire around my throat and pulling hard.

Black dots line my vision as ancient, evil magic burrows beneath my skin, cutting off my oxygen and sending me back to that endless abyss I woke from. With my last ounce of power, I send my fist sailing into Rai’s chest, knocking him back across the clearing and sending his skull smashing into one of the welwig trunks.

A disgusting crack fills the air as his head splits, and Rai slumps to the ground—unconscious or dead, it doesn’t make a difference. Because no matter his fate, it ceases to change mine. And that golden thread is still tightening, curling around my body and working to split me in half.

The last thing I hear is my mate’s scream, filling the skies with rage and pain and sorrow as her magic reaches for me, attempting to pull me back from the abyss.

But it’s too late.

36. Dagny

36

Dagny