Part 32 (1/2)

Liam slides down from the boulder and moves toward Austin with grace befitting a G.o.d. ”What have you done?” His voice is so quiet, I have to strain to hear it. ”You are a failure in every sense of the word. It shouldn't come as a surprise after all this time, but still, I find myself at a loss.”

Austin steps forward. ”I think I just chose a side, friend.”

Liam laughs. The sound echoes across the canyon until it's finally swallowed by the river below. ”You were a pathetic excuse for a G.o.d, and you're an even worse human. A traitor to your own cause. For what? A mortal who will die anyway?”

Austin raises his sword as Liam gets closer.

”Your sword can't hurt me for long.” Liam circles Austin. White light arcs from his fingers. ”You are a disgrace, Arawn. It is only fitting that you will die like one. A true death.”

Jonah and Micah move toward Dr. McKay, standing together.

Blake crawls to Portia. She sits up, trembling as she stares at Sherri's bloodied body.

I step forward, trying to deflect Liam's attention away from Austin.

Liam smiles at me, and my stomach twists into a tight knot. ”Is this your moment then? Will you end the war with the Sons?” He pushes Sherri's body to the side with his foot, clearing a path for me. ”As a sacrificial lamb?” He sends a bolt of white light at my chest. It bursts in front of me, sending me flying backwards. I land on my back, breathless. I reach for my chest but I'm fine. It's not until I sit up on my elbows that I see Austin on the ground.

The light I saw was gold, not white.

No.

No, no, no.

I scramble to Austin. His body shakes and quivers from the shock of Liam's blast. His skin is red where he was. .h.i.t, but his chest still rises and falls as he sucks in air. I look for Dr. McKay, pleading with my eyes. Help him.

Liam laughs again. ”Utterly predictable. Arawn's fall at the hands of a girl.”

”At the hands of a tyrant.” I glare at Liam as he moves closer. ”You can't kill him. You'll be banished.”

”He's not dead, is he?” Liam kicks Austin hard in the ribs. Austin curls away and lets out a grunt. ”Didn't think so. He'll just wish that he were.” He kicks Austin in the small of his back, right over a kidney. ”Then you will do the deed for me.”

I leap to my feet, sword at Liam's throat. I slash. Blood splatters everywhere. In my hair, my eyes, my mouth. The iron taste is thick and sour. I spit at the ground, but I keep slas.h.i.+ng, hacking and chopping at his neck. I don't stop until he lays on the ground unmoving. I stand over him, sword still pressed against his neck. Skin grows back over the gash, repairing itself before my eyes.

Liam coughs and sputters. ”Stupid girl. You can't kill me.”

”Maybe not, but I can make you wish you were dead.” I cut his neck again, then hack away until he's unconscious, ignoring the second wave of blood that sprays on me.

I wait for the skin to regroup. Then I do it again.

And again. I keep going, chopping until I feel spine. The muscles in my shoulders ache from the effort, but I push past the pain, past everything.

A hand rests on my shoulder.

”Stop.” Austin stands beside me. ”You have to stop sometime.”

I drop the sword and throw my arms around Austin, hugging him to me, feeling his warmth. He hugs me back, undeterred by the blood that covers my clothes and hair.

”I love you,” I say.

He laughs in my ear. ”It's okay. I already knew. I've been waiting for you to figure it out.”

”I should have told you.”

”You did.” He lifts his hand to my face, wiping a drop of blood from my lips. ”A long time ago.”

The movement behind me barely registers, but I catch it out of the corner of my eye. I spin around to face Liam. I raise my sword, but he's too far away.

All I see is white light as it comes at Austin and me. A crack of pain as we fall to the ground. Then nothing.

FIFTY-FIVE.

Everything hurts. My head throbs in time to the sharp stabs in my chest. My hands and feet are numb, but p.r.i.c.kles of pain poke along my skin, threatening to prod my nerves into an all-out a.s.sault. My mouth feels hot, tinged with the taste of rusty metal.

”She has a pulse.” I recognize Dr. McKay's voice, although it sounds tinny and far away. I can't be sure if he's talking about me.

”Kill her then,” says another male voice. Maybe Levi. I can't be sure. ”It's what we came for.”

Everything goes numb at once. Then I'm floating, drifting. I open my eyes, but there's nothing to see but foggy blankness. It's cold and disorienting.

Then I see him, just a silhouette in the clouds, reaching for me. I know him now. Once, he had been just a shadow in the fog, but now he is my heart. My Austin.

I stretch to reach him. Our fingers brush, and his hand closes around mine, pulling me the rest of the way to him. His touch ignites something primal and strong inside me, filling me with a strength that has a magic all its own.

”You can't stay.” I feel the soft lilt of his voice inside my head. It's as if we're trapped in a dream where nothing is truly physical. Everything happens on the inside.

I don't argue with him. I'm completely out of my element here. Surrounded by an icy mist that threatens to swallow me whole. ”Come back with me.”

His sigh is a vacuum, stealing my own breath, smothering me. ”You already know I can't do that.”

My heart doesn't make a sound as it shatters. I don't cry or scream or even beg for things I know I can't have. I just hold on.

A silver thread of light moves through the fog, breaking up the gray. It inches toward us.

”I have to go.” His words are resigned.

The light moves closer. It brushes my arm, then wraps itself around my wrist, pulling me. I fight against it, not wanting to let go. Not yet.

He lifts my hands from his shoulders. ”Remember your promise to me.”

He once asked me to stay alive, no matter what. ”I never said I would do it.”

”You have your whole life ahead of you.”

”So do you.”

”You know that's not true.”

The silver thread tightens. I grab Austin's hand.

He brings my hand to his lips. His voice in my head is warm and melodic. ”I would die a thousand deaths for the life I had with you.”