Page 219 of Tears for a Broken Sky
“No words,” Kharith replied, almost kindly. “Not this time.”
The air shifted.
Shadows stirred—old ones. Not the wrath Elira had unleashed, but something sacred. They moved toward me slowly, curling up my arm like sentient silk. Heavy. Cold. Binding.
They marked me just beneath the shoulder, forming a dark ring that pulsed—once—and then stilled.
A mark.
A bond.
“She doesn’t need your vow,” Kharith murmured. “She already has your soul.”
I stared at the mark.
“I am hers,” I breathed. “Whatever’s left of me.”
“You’ll feel her magic now. Her pain. And when she calls… you’ll answer.”
I nodded. “Until my last breath.”
Kharith looked up—as if hearing something far away.
“My time here is ending. The others need you. Come.”
She turned, shadows peeling away from the stone around us.
Maddie reached for my hand. I caught hers and stepped forward.
The darkness rose.
Not cold. Not cruel.
Justvast.
It carried us upward like breath itself, and I carried my vow like a flame in my chest.
Chapter 52
Leo
The barrier was gone.
I was going to die.
There were too many. Too fast. Too brutal. They kept coming like waves in a storm—red and blue uniforms blurring together in a frenzy of blood and steel.
Slade and I fought back to back in the broken street outside the tower. Our blades moved on instinct, arms aching, breath burning—but still, we held the line.
For Elira.
For each other.
“Ashton’s pulled back,” Slade growled, panting. “Fucking coward’s letting them die for him.”
“Yeah,” I spat, “well, he might win anyway.”
A blast tore the ground beside us. I ducked just in time as Bomber charged another, grinning like a maniac.
