Page 48 of A Trial of War
“No! Stay with me, Shaw!”
Time slowed. My chest heaved as I forced a ragged breath to enter my lungs, trying to follow her command.
“Get him out of here, Zola!” Neera’s scream tore through me. “Get him to Skylar!”
Anjani chuckled darkly as Gilen forced Neera to her knees before the High Fae. “How noble.” Anjani reached out to pull Neera’s chin toward her, their gazes meeting in a silent fury. “You’re Skylar’s cousin, correct?” She glanced toward Gilen.
He nodded as he stepped back.
“Excellent. Your death, young shifter, will serve us well.”
My voice was a rasped whisper, “No! Neera!”
“Shaw.” Zola’s voice was raw and full of unspoken emotion. She applied more pressure to my wound. “I can’t help her. I can’t leave you to die. Please—”
Through our bond, I felt her, felt the tether between us pull, trying to keep me with her.
“Sword!” Anjani said.
A guard stepped forward, following the her command.
Anjani raised the blade above her head, muscles tensing as she prepared to swing her steel through Neera’s neck.
“Die, shif—”
Anjani’s words fell short. The sound of steel slicing through flesh and bone filled the chilling breath of silence that cascaded across the clearing.
But it was not Anjani’s weapon.
I gasped as I watched her head fall to the cold earth, her body following a breath after. Shouts rang out amongst the remaining guards. Confusion and chaos erupted in the clearing. And in the center of it all stoodSeamus.
“Shaw, can you sense Skylar through your pack bond?” Zola asked.
“I don’t know. I can try.”
I closed my eyes, summoning my final breaths of strength to focus. Time slowed, and it felt like days in only the span of a few seconds.
Silence.
Then, for a moment, hope flickered.
I felt it. A faint pull, like she was on the other side of the door, drifting down the corridor.
“Shaw!”Skylar said through the bond.
My heart sang at the sound of her voice.
“Zola! Shaw!” Neera was somehow at my side. “Shadow jump to Solace.”
Zola’s grip on me tightened, her shadows spreading in preparation to jump us through the night. “What about—”
“It’s abandoned,” a male said.
I forced my eyes to open, my jaw going slack at seeing who had joined us.
“We moved our forces from the shifter lands to gather here and prepare for an attack. You’ll be safe there.”
I couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes.
