Page 74 of Healing Elixirs & Wicked Crows

And about to be dead.

The Rescue

ROSEMARY

The silence shattered first, splintering like ice beneath a hurried boot.Then came the light, not warm or golden, but stark and violent, a white glare that burned against the black I’d lived in for weeks.My body recoiled, too weak to flinch properly, and my heart stuttered in my chest as my back scraped against the stone.

Shouts rose beyond the iron bars.Steel on stone, breathless commands, the sickening crunch of impact.I squinted through the haze, my vision smeared and blinking against the harshness, until the shapes sharpened.Elias moved like a storm, all fury and precision, his blade catching flashes of light as it struck out at something that recoiled and writhed—the echo, no longer bound by form, its limbs shifting shadows, its claws glistening like wet ink and bone.

The echo shrieked a sound that sliced through the chamber like a rusted blade.Its limbs twisted impossibly, black smoke trailing from where Elias’s blade had struck true.But the thing wasn’t retreating.It lashed out with claws that sang through the air, catching only stone as Elias ducked low, pivoting with a hunter’s grace.Another figure fought beside him, a man built like Elias, though broader in the shoulders, his movements just as lethal but rougher.The two moved in tandem, blades flashing, shadows writhing with every strike.

I blinked hard, forcing my bleary eyes to follow the blur of motion.Then something caught my attention, a flicker of movement along the wall of the stairwell, and my breath caught in my throat as I tried to lift my head.Briar?It couldn’t be, could it?

Was this another dream?Another trap?My thoughts moved like molasses, heavy with fear and disbelief.I curled tighter against the wall, my breath hitching as the echo’s shadow swelled and stretched, threatening to swallow the only light I’d seen in weeks.It was another lie though.A false hope.It wasn’treal.

I closed my eyes, tuning it all out, even as a horrendous wail tore free of the echo.Weapons clattered to the stone, and I felt the light approaching.My fists closed around my ears as I squeezed my eyes shut tighter.

“It’s not real.It’s not real.It’s not real.”

"Rosie," she called, and her voice was exactly as I remembered, musical and warm.Briar appeared, tears glistening in her eyes like captured starlight.

"No," I whispered, pressing harder against the stone wall."You're not real.You're not real."

Another voice, deeper and achingly familiar.Elias stepped into view, his storm-gray eyes locked onto mine with fierce intensity."I know you think we're not real.After what she did to you, how could you trust anything you see?"

"I can't," I sobbed."I can't look at you because if you're real and then you disappear again...”The thought was too terrible to finish.

"You won't lose me," he said firmly, moving closer to the bars."We're here now."

"What was the first thing I said when we met again?"I demanded, testing them.

Elias smiled."You asked if I was stalking you.Then threatened to stab me with your dagger."

Despite everything, I attempted a smile, even as I felt my dry lips split as it stretched.The echo had never captured his humor.

"You're real," I breathed, dragging myself closer to the bars."You're actually real."

"We're real," Briar confirmed, her hand finding mine through the narrow gap."We're here, and we're going to get you out."

"The lock," I said urgently as iron burned my skin."You need to break it somehow."

The male who had helped Elias defeat the echo appeared, his hands beginning to glow with dark magic.He bowed his head as he spoke in rushed words, an odd look of affection in his emerald gaze as he briefly held mine."Rosemary.You probably don’t remember me.I’m Darius.Elais’s older brother.Stand back.This might get unpleasant."

Shadows poured from his fingertips, flowing around the lock with grinding sounds.The iron began to corrode and crack until, with a sound like breaking glass, the lock crumbled to dust.

The moment the cell door opened, I stumbled forward on unsteady legs.Elias caught me as I fell, his arms wrapping around me with fierce protectiveness.

"I thought you were dead," I sobbed into his chest."I watched her magic tear through you."

"I know," he murmured into my hair."But I'm here now.We're here now.”

Through the mate bond that no longer needed to be hidden, I felt his relief, his desperate love, his fury at what I'd endured.The connection between us blazed like starfire, and for the first time since my capture, I felt whole.Complete.

"I felt you," I whispered against his chest."In the darkness, when I thought I was going mad, I felt you searching for me.I didn’t truly believe it could be real, but at the time, it was the only thing that kept me sane."

His arms tightened around me."Always," he promised."I will always find you, princess."

His scent surrounded me, pine and winter air and something uniquely him that no illusion had captured.I breathed him in desperately.