Page 182 of Fallen Nocturne

A figure appears through the haze ahead. Tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered. My heart leaps.

“Svenn!” I run toward him, stumbling, nearly falling. “Svenn, I—”

The figure turns. But it’s not him. I fall to my knees in the ash-sand. How many false hopes has this realm dangled before me?

“Get up,” I tell myself. My legs won’t listen. They’re shaking too hard, exhausted beyond anything I’ve ever felt.

But I have to keep going. Because he’s here.

Svenn’s here and he’s waiting for me. I promised I would find him.

I think about our wedding and the way he looked at me like I was every sunrise and sunset wrapped into one. He spoke my name like a prayer. In the cottage, he braided my hair and held me when I cried.

I think about the forge. His hands, strong and sure, teaching me to shape metal. The heat of the flames reflected in his eyes and the almost-kiss that I ran from because I didn’t remember who he was.

But I know now.

I know that he’s my husband. My forever. I’m not leaving this realm without him.

“I love you,” I whisper into the ash. “I love you, Svenn. I love you, and I’m coming. I’m coming for you.”

I push myself up. My whole body protests but I stand. One foot in front of the other. That’s all I need to do.

Just keep moving—

The wind hits like a wall. I’m thrown backward, landing hard in the sand. Ash fills my mouth, my nose, my eyes. I cough, spit, try to breathe.

The wind is a storm now. A desert storm that comes from nowhere, from everywhere. The gray sand rises in massive clouds, obscuring everything. I can’t see the other souls or anything else.

“Svenn!” I scream into the wind. This is Death’s doing. I know it.

He’s trying to stop me and make me give up. I won’t.

I crawl forward on my hands and knees, my face pressed close to the ground where the wind is slightly less vicious. The sand scrapes my palms, my knees, but I don’t stop.

One hand forward. One knee forward. One hand forward. One knee forward.

“I’m coming to get you, Svenn,” I gasp. “Just wait. Just—”

The wind intensifies. It pushes against me, trying to drive me backward and make me retreat. I push harder.

My lungs burn and my eyes water from the ash and wind. I claw desperately to keep moving.

“You can stop this anytime,” Death’s voice says, somehow clear despite the storm. He’s walking beside me again, completely unaffected by the wind. His hair doesn’t even move. “Just say the word. Give up. I’ll take you back. You can return to your life. Your friends, your family, and your people need you.”

For one terrible moment, I see them all. My uncle. Landon and the others waiting beside Svenn’s body. Coral. The kingdom I swore to protect.

Then I drag myself forward another inch.

Death crouches beside me, his voice dropping low. “You’ll die here. You’ll break, and your mind will fracture. You’ll become like them.”

He gestures toward the wandering souls I can barely see through the storm. “Empty and lost, searching forever but never finding.”

“Then I’ll search forever,” I say.

The wind stops. I collapse forward, gasping, my whole body trembling.

Then the rain begins. Each drop feels like ice against my skin, like tiny knives cutting into me. I’m soaked in seconds. Shivering. My teeth chatter so hard I think they might crack.