Page 131 of The Last Storm
But when his eyes lifted and returned to my face, he was… confused.
Recognition crossed his features as he looked at me and he smiled faintly before his eyes dropped to the arrow and pool of blood soaking the ground beneath me. Pain and guilt twisted his face as his mouth fell open in a silent scream. A shaky hand lifted towards me.
A final tear slid from my eye.
The last thing I saw was Delphia’s dagger as it sliced his throat.
Chapter Thirty One
Three Days Later…
Rogue
Ara and I were sitting in my chambers, quietly watching the rain fall when a note floated from the fireplace. I caught it as it drifted on the breeze and unfolded it.
Rogue,
We have arrived in Blackburn. Upon your request, the innkeeper has granted us rooms and warm meals. Everyone is fine. Tired, but fine.
Have you heard from Delphia? She never returned to us… I am starting to get worried. Please let me know if you hear anything from her.
See you soon,
Thana
I handed the note to Ara and rested my chin on my hand. Delphia had disappeared with Doran’s body a few moments after she killed Evander. We hadn’t heard from her since, despite us all having written to her multiple times. The letters burned, so she was alive. Just not replying. And I think that hurt Thana more than she let on.
Doran’s death was something I tried not to think about. Not yet. It left a gap where he should be and with it came a lingering cold that his warmth had always filled in my life. He unknowingly saved me from the wretched depths of my father, and it killed me to know that I couldn’t save him in return.
I swallowed hard, shifting my attention to Ara.
She sighed, placing the note on the side table with her now scarred arm. My eyes lingered on it, studying the marks that remained from where her skin had split.
The energy she had consumed to save me had permanently left its mark in the shape of several silver lightning bolts stretching from the center of her palm down to her elbow, wrapping around her arm.
She had almost sacrificed herself to save me and the thought twisted my gut. And then Evander.Fucking Evander.When she collapsed in my arms—again, for the second time since I’d met her—panic clouded my every thought. Worse than the first time. But once again, Iaso had saved her and closed the wounds from the arrow.
I had never known more gratitude than I did at that moment.
Losing her now, after everything, would have destroyed me. Tore my heart from my chest and laid it bare for the disaster that would’ve followed.
But she was safe. For now.
Iaso was also able to close the gaping wounds along her arm within a day or two, but the scar remained as testament to Ara’s selflessness. Her strength.
My force of nature.
Reaching a hand out, I caught hers and pulled her into my lap, lifting her palm to kiss it gently.
“Thank you,” I whispered for the thousandth time. “I will never be able to express how grateful I am for you. And not just because you saved me.”
She laid her head on my chest, gazing out the window. “It’s not over yet. Adonis won’t stop at this.”
“I don’t want to think about that just yet. Let us have this moment if only to catch our breath.”
She nodded and I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her head.
“When I was in the air, I knew I was about to die. I felt it,” I whispered and she stilled.
