Page 62 of Bound By Love
“If you leave, we all die!” Nathan shouted at her.
She jerked her arm away but didn’t lower her sword as she stretched her hand toward Ronan. Their fingers entwined as Ronan thrust his sword into the air, and their blades clashed against each other.
The screaming demons turned and raced for the doorway. The one with his fangs embedded in Ronan’s neck lit up like a firework on the fourth of July as the light from the stones burned so brightly, it became blinding.
Saber pressed Caro’s head against his chest to keep her shielded as he turned away from the blinding glow. Rays of different colored light, matching that of their stones, shot around the cavern.
It bathed the walls, demons, and ground in various colors. Beneath the swords, they remained mostly out of its path, but it had trapped the demons.
The power vibrating his body made it difficult to keep his blade connected to theirs. He refused to tear it away as his arm shook and the swords clacked against each other.
He couldn’t look at the swords, but he saw the determination etching the features of those around him. This was their final test to prove they were worthy of these stones, and none of them would fail.
Saber had no idea what he’d ever done to be deemed worthy in the first place, but his arm would melt off before he lowered his sword. If one of them broke away now, all would be lost.
He held tighter to Caro as the ground vibrated beneath his feet. The force and noise of it quaked the walls until stones broke free to rain down from above.
The light and swords kept those stones from pelting them, but they created a cacophony of noise that drowned out the demons seeking to flee. They were almost to the doorway, so close to escaping.
It felt like an eternity had passed since Ronan turned to join them, but, at most, it was mere seconds. Maybe no more than two or three.
It wasn’t enough for the demons to have gotten away, but they were getting closer. The demons couldn’t get away, not now, not when they’d come so close, but though that blinding light continued to fill the cavern, it wasn’t doing anything.
Then, the one still feeding on Ronan erupted into ash. It didn’t catch fire first; it simply disintegrated like a sandcastle beneath the relentless waves of the sea.
Saber held Caro closer as her fingers dug into his back. Fear radiated from her, but like the others, she never moved her blade. The light started to burn Saber’s irises, but he couldn’t look away. He had to know.
Just when he didn’t think he could take any more and would have to let go, the light exploded.
He hadn’t believed it possible, he’d been clinging to her, determined to remain with her, but the explosion tore her away. It threw them all outward, away from the circle they’d formed.
As a concussion of mixed light raced across the cavern, he saw all the others flying through the air, their mouths agape and their swords still in hand.
He also saw the light tearing into the demons as it shredded their bodies and turned them to ash. Even the one who had made it to the doorway and entered became trapped in the light. Its back bowed before it erupted into dust.
Rocks rained down to seal off the doorway as Saber crashed to the ground. He bounced across the rocks before coming to a stop.
He lay there, trying to catch his breath as he searched for Caro but didn’t see her. There were Ronan and Killean, unmoving near the middle of the cavern; he couldn’t locate the others.
He was about to rise, but before he could get his arms under him, the cavern collapsed in a rush of creaking, thunderous noise, and the world went black.
CHAPTERFIFTY-TWO
Simone’s eyesno longer shed tears; they stopped doing so five days ago. Her sorrow had become a constant, crushing weight on her shoulders, but she’d stopped crying. She didn’t have any tears left in her to shed.
Instead, she remained focused on the dauntless task before them. Days ago, she stopped feeling the pain in her shoulders and hands. Her nails had grown back from being torn away, but she’d lost more of them today, and blood dripped from the ends of her fingers.
Her fingers were scraped raw and also bleeding. She’d dug away so many rocks and dirt over the past week that the wounds wouldn’t heal anymore because they were repeatedly and constantly inflicted.
She didn’t care if they ever healed again. She could lose an arm down here; the pain still wouldn’t compare to the raw anguish crushing her chest.
It had been a week since she last saw and held Killean. She never got a chance to tell him about the baby. That life was still so new, she hadn’t realized it was growing inside her until three days ago.
The realization her increased thirst for blood and bouts of queasiness could be for something other than the physical labor of trying to dig out her loved ones was slow in coming. But once it did, sheknewshe was right.
Killean’s baby was growing inside her, and it might never get a chance to meet its father. She could feel him out there, beneath this endless mound of rubble, growing weaker with every passing day.
His life at the end of their bond was barely more than a spark. The cave-in had crushed him, and she had no idea what other injuries he’d sustained.
