I screamed and thrashed.“No…no.”
“Ursula!”He growled so loud and brutal that I froze.“You have to drink this.”
I sobbed, out of fight.My hands fisted against his chest were too weak to push him away as he lifted the bottle to my lips.“I’m sorry,” he rasped again.“But if you don’t drink this, your fears win and I’ll lose you.I will not fucking lose you.”
I tried to turn my head, but I was too weak to even do that.His thumb pressed down on my chin, forcing my mouth open as another chime came, shaking the room, causing more rubble to fall around us, and he poured the contents into my mouth.I stared up at Silas as something glittering streaked down his cheek.I blinked drowsily at it, at the single tear making its way down his face.“You’ll be okay.I won’t let you go.”
Then he pulled the cork out of the second bottle with his teeth and drank it, following me into the next nightmare.
My world, once again, spun.
Twelve
Silas
Ursula waslimp in my arms, her breathing shallow.
“Urs.”I shook her gently.“Wake up.Please, wake up.”
My head spun violently as the poison hit my bloodstream and I was plunged into darkness, the room vanishing around us.A shout of alarm burst from me a moment later when light flashed, the world spinning back into sharp focus.I was hurtling towards a jagged cliffside.My body slammed into it, and I grabbed for the only handhold I could find, while clinging to an unconscious Ursula, holding her to me with the other arm.The outcropping I stood on was narrow and could only accommodate the very tips of my boots.“Fuck.”Hissing, I hung on with all my strength.
We were dizzyingly high up, above the clouds.No being would survive a drop like that, and Ursula wasn’t waking up.My foot slipped, and I growled and pressed as close to the rock face as I could with Urs fucking hanging off my arm to one side of me.
My muscles strained, sweat coated my skin, making it hard to keep my grip on the rocks and Ursula.Oh fuck.She was slipping.The scars on my back throbbed, letting me know how useless I was, that if I still had my wings, I could save her.I could save my precious Ursula.
She slipped more.“No!”I tried to clutch her to me with all my might, but she was a dead weight, completely limp, and I couldn’t get a good hold on her.“Ursula!”I roared, trying to get her to wake up, to help me, to grab hold of me.I only had her under her arms now.It was like something was pulling her down, dragging her from my hold.
She slipped again, and I grabbed for her, but it was no good.I lost my grip.Her eyes snapped open as she fell.I roared her name, reaching for her.Her arms lifted for me.She was engulfed in cloud, then she was gone.
The sound that burst from me was like a tortured beast, and without thought, I jumped.I plummeted, falling so fast my eyes watered.I could see Ursula, but I couldn’t reach her.I just had to grab hold of her, hold her in my arms one more time?—
The familiar strain and stretch of my back muscles came a moment before wings sprouted from my back.
Oh fuck.I had wings again.Exhilaration filled me, and I burst through the clouds going after her.There.She was right there.Tucking in my wings, I dove, plummeting at breakneck speed.
I reached for her, snatching her from the air.
My wings vanished as soon as I pulled her to me.I roared as we fell once again, as the rocks and sky and clouds swirled with black, the world shifting again before we hit the ocean, cold and violent, and she was torn from my arms.
Bursting through the surface, I called for her, searching for Ursula, but I couldn’t find her.
I couldn’t find her.
No.Please, God, no.
I wasn’t losing her.Not again.I dove down into the depths, down, down, kicking my legs as hard as I could.
Something flashed to my left.I spun.
Ursula.Oh fuck.Panic exploded through me.She was chained to the sea floor, her hands and feet spread wide, pinned down.She was unconscious, precious oxygen pouring from between her lips.I frantically swam to her, kicking as hard as I could, and grabbed at her restraints, trying to pry them apart, smashing them with rocks, but unable to break them.Something huge circled above us, then another, and another.They were coming.I had to get her to shore.I had to save her.
Something gold and bright shone from under the sand beside me.I grabbed it.A key.I quickly tried it on her shackles.It worked.I unlocked them, then grabbing her, swam as hard as I could.
As we breached the surface, the ocean dissolved around us.
We were back in the dungeon.
Ursula lay in my arms, still limp, like before we were plucked from this room and stuck on that cliffside, her breathing barely perceptible.