“No!” I yelled. Charging forward, I raced toward my mate.
She was on her back, her eyes wide as she looked at the sky. A laceration ran from her neck to her stomach, and burns covered her skin.
And beside her…
Saena’s ice-blue eyes stared at me. Vines blanketed most of her body, and blood soaked the ground beneath her. She wasn’t moving, but her chest rose slowly.
“You must make a choice, Son of Aranuil,” a voice boomed across the battlefield.
“What?” I yelled.
“Choose,” the voice insisted. “One can live, and the other must die. The balance demands it.”
I shook. “You can’t be serious.”
“Choose!” they said again.
My eyes darted back and forth between Aileana and Saena. Both females I loved. My bonded mate and my sister.
In the end, there was no choice. Not really.
I picked Aileana up as the lightest of breaths left her lips.
“I’ve made my choice.”
The battlefield faded away.
“I picked you,” I whispered against Aileana’s hair. “I’ll always pick you.”
She exhaled, and I pulled her tight against my chest. We stayed like that for the remainder of our watch. After what Daegal told me, I knew there was no more hope.
My sister was gone. She was as good as dead.
More than anything, I wished Saena had never come back into my life.
Who Needs Purity When You Can Have Power?
SAENA
Athick fog, so gray it was nearly black, shrouded the forest as I led my contingent of Winged Soldiers through the trees. My eyesight was strong, and although there was still a fair distance to travel, I could see a small shack through the blackened woods.
Doubt flickered through me at the sight of the dilapidated structure. Shingles were falling off the roof, and the chimney stack leaned precariously to one side. No smoke came from it, and the shuttered-up windows lent the building an air of abandonment. It was dark, appearing as though it hadn’t been occupied for many years.
“Are you certain this is the right place?” I asked Ranor as he trudged beside me.
“Yes, Your Majesty. The witches tracked the dragon to this cottage. He was here.”
I scented the air but caught nothing other than the faint scent of snow on the horizon. There was no trace of my treacherous brother.
“How long ago?” I shoved aside a thick vine strung between two trees.
Leaves rustled, and the wind blew, hiding the whispers of my Winged Soldiers as they spread out in the forest, following my commands like the competent soldiers I required them to be.
“Not long,” Ranor grunted. His wings fanned out behind him, and he moved ahead of me, cutting through thorny thickets and black, inky vines. My boots squelched as I walked through the muddy snow that made up the forest floor, and wetness leaked through the soles of my boots. I shuddered.
Ihatedbeing wet. My already foul mood soured when the creature within me decided this was the moment to wake up.
I told you we should have killed him in the temple, the beast said snidely.Then you would have the map and we’d be on our way to getting the Gilded Amulet.