Chapter 79

Naerin opened his eyes. Wait, that was wrong, he wasn’t supposed to open his eyes. He’d died protecting Siana and he wasn’t supposed to open his eyes. He looked around, blearily, feeling weaker than he ever had in his life and watched the rest of the beach climb to their feet. This wasn’t right, none of this was right. It wasn’t until Pryderin moved his enormous bulk and shimmered back into his human form that he thought to look down.

Siana was laying on the stones, stained with blood, utterly colorless and still. He dropped bonelessly to his knees and reached for her with shaking hands. He pulled her into his lap, smoothing her hair back from her tearstained face and peering at her. She was too light, like her bones had been hollowed out and she wasn’t breathing. Why wasn’t she breathing? He laid two fingers on her throat and found nothing, not even the faintest thread of a pulse. There was nothing to her, but they were all alive.