Page 151 of Treasured

He was right. Being on the defensive wouldn’t do us any good. We needed to take her down. Two against one seemed like good odds, but we were still fighting. Shouldn’t this have been easier?

Minutes dragged on.

Blades made of shadows kept coming, narrowly missing our wings as we tucked and turned, throwing up shield after shield. We didn’t have the chance to attack because she was so fast.

Each time I dove out of the way, each time I pulled on my shadows or fed power through the Tether to Sebastian, each flap of my wings, wore me out.

The knot in my stomach grew until it was a brick, pulling me down.

This task felt more impossible than ever.

Soon, even the extra power from Sebastian and Marius wasn’t enough. I was far too aware of the fact that until recently, I had been mortal. My wings moved slower, even with the power of the Tether. I was dragging us down. I wasn’t good enough.

I was the weak link.

Something had to change. This wasn’t going to work if we kept going like this. We hadn’t even hit the queen.

Think!

My eyes darted back and forth, trying to see if there was another way forward. Another option. Something that would help us get ahead. Anything.

I was so distracted that I didn’t see the queen move. One moment, she was flying in front of Sebastian. The next, she was an arrow, diving at me. A strange violet-tinged shadow-dagger was gripped in her hand.

My heart seized. I stared at the dagger. It was wrong. Every instinct I had warned to move out of the way.

I flew to the right, throwing up shields, but she intercepted me. Her weapon flew through the air, moving far too fast.

My eyes widened as it approached. I tried to get out of the way, but I was too slow.

The blade tore through my wing like it was made of paper.

A half-moan, half-writhing cry escaped my chest. Flames started at the point of impact, blazing a fiery trail over my flesh.

I faltered.

My eyes burned. Pain radiated from my torn wing. I was certain my right side was on fire.

Weak.

I was so weak.

Sebastian shouted, but I couldn’t hear him. I couldn’t hear anything except the rush of wind.

He flew toward me, but somehow, he was getting further away.

I’m falling.

The thought barely registered before another thought slammed into me—the Tether.

As if on cue, the cord tying us together tightened. The distance became too much.

Sebastian kept coming, but I was too high and falling too fast. I tried to slow my fall with my wings, but it didn’t work. The Tether unraveled in my core. The stabbing, barbed pain of the magic binding us burned. The red moon glowed.

I fell and fell and fell.

Pure panic ran through the Binding Mark.

Fly, Luna, Sebastian urged me.