Page 4 of Treasured

My shadows pulsed in frantic alarm, and my entire body shook. Terror rushed through the Binding Mark like water through a broken dam, and my blood chilled. It was as though I’d been thrown into a lake of ice.

This couldn’t be happening.

“Sebastian!” I screamed.

Agony poured through the connection keeping us together. Fire ran through me. The headache’s painful march persisted. My lungs struggled to draw breath.

Sebastian fell faster and faster, approaching the snowy pines at breakneck speeds. He wasn’t slowing down.

The Tether twinged in warning, and I snapped my wings together, descending as quickly as I could. My own safety did not matter. My husband was in danger.

I called his name over and over again, desperation filling my voice. The wind stole my words, carrying them far from his ears.

Still, I did not give up.

I would never give up.

Sebastian fell head over heels, his wings barely flapping at all. Why wasn’t he flying?

Tears pricked at my eyes. Faster, I urged myself.

Shadows slipped from my hands, spiraling to the ground in an effort to cushion his fall.

They weren’t fast enough.

Sebastian slammed into the ground. A sickening boom echoed through the forest. A white cloud billowed up around him.

He didn’t move.

My heart pounded in my chest, a warning in every beat. Hurry.

I dove toward the ground. Again and again, I called his name. Red bloomed around his body, like ink splatter on a pristine sheet of paper.

Agony filled me.

Still, he didn’t move.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

My shadows pulsed. My head throbbed. None of it compared to the stabbing pain within my heart. I was being burned up from the inside out.

“Sebastian!” I screamed again.

He was my heart, my soul, my other half, my reason for being.

I needed him, and he was bleeding everywhere.

He was… dying?

No. I squashed the thought the moment it entered my mind.

This couldn’t be it. We didn’t run from the queen just to die in the wilderness. If this were fate’s ending for us, I would take their quill and rewrite their story a thousand times if necessary.

I needed him.

The Binding Mark burned with the intensity of a thousand flames, reminding me of its presence. It was still there. We were still Bound. He was still alive, which meant there was still time.

I landed on the snow beside Sebastian, my knees bending on impact. A hoarse scream clawed out of my throat as I took in the full extent of the damage.